Ascending up to the Sho La Pass in northwestern Yunnan in May there would always be a chance of weather issues, but it would still be a surprise when, even at the relatively kind altitudes of 3000 metres, the skies churned and smouldered and our intended pathway became lost amid a late snowfall. A mule and its cargo became lodged in deep snow at the top left, but this moment was entirely about the young 16-year year old Lisu boy and his courage taking charge of our team. He had to take the lead of our mule tea team, meticulously picking his footing so as not to risk the hooves of the mules. He wasn’t a muleteer and he wasn’t used to snow but he relentlessly moved onwards and upwards, wordlessly moving over the deceptive white carpet. He, like so many youth, simply needed the work and he wouldn’t relent. Thirty minutes after this photo we would almost lose Dakpa (top left in orange) in hidden crevasse covered in a fresh snow layer, and our mules would halt, unable to proceed. A blizzard came in reducing sight lines to mere feet and four of us would continue over the pass, while the mules, our gear, and the young Lisu boy would remain waiting for the weather to ease. It wouldn’t. I would never see the young boy again, and wouldn’t see my gear for another week. I would see two of the mules years later on another crossing of the Sho La Pass…in far better weather. It is these largely untapped tales and risks that make the Tea Horse Road such an underrated part of Asian history.
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.
“Wordlessly” is an apt description of the turmoil inside the young man’s mind!!! When all is futile, there is nothing to say but only to “do”.
And to move forward in little or large steps.
Stay well Terri Ann