White Mountain

  Dalai Lama, Freedom in Exile (Little, Brown, 1993)

  Alexandra David-Néel, Magic and Mystery in Tibet (Claude Kendall, 1932)

  Andrew Duff, Sikkim: Requiem for a Himalayan Kingdom (Birlinn Books, 2015)

  Kenneth Mason, Abode of Snow (E. P. Dutton & Co., 1955)

  T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land (Faber & Faber, 1962)

  Peter Fleming, Bayonets to Lhasa (Hart-Davis, 2012)

  ____, News from Tartary (Northwestern University Press, 1936)

  Robert Ford, Captured in Tibet (Oxford University Press, 1957)

  ‘Ganges receives 2,900 million litres of sewage daily’, Hindustan Times, 14 May 2015

  Richard Gombrich, ‘Ancient Indian Cosmology’ in Ancient Cosmologies, eds. Carmen Blacker & Michael Loewe (Allen & Unwin, 1975) Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Helena Blavatsky (North Atlantic Books, 2004)

  Tom Grunfeld, The Making of Modern Tibet (Routledge, 1996)

  Christopher Hale, Himmler’s Crusade (Bantam Press, 2003)

  David Hamilton, ‘The Great Karakoram Ski Traverse’, Alpine Journal (2005), 113–23

  Eric Hansen, ‘The Killing Fields’, Outside (2 August 2011)

  Heinrich Harrer, Seven Years in Tibet (Hart-Davis, 1953)

  Sven Hedin, Southern Tibet, 14 vols (Lithographic Institute of the General Staff of the Swedish Army, 1917–22)

  ____, Trans-Himalaya: Adventures in Tibet (Macmillan, 1910)

  John C. Holliday & Matt P. Cleaver, ‘Medicinal value of the caterpillar fungi species of the genus Cordyceps (Fr.) Link (Ascomycetes). A Review’, International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms 10(3) (2008), 219–34

  Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game: On Secret Sevice in High Asia (John Murray, 2006)

  ____, Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Treasures of Central Asia (John Murray, 2006)

  John Hunt, The Ascent of Everest (Hodder & Stoughton, 1956)

  Maurice Isserman, Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes (Yale University Press, 2008)

  Lou Kasischke, After the Wind: 1996 Everest Tragedy – One Survivors Story (Good Hart Publishing, 2014)

  Ekai Kawaguchi, Three Years in Tibet (Theosophical Society, 1909)

  John Keay, Where Men and Mountains Meet: The Explorers of the Western Himalayas 1820–75 (Century, 1977)

  John Keay, The Great Arc: The Dramatic Tale of How India was Mapped and Everest was Named (HarperCollins, 2010)

  Maria Kozhevnikov, James Elliott, Jennifer Shephard & Klaus Gramann, ‘Neurocognitive and Somatic Components of Temperature Increases during g-Tummo Meditation: Legend and Reality’, PloS ONE 8(3) (2013), 658244

  Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air (Macmillan, 2011)

  Perceval Landon, Lhasa, 2 vols (Hurst & Blackett, 1905)

  Arnold Henry Savage Landor, In the Forbidden Land (Long Riders Guild Press, 1898)

  Philip Larkin, Whitsun Weddings (Faber & Faber, 1967)

  Stuart Legg, The Barbarians of Asia: The Peoples of the Steppes from 1600 BC (Marboro Books, 1990)

  Andreas Lommel, Masks: their Meaning and Function, trans. Nadia Fowler (McGraw-Hill, 1972)

  ____, Shamanism: The Beginnings of Art, trans. Michael Bullock (McGraw-Hill, 1967)

  David MacDonald, Twenty Years in Tibet (Pilgrims Publishing, 1932)

  Halford Mackinder, ‘The Geographical Pivot of History’, Geographical Journal 23 (1904), 421–37

  Kenneth Mason, Abode of Snow (E. P. Dutton & Co., 1955)

  Marion Meade, Madame Blavatsky (Putnam, 1980)

  Reinhold Messner, My Quest for the Yeti, trans. Peter Constantine (St Martin’s Press, 2000)

  ____, Free Spirit: A Climber’s Life (Mountaineers Books, 1991)

  A. J. Moffat Mills, Report on the Province of Assam, (Johns, 1854)

  W. H. Murray, ‘The Reconnaissance of Mount Everest, 1951’, Alpine Journal 58, 285 (1952), 433–52

  Arne Naess, ‘Mountains and Mythology’, The Trumpeter 12, 4 (1995)

  Jeremy Narby, The Cosmic Serpent (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1999)

