Without Ever Reaching the Summit
A Himalayan Journey
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
An awestruck love letter to one of the most spectacular places on earth, from the author of international bestseller The Eight Mountains.
Paolo Cognetti marked his 40th birthday with a journey he had always wanted to make: to Dolpo, a remote Himalayan region where Nepal meets Tibet. He took with him two friends, a notebook, mules and guides, and a well-worn copy of The Snow Leopard. Written in 1978, Matthiessen's classic was also turning forty, and Cognetti set out to walk in the footsteps of the great adventurer.
Without Ever Reaching the Summit combines travel journal, secular pilgrimage, literary homage and sublime mountain writing in a short book for readers of Macfarlane, Rebanks and Cognetti's own bestseller, The Eight Mountains. An investigation into the author's physical limits, an ancient mountain culture, and the magnificence of nature, it is an awestruck love letter to one of the most spectacular places on earth.
'A breath of fresh air for mountain-lovers currently in confinement...The sparse, graceful prose...reflects the barren landscape and the author's joy in paring back the distractions of modern life' Financial Times, Best Books of 2020
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cognetti (The Eight Mountains) presents a delightful travelogue of his transformative visit to the Dolpo region of Nepal. To celebrate his 40th birthday, Cognetti leaves his home in the Italian Alps and joins, with a couple friends, a group of about 20 others on a monthlong hike through Nepal. Inspired by the trek Peter Matthiessen chronicled in The Snow Leopard, Cognetti sees his expedition as a pilgrimage in which the purpose is not to reach a summit or a temple, but to travel and feel welcomed by the landscape rather than challenged by it. While suffering from altitude sickness, Cognetti navigates the frothy Suli Gad river, glacier capped mountains, ancient monasteries, a herd of blue Himalayan sheep, and tracks left by the elusive snow leopard. Along the way, he embraces the Buddhist mantra om mani padme hum (om, the jewel in the lotus) adopts a little black dog, and (through contemplation of the snow leopard) comes to respect the "unseen and untouched" presence of the mountain. Luczkiw's lush translation captures Cognetti's impassioned descriptions of the mountains, fauna, and the many gracious people he encountered along the trail. Armchair travelers with a spiritual bent will be riveted by Cognetti's reflections. (Jun.)
