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
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
Having lived for a decade in Yunnan, Fuchs’ work has centred on indigenous mountain cultures, oral histories along with an obsessive interest in tea.
Fuchs is the author of 'The Ancient Tea Horse Road' (Viking-Penguin) and he was the subject of 'The Tea Explorer' documentary based on his exploration of the Tea Horse Road.
His photos and stories have appeared on three continents in publications such as 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 UNESCO amongst others. Various pieces of his work are part of private collections in Europe, North America, and Asia. Fuchs served as Asian Editor at Large for five years at award-winning Outpost magazine.
Jeff has worked with schools and universities, giving talks on both the importance of oral traditions, tea and mountain cultures.
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.
Fuchs partnered with Wild China to create a journey along the Tea Horse Road which National Geographic Traveler called one of the "50 Trips of a Lifetime".
He is co-founder of Akahiao Nature Institute on the island of Hawai'i along with his wife, Julie Rogers.
Jeff … that’s great information about the availability yak-wool “undies”. Makes perfect sense.
The pack is filling up.
And we haven’t even gotten round to packing tea yet….