The mind wanders back to a mountain pass, a blizzard, and that wonderful thing that exists still: instinct.
On a day of few words along a portion of a trade route in Ladakh as a blizzard piled in at 5000 metres, this moment reflects the question, “When do we know absolutely if we will continue?”.
Attempting to move over the snow pass of Lasermo, one of those very mountain mantras comes into clarity as well, “There is nothing that we dictate”, as elements, variables, and perception still guide most journeys. And so we adapted and followed our languid reader of the winds and snows, Tsewang (pictured here). Our mules and horses trusted him, and so too did we. Here, he looks back to us for the sign to continue…or to retreat.
He ‘felt’, he could still read the pathway, even though there was nothing but a blanket of white, beautiful froth before us. We would ‘just’ make it over the pass as the blizzard came in full force. Once we set up camp, Tsewang would politely demand a masala chai be made in his honour by our guru of delights and wisdom, Karma. He was obliged and the skies would clear.
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.
