The Big Open, On Foot Across Tibet's Chang Tang, by Rick Ridgeway,
photographs by Galen Rowell.
The photos in the book are documentary in nature, showing the rugged terrain
and the rigors of the trek. This expedition tragically became wilderness
photographer Galen Rowell's last; he and his wife Barbara died in the crash
of a private plane shortly after his return to the United States.
Exploration, endurance, and discovery, through one of Earth's least-known,
most inhospitable regions. This book combines high drama with serious
science, and is an inspiring account of the major contribution of four men
to a worldwide campaign to stem Central Asia's trade in rare and endangered
species.
The endearing Tibetan antelope, the chiru, is the source of the world's
finest wool --shahtoosh-- sold as high-fashion scarves from India to 5th
Avenue and Beverly Hills. For millennia, chiru have migrated every year
across the 16,000-foot-high Chang Tang plateau, but their numbers have
drastically dwindled due to their slaughter to obtain their wool. The goal
of the four world-renowned mountaineers in the trek across The Big Open is
to find and document the unknown calving grounds of the chiru, to then use
this discovery to help the Chinese authorities protect the region before
poachers discover it. Wildlife groups around the world are educating the
public as to the inestimable cost of shahtoosh, and several countries have
declared marketing shahtoosh illegal, but much remains to be done.