7 weeks in China Part one . the Cycling in the Kingdom of Nangchen.

China, the Middle Kingdom has throughout its history and is even today somewhere separate from the rest of the world. When your in China , your really in China and the rest of the world seems to cease to exist. China is a totally non cosmopolitan territory except for a very few isolated areas in a very few of the most major cities. Cosmopolitan for Chinese means visiting or living amongst one of the minority groups - some 55 officially amongst the 56 ethnic groups in China - the one other being Han Chinese. By far the largest of these non Han ethnic group’s by area despite only a very small population are the Tibetan's whose language in terms of area, spread and cultural impact is also one of the most significant languages in the world. Only about half that of the actual area of Tibet is in “political “Tibet , now a province of China. The rest is spread out in an a great cap over and around the political entity and almost all the whole of Tibet lies at altitudes of 3-4000 meters or more. Historically there were many small Kingdoms in Tibet and the Kingdom Of Nangchen in remote river valleys and mountains in the Kham on what are now the borders of Qinghai and Tibet was the longest lasting. The area has fascinating history and the people living here are the Khampa’s, a fiercely independent breed of Tibetans with their own dialect whom during their history have deemed no more to swear allegiance to Lhasa then bow to Beijing.

I don’t intend to bore the reader with more small talk though - one picture being worth a thousand words but as I selected these photos of 2 weeks of bicycles touring there, it only reconfirmed that this is indeed one of the loveliest places on earth.

Heading to Tana La

Tana Ri Mountain pass

Alpine summer. Above - during a rainy day I made this compilation of video I took over summer in the mountains of the South Island.

Return to the Summer Alps.

Well , its the 11th of May and we are getting our first taste of winter here with a blanket of white on all the higher regions of the Nelson bays. With winter approaching it was time for the mind to reflect on the previous few months of warmer weather as the body attempts to adjust with the temperature drop. After several years of not much in the way of summer trips if any at all I finally made it back into the hills of the Southern Alps and had some memorable experiences there with my friends as well - long may it continue. Long days and warmer weather make for light packs and relative ease of travel although mountain conditions here are second rate in summer at best. The real excitement though is finally to look forward to getting back to the high country of Asia later this year - it will be 4 years since my last time there which is altogether too long for my piece of mind. More on that in a predeparture blog. next month.

Looking over to Aoraki /Mt Cook and La Perouse from our campsite on the flanks of Mount Sefton

Mount Brewster - climbing in stormy weather.

Picnic time on top of Mount Dun Fiunary

Wandering in crevasse country - a failed attempt on Mount Sefton.

Mt Hopeless in summer conditions.

Glacial cirque below our campsite on Mount Sefton.

Lake Angelus in the Nelson lakes

Start of the day , heading up to a high campsite with Carl.

Several hours later the strain begins to tell.

Damo approaching the top of split gully on Mt Arthur.

Carl Approaching the top of Mount Dun Fiunary.

Jake approaching the top of the South Twin.

Last winter was wet and miserable but so far spring and summer are certainly looking better however the real change is the figurative rains are clearing. After almost 3 years we are starting to see some rays of sun through the murk , and even the murky fog is breaking slowly into slivers of mist. Some good may even have come of all this as both here in NZ and indeed world wide the ideals of authoritative paternalism/materialism that crept on us all have become a failed cause and indeed things may end up been freer in many places worldwide in the future then 3 years ago.

This has left me with some budding morale and motivation with the chance to get back to High Asia looking very promising in the near future and the last months has seen a definite increase in training towards that end. No definite plans as yet but without a doubt the Northern areas of Pakistan and Western areas of China are high on the list.

Below are the few serious trips made in the last months here in New Zealand

ABOVE There are all sorts of reasons for not getting up a peak , too hard , technically or physically, logistically not possible with the time or money available , bad weather or conditions, political or land access problems and sometimes just plain lack of morale on the day, (not to mention some others.) Nemesis as I called 2149m in the Raglans was different - twice I had already completely missed the possible "route up" and on I was well on my way to missing a third time hadn't Kadin saved the error using his phone map. Anyway, although Kadin was lagging most of the morning at the right moment he came around and lead straight up a beautiful but very steep line of ice to the top with only one axe cutting steps up. Well at the top there was a cairn , we weren't the first! but it was a lovely climb and view nonetheless !

ABOVE Each of the higher mountains in the Kaikoura”s give out a certain presence that defines them. Tapuae-o-Uenuku is a true monarch, Alarm looks alarmingly steep and precipitous and indeed the south face is , Mitre has it’s unique shape and form looking quite like Mount Doom and from almost all vantages on the coast one can see Te Ao Whekere, an especially elegant spire when covered in a white mantle. But Manakau is different. It sulks in the background, almost unrecognizable as a major peak , a massive pile of loose scree and rock. Almost in self disgrace from it’s own shapelessness it veils itself well even as one climbs high on it’s flanks. If one discounts the loose nature of the scree and rock then there are no difficulty's climbing Manakau except it is hard – relentlessly hard definitely requiring the most fortitude of all the 5 peaks. Well over 100 years ago Tom Longstaff who is something of an enduring role model and example for all those who have wished to climb and explore mountains wrote “to truly know a mountain is to sleep on it” and I wished to truly get to know Manakau so the decision was to sleep on the summit. There was also a background motive. I knew from Te Ao Whekere in the past that the high points of the Seaward Kiakouras offer one of the most outstanding views I have ever seen whether east wards over the Pacfic or westwards over the Clarence valley and the possibility to be rewarded with sunset and sunrise from the summit of Manakau seemed a justify the effort required no matter how hard. When looking over the Clarence valley from Manakau’s summit the words of another iconic mountaineer came to life as no where I know of in New Zealand is it this so obvious – Reinhold Messner once wrote “...seen from above, landscapes are made up of mountains and watercourses. Just as a transparent model of the human body consists of a framework of bone and a network of arteries, the earth's crust is structured in mountain ridges, river, creeks, and gullies."

ABOVE with all the restrictions around drone flying its actually quite hard to get video of all but a few mountain areas in New Zealand. I managed to get enough together for this short clip.