Why a Booktrail?
1970s: Two men set out to journey for 250 miles to study some of the most remote landscape and wild animals in the world – including the infamous snow leopard
The Snow Leopard
What you need to know before your trail
One September, the writer and explorer Peter Matthiessen set out with field biologist George Schaller to journey 250 miles through the Himalayas to the Crystal Mountain on the Tibetan plateau. They wanted to study the wild blue sheep, the bharal, but also hoped to see the snow leopard, a creature so rarely spotted as to be nearly mythical. The Snow Leopard is not only an exquisite book of natural history but an extraordinary account of an inner journey ; a ‘true pilgrimage, a journey of the heart.’
Locations
Reset- Nepal/Himalayas
- A: Annapura
- B: Kali Gandaki River
- C: Kanjiroba Himal
- D: Crystal Mountain
Travel Guide
Crystal Mountain
I had seen those astonishing snow peaks to the north; to close that distance, to go step by step across the greatest range on earth to some where called the Crystal Mountain, was a true pilgrimage, a journey of the heart. Since the usurpation of Tibet by the Chinese, the land of Dolpo, all but unknown to Westerners even today, was said to be the last enclave of pure Tibetan culture left on earth…”
The Himalayas
The journey starts in the Himalayas in the town of Kathmandu at the green foot hills of the Himalayan wall. They trek out to Pokhara and from then on the journey is one of many – with sherpas and porters of all descriptions along the way.
Often the journey was hazardous – there are no footpaths or roads and drivers had to stop to clear the rockslides. Later on, the climate gets more humid and “A deep tumult of swirling greys was all that could be seen of the Himalaya”
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Snow Leopard
Author/Guide: Peter Matthiessen Destination: Nepal, The Himalayas Departure Time: 1970s
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