Expedition Update: ‘kora’ 100% Yak Wool Performance Baselayers joins as sponsor

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Our expedition of ‘Wind and Wool’ will proudly and happily be encased in the Himalayas’ own yak wool on this journey thanks to kora. Under my North Face shells, and fleeces a snug himalayan sourced yak wool baselayer will be keeping the warmth levels ‘up’, smell levels ‘down’, and a stream of air free-flowing.

Thawing out...in yak wool near Gold Pass

Thawing out…in yak wool near Gold Pass

Fitting that what will be against our skin is a fabric that is from the very mountains we will pass through. An ageless source of wool for the Himalayas’ original inhabitants. Time   tested with a modern spin, I’ve been testing for kora for over a year and on my latest ascent of northwest Yunnan’s ‘Gold Pass’ my kora yak wool base-layer endured temperatures that varied from -15 Celsius at 4,000 metres to almost 30 degrees Celsius within a 24 hour period. It is one of the fabrics of the future…ironically that has been around for a millennium.

About JeffFuchs

Bio Having lived for most of the past decade in Asia, Fuchs’ work has centered on indigenous mountain cultures, oral histories with an obsessive interest in tea. His photos and stories have appeared on three continents in award-winning publications Kyoto Journal, TRVL, and Outpost Magazine, as well as The Spanish Expedition Society, The Earth, Silkroad Foundation, The China Post Newspaper, The Toronto Star, The South China Morning Post and Traveler amongst others. Various pieces of his work are part of private collections in Europe, North America and Asia and he serves as the Asian Editor at Large for Canada’s award-winning Outpost magazine. Fuchs is the Wild China Explorer of the Year for 2011 for sustainable exploration of the Himalayan Trade Routes. He recently completed a month long expedition a previously undocumented ancient nomadic salt route at 4,000 metres becoming the first westerner to travel the Tsa’lam ‘salt road’ through Qinghai. Fuchs has written on indigenous perspectives for UNESCO, and has having consulted for National Geographic. Fuchs is a member of the fabled Explorers Club, which supports sustainable exploration and research. Jeff has worked with schools and universities, giving talks on both the importance of oral traditions, tea and mountain cultures. He has spoken to the prestigious Spanish Geographic Society in Madrid on culture and trade through the Himalayas and his sold out talk at the Museum of Nature in Canada focused on the enduring importance of oral narratives and the Himalayan trade routes. His recently released book ‘The Ancient Tea Horse Road’ (Penguin-Viking Publishers) details his 8-month groundbreaking journey traveling and chronicling one of the world’s great trade routes, The Tea Horse Road. Fuchs is the first westerner to have completed the entire route stretching almost six thousand kilometers through the Himalayas a dozen cultures. He makes his home in ‘Shangrila’, northwestern Yunnan upon the eastern extension of the Himalayan range where tea and mountains abound; and where he leads expeditions the award winning ‘Tea Horse Road Journey’ with Wild China along portions of the Ancient Tea Horse Road. To keep fueled up for life Fuchs co-founded JalamTeas which keeps him deep in the green while high in the hills.
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2 Responses to Expedition Update: ‘kora’ 100% Yak Wool Performance Baselayers joins as sponsor

  1. Jeff … that’s great information about the availability yak-wool “undies”. Makes perfect sense.

    The pack is filling up.