The Big Open: On Foot Across Tibet's Chang Tang

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Item # RH-38990  ISBN: 0792238990




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For centuries, the Tibetan antelope called the chiru has been the source of the world's finest wool, shahtoosh, and for millenia chiru have migrated every year across the 16,000-foot-high Central Asian plateau called Chang Tang, one of Earth's least-known regions. A century ago, there were chiru herds of many thousands, but their numbers have dwindled drastically—for the only way to obtain their luxurious hair is to hunt down and kill them.

Suspense and danger abound in the gripping pages of The Big Open, which chronicles four men's extraordinary contribution to help stem Central Asia's illicit trade in rare and endangered species—a black market second only to drugs in its scope. In hopes to establish a reserve, the team took on a month-long, 250-mile trek on foot in search of the chiru's hidden calving grounds, pulling rickshaws laden with gear into a wilderness where no Westener had ever set foot.

About the Authors

Rick Ridgeway, mountaineer and explorer, is the author of five previous books, including The Shadow of the Kilimanjaro, which was named one of the best travel books of the year by the New York Times.

Galen Rowell's work regularly appeared in Life, National Geographic, Outside, and Sports Illustrated. This expedition was Rowell's last; he died shortly after his return to the United States.

The Big Open: On Foot Across Tibet's Chang Tang