  René de Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Oracles and Demons of Tibet (Gordon Press, 1976)

  Mary Neff, Personal Memoirs ofH. P. Blavatsky (H. P. Dutton & Co., 1937)

  Harold Nicolson, Curzon: The Last Phase, 1919–192^: A Study in Diplomacy (Constable, 1934)

  Christopher Norton, Everest Revealed: The Private Diaries and Sketches of Edward Norton, 1922–24 (The History Press, 2014)

  Michael Palin, Himalaya (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004)

  Michel Peissel, Cavaliers ofKham: The Secret War in Tibet (Heinemann, 1972)

  Jim Perrin, Shipton and Tilman (Hutchinson, 2013)

  Graham Ratcliffe, A Day to Die For: 1996, Everest’s Worst Disaster-One Survivor’s Personal Journey to Uncover the Truth (Mainstream Publishing, 2011)

  George N. Roerich, Trails to Inmost Asia: Five Years of Exploration with the Roerich Central Asian Expedition (Yale University Press, 1931)

  James Scott & Joanne Robertson, Lost in the Himalayas: James Scott’s 43-Day Ordeal (Lothian, 1993)

  Mike Searle, Colliding Continents (Oxford University Press, 2012)

  Idries Shah, Reflections (Octagon Press, 1975)

  ____, Wisdom of the Idiots (Octagon Press, 1969)

  ____, The Sufis (W. H. Allen, 1964)

  ____, Oriental Magic (Octagon Press, 1956)

  R. R. Shimray, Origin and Culture of Nagas (Pamleiphi Shimray, 1985)

  David L. Snellgrove & Hugh Richardson, A Cultural History of Tibet (Prajna Press, 1968)

  R. A. Stein, Tibetan Civilization (Faber & Faber, 1972)

  H.W. Tilman, Mount Everest 1938 (Pilgrims Publishing, 2004)

  Giuseppe Tucci, The Ancient Civilisation of Transhimalaya, trans. James Hogarth (Barrie & Jenkins, 1973)

  Beck Weathers, Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest (Sphere, 2000)

  C. White, Sikkim and Bhutan: Twenty-One Years on the North-East Frontier 1897–1908 (Arnold, 1909)

  Ludwig Wittgenstein, The Mythology in Our Language: Remarks on Frazer’s Golden Bough, ed. Giovanni da Col, trans. Stephan Palmié (University of Chicago Press, 2015)

  Andrei Znamenski, RedShambhala (Quest Books, 2011)

  Index

  Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your device–s search function to locate particular terms in the text.

  fn indicates a footnote, ill an illustration

  Aelianus, Claudius: Animal Stories quoted, 247–8

  Afghanistan, 16, 98, 122; Amir, 208; Balkh, 125, 126; Hindu Kush, 15, 185; Koh-i-Baba, 3; Moguls, 184; Russian invasion, 52; Wakhan Corridor, 32

  Alexander the Great, 15, 16, 122–5, 191

  Alps, 67, 171–8, 189, 191, 196, 383

  Altai mountains, 17, 23, 204

  altitude, 62–87, 93, 171–4, 189, 203, 222, 273–4, 301, 330, 349–51, 357–64, 393, 435; sickness, 63–78, 80–87, 183, 197, 260, 313, 341, 386. see also Observatoire Vallot; oedema; sickness remedies, see Cordyceps; Diamox; Hotan

  Andes/Andeans, 74, 75

  Anker, Conrad, 276–7, 344

  Annapurna Circuit, 39, 86

  Armstrong, John, 152–3

  Ashoka, 99–100, 101

  asthma, 76

  avalanches, 43, 175, 178–9, 196, 261, 262, 351, 362

  Avalokitesvara, 46–7

  Bacon, Sir Francis: quoted, 66

  Balmat, Jacques, 69

  Barchenko, Alexander, 286–7, 297

  Bardo (transitional state), 236–7, 239

  Beger, Bruno, 326–31; quoted, 329

  Bell, Sir Charles: quoted, 243

  bergschrund, 196, 277

  Bert, Paul, 70, 78

  Bhrikuti, Princess, 101

  Bhutan, 41, 83, 255; King ‘Alphonse,’ 227

  Bisaharis, 138

  Bishop, Barry, 350–1

  Bjerken, Zeff: quoted, 117

  Blavatsky, Helena, 90, 127–131, 170, 227, 283–4, 288

  body temperature, 11, 67–
8, 93–6. see also cold

  Bohr, Niels: quoted, 118

  Bokii, Gleb, 283, 285–7, 290–91

  Bolshevism/Bolsheviks, 289, 290, 294–5, 298, 329

  Bon (sect), 47–8, 52–3, 59, 61, 98–9, 103–4, 247; Bonpos, 47–53, 54, 59, 98,101–2, 104–6, 110, 113,353

