Everest Here Continents Collided. Alex W Milne
Everest Here Continents Collided
Rare Earth Publications
By Alex W Milne
1st Edition
Everest Here Continents Collided was written for the trekker, the armchair mountain enthusiast and the educationalist, who want to understand the spectacular continental collison that has shaped the roof of the world. It is a guide to the geology and scenery of the Khumbu, allowing the trekker to appreciate the nature of the rocks and glaciers they encounter on the classic trek to Everest.
Copyright
Published by Rare Earth Publications a subsidiary of EPC Ltd
Copyright © 2011 by Alex Milne
Cover design by Morag Milne
Book design by Alasdair Milne
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Printed in the United Kingdom
First Printing: September 2011
ISBN-978-0-9569357-0-0
Everest North Face, Western Cwm on the right.
"A poor life this if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare."
William Henry Davies 1871-1940
Preface
This book was born on the summit of Gorak Ri in a sublime moment which comes but a few times in life. I was enjoying the wonders of the high Himalaya towering all around me. Everest and Nuptse were shimmering in the morning light, Cho Oyu was so close you could almost reach out and touch it. All around there were huge thrusting rock structures and at my feet the mighty Ngozumba Glacier was flowing in a mass of debris down and out of sight.
A young French couple savoured the moment. They asked me to explain the panorama which I did with great emotion. It was a wonderful moment as I dug deep into how the continents had collided twenty million years ago and the Himalayas had been thrust up. I finished with the suggestion that this would be a fine moment for a marriage proposal. They embraced. Bientot cherie!!!!
"Everest Here Continents Collided" is a geological photo guidebook for the Khumbu trekker. It is a companion for the traveller who wants to understand the dramatic landscape that unfolds with every twist and turn of the trek, from Lukla to Gorak Shep. It is an aid to the educationalist or armchair enthusiast who want to gain a deeper understanding of how the roof of the world formed and it's present day scenery. Finally it is current, useful advice, for the independent traveller.
I hope it inspires people to visit this most fabulous of countries.
Gorak Ri with Cho Oyu in the background.
Everest and Nuptse from Gorak Ri.
Classic himalayan panorama. Prayer flags above the Dudh Kosi.
The worlds most photographed Sadhu? Pashupatinath.
Busy street Kathmandu. Reflecting the new and the old and what hasn’t changed in the city. The human carrier of huge weight is the same now as he was 39 years ago on my first visit.
Floating high mountains. Final approach to Tribhuvan airport during the monsoon.
The Himalaya stretches in a 2400 kms (1500 mile) arc from the Hindu Kush in the west to Bhutan in the east. The Himalayan collision zone is the largest and most spectacular mountain range in the world today. A product of a mighty continental collision which is without modern precedent, continuing today. The Himalaya is the home of the World's highest peaks, with over 100 mountains exceeding a mighty 7200m (23600 ft). The Himalaya through its drainage basins is the birth place to some of the worlds great rivers, notably the Indus, Brahmaputra, Ganges, Yangtse and Mekong. These rivers are crucial to the wellbeing of some 3 billion people, a significant proportion of the worlds soon to be 7 billion population.
Small boy at entrance to a buddhist shrine. Kathmandu.
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the following contributions. To Dr Rob Casserley for his medical advice while in Nepal. To Dr Dave Barr for his wonderfully stimulating discussions on collision zones and migmatites. To Lisa Draper for critically reviewing the geology and Prof Frank Rennie for encouragement to go ahead and publish. To Morag Milne for characteristic frankness and Alasdair Milne for reviewing the photography.
Early morning mists at Dingboche.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to Banadur Tamang, Tschering and Mahesh Sawa of Community Action Nepal. To Kiran Chitraker the Royal Photographer. My friends in Nepal.
BD and Tchering with the large format camera, Dingboche. By the end Tchering was composing the images.
The bus to Jiri. A small school boy fell off the roof, into a ditch and had to be taken to hospital. If this wasn't bad enough, one of the buses we passed coming down the narrow road plunged into the ravine, with the loss of over 40 lives.
Introduction
There is nothing more satisfying for a geologist mountaineer, with a photographic obsession, than visiting the Khumbu. Trekking through the high mountains, day after day, with a small group of dedicated sherpas and porters is enormous fun. You set off every day eager to see what lies beyond the next corner. A rhythm develops. It is a symphony of mountain vistas, glaciers and the people you meet along the way.
I have chosen to publish my book as an ebook. Why an e-book? So that the eclectic reader can use today's technology to see more deeply into the landscape. The format works well in both presentation of images, and linking to the web for additional revealing content. The format allows individual images to be enlarged and looked at in detail.
The book takes the broad view of how the Himalaya formed and zooms ever inwards,