Mountain & Bike: Cycling and Climbing

One day we will present a detailed report with pictures on this site. In the mean while, the quotes below quite well summarize the essence of the expedition - a mind-expanding experience of pristine and beautiful nature, but achieved only through pain and discomfort. It is about 34 days of self-contained riding in constant strong wind under the glaring high altitude sun over frozen ground and involving cold river crossings - but it is also about intense feelings of freedom and spectacular views of mountains and lakes.

"It's a torture - the hands cannot be used, the map rips, and one asks oneseIf if one can make it alive to the next camp! The lips are swollen and split, and at the nails the skin is blistered so that the fingertips bleed! [...] One wishes oneself away, away - just away out of the Tschang-Tang!"
(Sven Hedin, 1906, in "Transhimalaya")

"With its ecological wholeness, stark beauty, and sense of unfettered freedom, it is a place where mind and body can travel, where one's soul can dance. It is the essence of the Chang Tang."
(Georg Schaller, 1997, in "Tibet's Hidden Wilderness")

"All true wisdom is only to be found far from the dwellings of men, in the great solitudes; and it can only be attained through suffering."
(Igjagarjuk, Greenland)

Our photos in Panoramio: Xinjiang-Tibet Highway, Chang Tang, Toze Kangri, Tagchagpuri.