  Bonington, Chris, 359; quoted, 179

  Bonri mountain, 52

  Boukreev, Anatoli, 197, 378, 379, 384, 386, 387, 389, 392

  Bourrit of Geneva, Canon, 68

  breathing, 11, 62–8, 71–9, 85, 91–2, 93–4, 327. see also oxygen/O2

  Bretherton DSO, Major George, 230–32

  Brown, Joe, 259

  Buddhist art/calligraphy, 122, 124

  Buhl, Herman, 175

  Bull, Geoff, 342

  Burma, 17, 59; northern highlands, 3, 41, 248

  Burton, Sir Richard, 4–5, 8, 123, 133, 182, 197

  Campbell, Colonel Frederick, 228

  Candler, Edmund, 222, 224;

  quoted, 225, 226, 241

  carbon dioxide/CO2, 65–6, 72–3, 75–7. see also oxygen/O2

  Carstensz Pyramid, New Guinea, 181

  Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 348–9

  Chapman, Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Spencer, 315–17; The Jungle is Neutral, 316; quoted, 318

  Chatwin, Bruce, 10; quoted, 88

  Chomolungma, see Mount Everest

  Chou En-lai, 341

  Christianity, 99, 105; Jesuits, 84, 137–8; Nasranis (a.k.a.

  Saint Thomas Christians), 16; Nestorians, 14–16

  Clarke, Roger: quoted, 10

  Clement of Alexandria (a.k.a. Titus Flavius Clemens): quoted, 15

  Clifton College, 159

  climbers, see Anker, Conrad; Balm at, Jacques; Bishop,Barry; Bonnington, Chris; Boukreev, Anatoli; Brown, Joe; Buhl, Herman; Collie, Norman; Crowley, Aleister; Eckenstein, Oscar; Fischer; Scott; Giutschvilli, Roman; Hall, Rob; Hamilton, David; Hansen, Doug; Harrer; Heinrich; Hillary, Sir Edmund; Hunt, Lord John; Irvine, Andrew; Kasischke, Lou; Krakauer, Jon; Longstaff, Tom; Mallory, George; Mason, Kenneth; Merkl, Willy; Messner; Günther; Messner,; Reinhold; Miura, Yuichiro; Mummery, Albert F.; Norton, Edward; Scott, Doug; Shipton, Eric; Smythe, Frank; Tenzing Norgay; Tilman, Bill; Venables, Steve; Whymper; Edward; Wilson, Maurice; Younghusband, Francis

  climbing, 170–81, 260–61, 273–82; climbers’ tales, 8, 11, 167, 248–9; compulsion, 62–9, 132, 161–5, 186–7, 189, 256; lessons of, 41–3, 72–7, 191–4, 365–89

  cold, 26, 66, 72, 93–7, 161, 194, 196–7, 382, 391; too cold, 41, 43, 105, 142, 182–3, 212, 215–16, 231, 370–71, 384. see body temperature

  Collie, Norman: quoted, 174

  Cordyceps (fungus), 80–87, 93

  corpses, 28, 30, 233–5, 359. 361–2

  Cosmic Zoom (movie), 20–21

  Crane, Adrian and Richard, 77, 379

  Crowley, Aleister, 89–90, 188–98, 202–3, 256–62, 312; quoted, 190–198, 256, 257, 260–1, 261–2

  curse (as punishment), 113–17

  Curzon, George (1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston), 202, 207–13, 218, 241, 268, 288

  Daily Mail, 222

  Dalai Lama, 106, 204, 319–25, 422; 12th, 139; 13th, 90, 185, 206–9, 218, 240–3, 242 ill, 288, 294–6, 312, 315–20, 322–4, 339; 14th (present), 47, 94, 108, 243,292, 303.305. 309–11, 319 – 20, 322–5, 336–7. 432, 434, 436, 437 ill; 5th, 205, 242, 332; Panchen Lama, 139, 320 – 21; Te Lama, 227

