Retracing the epic odyssey behind The Snow Leopard

A highlander whose unique trekking tours help preserve threatened Himalayan cultures is to re-trace one of Nepal’s most famous journeys.

Gavin Anderson (51) from Ullapool, a developmental tourism expert, will make up one half of a duo taking on an epic odyssey which inspired the seminal book, The Snow Leopard.

In 1973, late US environmentalist Peter Matthiessen accompanied field naturalist George Schaller on a 250 mile, two month trek to the sacred Crystal Mountain in upper Dolpo and its monastery, Shey Gompa.

That spiritual search for the rare snow leopard inspired Matthiessen’s 1978 classic, still regarded as one of travel literature’s most important works.

Shortly after that trip, the area was closed to visitors for decades and remains largely undiscovered.

Now that journey, rising up over 17 500 ft into the peaks, is to be taken once more, nearly 50 years on, with Scotsman Anderson guiding the expedition.

Anderson, originally from Findhorn, has spent years with the indigenous ‘Dolpo-pa’, the villagers of remote Dolpo, featured in The Snow Leopard.

For the past 18 months, Mr Anderson has been running trekking tours into the barely accessible region with a company he founded in the Scottish Highlands called Nomadic Skies Expeditions.

His intimate connections with this fragile ancient culture brought him to the attention of Matthiessen’s official biographer, US-based Lance Richardson, in June.

Peter Matthiessen taking notes during a break on the journey, watched by local children (Photo: George Schaller)

Richardson was searching for someone to take him to the heart of the upper villages and to the people; some of whom may have remembered the original journey.

Now the pair have announced that they are to walk sections of the original route; a mission which will anchor Richardson’s forthcoming biography, True Nature: The Odyssey of Peter Matthiessen.

Furthermore, the pair are seeking eight adventurers, with an interest in Nepal and the writings of Matthiessen, to join them on the 22-day trek, which will start and end in Kathmandu.

Sherpas and their yaks guiding the 1973 expedition (Photo: George Schaller)

‘When Lance contacted me saying he wanted to retrace that famous spiritual journey to Shey Gompa, it was all completely out of the blue,’ says Gavin Anderson.

‘I actually read The Snow Leopard in my twenties and, later, when working in Dolpo. I have often tried to understand Matthiessen and Schaller’s original route from Dunai. It doesn’t follow the path used today but the journey we will be taking is based exactly around the original. It will be fascinating to learn what Matthiessen and Schaller experienced, but through the eyes of the Dolpo people.’

Matthiessen, a fleeing Cold War CIA agent and environmental activist- who ascended to become a Zen Buddhist master- won a double National Book Award for The Snow Leopard.

Following Matthiessen’s death from leukaemia in 2014, biographer Richardson was permitted access by the family to the author’s trove of unpublished material.

Peter Matthiessen (centre) with local guides on the journey to Shey Gompa (Photo: George Schaller)

Repeating Matthiessen’s ‘journey of the heart’, he feels, will be pivotal to examining who Matthiessen was, as a man.

‘When researching the trip, I came across a reference to Gavin (Anderson) and I sent him an email, with no expectations. But his enthusiasm and his idea of focusing the journey on the Dolpo-pa and their culture, made it a no-brainer for me,’ said the Austin-based writer.

‘For me, part of our journey will also be to see how the landscape and culture has changed.’

Matthiessen’s official biographer Lance Richardson will retrace his footsteps, with Scotsman Gavin Anderson

The journey: In the Footsteps of Matthiessen, will take place next September but the pair are seeking eight fellow travellers, now, as they hone preparations.

Anyone interested in joining the group should visit HERE.

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