The Pick of Punch

In this his most challenging journey, Michael Palin tackles the Himalaya, the greatest mountain range on earth, a virtually unbroken wall of rock stretching 1800 miles from the borders of Afghanistan to south-west China. Penetrated but never conquered, it remains the world's most majestic natural barrier, a magnificent wilderness that shapes the history and politics of Asia to this day. Having risen to the challenge of seas, poles, dhows and deserts, the highest mountains in the world were a natural target for Michael Palin. In a journey rarely, if ever, attempted before, in 6 months of hard travelling Palin takes on the full length of the Himalaya including the Khyber Pass, the hidden valleys of the Hindu Kush, ancient cities like Peshawar and Lahore, the mighty peaks of K2, Annapurna and Everest, the bleak and barren plateau of Tibet, the gorges of the Yangtze, the tribal lands of the Indo-Burmese border and the vast Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh. Facing altitudes as high as 17,500 feet as well as some of the world's deepest gorges, Palin also passed through political flashpoints like Pakistan's remote north-west frontier, terrorist-torn Kashmir and the mountains of Nagaland, only recently open to visitors. They had a brush with the Maoists while filming in Nepal and advice from the Dalai Lama before crossing into Tibet. This book, compiled from his diaries, records the pleasure and pain of an extraordinary journey. Basil Pao, the inspired photographer of SAHARA, FULL CIRCLE and POLE TO POLE, captures the sensational beauty of the finest mountain scenery in the world. This is adventure at the very highest level.

The Himalaya is the greatest mountain range on earth, a virtually unbroken wall of rock stretching 1800 miles from the borders of Afghanistan to southwest China. It remains the world's most majestic natural barrier, a magnificent wilderness that shapes the history and politics of Asia to this day.

Having risen to the challenge of seas, poles, dhows and deserts, the highest mountains on earth were a natural target for Michael Palin. In a journey rarely, if ever, attempted before, Palin takes on the full length of the Himalaya, from the Pakistan--Afghan frontier through India, Nepal, Tibet, and Yunnan in CHina, before recrossing the mountains to Assam, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

The product of six months' hard traveling, Himalaya links together the Khyber Pass, the hidden valleys of the Hindu Kush, ancient cities like Peshawar and Lahore, the mighty peaks of K2, Annapurna and Everest, the bleak and barren plateau of Tibet, the gorges of the Yangtze, the tribal lands of the Indo-Burmese border and the vast Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh.

Facing altitudes as high as 17,500 feet at Everest base camp, and treks through some of the world's deepest gorges, Palin and his team also passed through political flashpoints like Pakistan's remote northwest frontier, terrorist-torn Kashmir and the mountains of Nagaland, only recently open to visitors. They had a brush with the Maoists while filming in Nepal and advice from the Dalai Lama before crossing into Tibet.

Himalaya is, for Palin, a true voyage of discovery. He had covered none of this ground before, let alone milked a yak, washed an elephant or swum at 14,000 feet.

This book, compiled from Palin's diaries, records the pleasure and pain of his most challenging journey so far and Basil Pao, the inspired photographer of Sahara, Full Circle, and Pole to Pole, captures the sensational beauty of the finest mountain scenery in the world.

This is adventure at the very highest level.