  Darwin, Charles, 22, 24, 47, 75, 359–60

  Das, Chandra, 240

  David-Néel, Alexandra, 88–92, 93. 125

  de Acosta, José: quoted, 67

  de Saussure, Horace-Bénédict, 45, 68–9

  death rituals, 233–6

  demonology, 9, 20, 24, 27, 99, 102–6, 110–17, 204. see also Hinduism: Nagas

  Dharamsala monastery, 94

  Dharma (eastern philosophical positions), 49, 100, 104, 106, 110

  dhobi itch, 190

  Diamox (altitude sickness remedy), 71, 72, 76

  Dorjiev, Agvan, 209, 218, 286–9, 293–9, 294 ill; quoted, 295

  drug trade, 355–7

  dzo (cow/yak hybrid), 303

  earthquakes, 19–20, 27, 110, 280

  Eckenstein, Oscar, 189, 190, 193, 196, 197–8, 257, 312

  Einstein, Albert, 22, 24

  Eliot, T.S.: The Waste Land quoted, 45, 46

  espionage, see ‘pundits’ eunuchs, 409–10

  Everest, Colonel Sir George, 12–13, 142–51, 156

  Fiennes, Sir Ranulph, 96

  fire as religious iconography, 30 + ill

  Fischer, Scott, 362, 379–80, 385, 386–90, 392

  folk rites and remedies, 104, 183

  Ford, Robert, 342–3

  Gandhi, Mahatma, 128–9

  Gartok, 312–15, 342

  Gauri Shankar, 280

  Genghis Khan, 125, 205

  Ghonkar, S.G., 316

  ghost moth, 82–3

  Giutschvilli, Roman, 63

  Grant V.C., Colonel John, 229

  ‘Great Game’ politics, 89, 132, 340

  gumno, 68

  Gurdjieff, George I., 283–5, 286–9

  Gurkhas, 80–81, 86, 174–5, 213, 222, 224, 225, 229, 230–31, 252, 313

  Guru, Tibet, 217, 221

  Gyantse, 61, 210, 221, 227–9, 317

  Hall, Rob, 378, 379–80, 382–3, 385, 386–91

  Hamilton, David: quoted, 159–60

  Hansen, Doug, 388, 389

  Harrer, Heinrich, 89, 181, 250, 266–7,305–12,333–6,343; quoted, 334–5; Seven Years in Tibet, 306

  hashish, 357

  Hedin, Sven, 182–3, 263–8, 282;

  quoted, 164, 167

  Hillary, Sir Edmund, 89, 248, 249–50, 280, 345–7

  Himalayas, 39, 189, 194, 201–202, 407; ‘special,’ 6–7, 46, 62, 275, 411; ‘drifting,’ 7–9, 11; ‘hijacking,’ 7, 10; Auli, 39; as barrier, 14–18; Dragon’s Back Ridge, 126 ill; Dzungarian Gate, 17–18; Gori Chen, 300–301, 304; gravitational pull, 143; history, 57–61, 121–3; Kangto, 300–301; Khyber Pass, 16, 122; Makalu (Peak ‘a’), 152–3; mythical origins, 45–53; Namche Barwa, 300; Nanga Parbat, 170–81, 250, 300, 305–6; Nyegyi Kansang, 300 – 301; prehistory, 24–7; pronunciation, 12; range, 3, 191; Zoji La, 191

  Himmler, Heinrich, 328, 330

  Hinduism/Hindus, 31, 34, 48, 98, 99, 109–110, 184 + ill 204, 353; Brahmins, 96, 100, 109–110, 115, 121; Diwali, 57; Kali Yarg, 56, 87; Nagas (deities and demons), 7, 19–27, 40, 121, 393, 397; Sadhus, 31, 32

  hippy trail, 5, 355, 357

  Hitler, Adolf, 122, 241, 264–5; quoted, 264

  hot-air/hydrogen balloons, 69, 70

  Hotan (altitude sickness remedy), 183

  Hunt, Lord John, 248, 345–6, 387

  India, 17, 26, 33, 40–41, 47, 60–61, 124, 185, 191; Arunachal Pradesh, 17, 32, 33, 301 – 2, 304, 348, 400, 430–8; Assam, 41, 300, 407, 412, 418, 427; Bombay (Mumbai), 129; Calcutta (Kolkata), 150, 153, 222–3, 232, 258, 318; coffee shops, 6, 112; Dehradun, 44, 133–4, 136, 138, 140; Delhi, 5–6, 41, 57–8, 112, 150, 152, 184; Dharamsala, 94, 118, 332, 337; food and beer, 6, 408–12, 415, 432, 435, 437; Garwhal, 32, 38, 41, 57, 60 ill, 421; Haridwar, 28, 29–30, 31; Himachal Pradesh, 30–31; Himalayan Hotel, Kalimpomg, 88–9, 89 ill, 113; Hindustan, 34; Imphal, 402; Kalimpong, 88, 90, 114; Karakoram, 22–3, 26, 43, 66, 133, 154, 155, 166, 173, 175, 304; Kashmir/Kashmiris, 41, 108, 128, 159, 166, 191, 194, 265; Kerala, 16; Ladakh, 26, 35, 40, 41, 133, 138–9, 160, 191, 255, 265, 267; Lepcha (in Sikkim), 38 fn, 113; Meerut, 159; Mount Saramati, 276; Mussoorie, 4, 12–13, 40, 41, 142, 144, 399; Naga Hospital, Kohima, 417 ill Nagaland, 17, 36, 41, 301, 355–6, 397–406, 407, 412, 414–16, 419–21, 424–5, 427; Nagas, 7, 276, 282, 393, 397–406, 413–29, 424 ill, 428 ill Nalanda University, 110; Nanda Devi, 152, 276, 349–52; Rishikesh, 28, 29–30, 31 + ill 410; Sikandrabad, 122; Sikkim, 41, 90, 209 ill 211, 213, 243, 251, 259, 327, 328, 351, 356, 365, 374; Sikkimese, 213 ill, 252, 366; Simla, 3, 138, 265, 313; Srinagar, 41, 191; Taj Mahal, 151, 184; Tawang
Monastery, 430, 434–8, 436 ill; Urgyan, 108; Vale of Kashmir-Srinagar, 41; Zoji La, 43

  Indian Mutiny, 147–8, 151

  Iran, 43, 186

  Iraq, 43

  Irvine, Andrew ‘Sandy’, 275, 278, 300, 344–5, 349, 361

  Islam, 16 fn, 125, 160; Muslims, 16 + fn, 98, 109, 137, 139, 185, 205, 284, 285–6, 322, 325, 430

  Jacob’s Ladder, 276–7

  Jainism/Jains, 31, 48, 49, 353

  Jokhang Temple, 102–3, 104

  Jourdanet, Denis, 69–70

  K2 (a.k.a. Mount Godwin-Austen, Chogo Ri), 40, 154, 155–6, 160, 162, 188–98, 256, 259, 349

  Kailash: Mount, 31–2, 36, 48, 50, 52–3, 68, 139, 192, 267, 279–80, 353–4; region, 34, 35, 49, 267. see also lakes: Kailash

  Kanchenjunga, 89–90, 195, 197, 247, 257, 273–4; foothills, 245, 248, 251–2; height, 152, 155, 257; mountain god, 328; range, 256–7, 262, 349

  Kasischke, Lou, 386, 387, 390

  Kathmandu Valley, 101, 112, 138, 346, 415, 418, 419, 421

  Kawaguchi, Ekai, 182–5, 186, 188, 240, 291–2, 294; quoted, 182

  Khampas, 307–9

  Khrushchev, Nikita, 348

  Kipling, Rudyard, 7, 133; The Man Who Would Be King, 403; quoted, xiv

  Kitchener, Herbert (1st Earl), 241, 265

  Krakauer, Jon, 376, 378, 380, 385, 389, 390, 391, 393

  Kunlegs, Dugpa, 238–9

  Kyipup, W.N., 316–17

  lakes, 78, 102, 172–3, 266; Baikal, 296–7; Cho Khor Gye, 320, 322; Kailash, 167; Koko Nor, 102; Manasarovar, 31, 49, 139, 267, 354; Rakshas, 34, 267; Roopkund, 31

  lamas, 60, 61, 137–8, 203, 205–6, 218–20, 233–9, 313, 320–21. see also Dalai Lama

  Lambton, Lieutenant-Colonel William, 143–6, 148, 150, 151; quoted, 146

  Lamjung earthquake, 19

  Landor, Arnold Henry Savage, 167–9

  Larkin, Philip: quoted, 33

  Lee Metford rifle, 223–5

  Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich, 264, 286, 294,339

  Leningrad, 290, 293, 294–5, 297

  Lepcha people, 89, 113, 247

  Longstaff, Tom, 167, 267

  Macdonald, Captain James, 212–13, 215, 221–3, 225, 228, 230–31, 240

  Mackinder, Sir Haiford: ‘Heartland Theory,’ 89, 201–202

  malaria, 150, 303–4, 305

  Mallory, George, 275–80, 300, 344–5, 349, 361

  Malory, Sir Thomas: Le Morte d’Arthur; 278

  Mandrava, Princess, 109