Matthiessen, equally adept at fiction and non-fiction, in The Snow Leopard writes the book of his life. He’s on a pilgrimage to the Himalayas a year after his wife is dead, leaving his eight-year-old son behind with family as he seeks at least two things: A glimpse of the rare and the presumedly soon-to-be-extinct Snow Leopard, and a visit with the Lama of Shay at the Crystal Mountain, where few westerners have dared venture. As I said, he’s a Zen Buddhist (something I did in the seventies casually study as one life alternative, as I eased slowly but inexorably out of my Dutch Reformed Christian upbringing), and this is a time in his life he wants/needs to make this quest, this journey. The point is that Matthiessen is able to make this a book about enlightenment, both his and the readers, so much so that one does agree with GS who wonders if it would perhaps be better if the snow leopard remained unseen. Sergio, F., T. Caro, D. Brown, B. Clucas, J. Hunter, J. Ketchum, K. McHugh, F. Hiraldo. 2008. Top Predators as Conservation Tools: Ecological Rationale, Assumptions, and Efficacy. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 39: 1-19.

Amazingly, we take for granted that instinct for survival, fear of death, must separate us from the happiness of pure and uninterrupted experience in which body, mind, and nature and the same.” (42)But to see one is the lifelong goal (much as enlightenment is to his on-again off-again friend Matthiessen) of the author's travelling companion. The whole saga, pervaded by the near tedious melancholy of the two comrades as the going gets tougher and tougher, is fabulous. I don't want it to seem like I didn't enjoy this book. I did. You do get a feel for how liberating, calming, centering, that it would be to walk out of the modern world to the cold and quiet mountains and let it all go…all the complications and illusions of life. He is a student of zen Buddhism and is trying to write a zen Buddhist book. I think if this were a different book I would like it better…but these people, this place…his attempt to be 'zen' all the time, it just feels detached and that we are missing lots of wonderful, dirty, complicated, vivid stuff. He isn't on a meditation retreat. He is walking through people's lives in living breathing communities and he barely seems to notice.

Author Peter Matthiessen, following on from the death of his wife Deborah Love (D in the text throughout) from cancer after a stormy relationship, seizes the opportunity to join George Schaller (GS throughout the book) on an expedition through the Himalayas to observe the breeding season of the bharal - the Himalayan blue sheep, to determine if they are sheep or goats. Today snow leopards are protected throughout much of their range and international trade is banned. Snow leopards are found in 12 countries in central Asia, from the Himalayas to the mountains of Siberia. Forrest, J., E. Wikramanayake, R. Shrestha, G. Areendran, K. Gyeltshen, A. Maheshwari, S. Mazumdar, R. Naidoo, G. Thapa, K. Thapa. 2012. Conservation and climate change: assessing the vulnerability of snow leopard habitat to treeline shift in the Himalaya. Biological Conservation, 150(1): 129-135. Don't worry, the snow leopard saves the village later by convincing the soldiers that the village is haunted by demons.Freeman, H. 1983. Behavior in adult pairs of captive snow leopards Panthera uncia. Zoo Biology, 2: 1-22. We observe Matthiessen and how he relates to Schaller. We observe also Matthiessen’s relationship with Tukten, a man he comes to respect and rely on thoroughly. He was originally employed to bear provisions. A bond of kinship develops between the two. This is interesting to note, given that Tukten was frowned upon, viewed by some as an unreliable drunk. I admire Tukten for his ability to stay calm. He became a role model for not only Matthiessen but also for me. Each reader must judge for himself. In 1973, Peter Matthiessen and field biologist George Schaller traveled high into the remote mountains of Nepal to study the Himalayan blue sheep and possibly glimpse the rare and beautiful snow leopard. Matthiessen, a student of Zen Buddhism, was also on a spiritual quest to find the Lama of Shey at the ancient shrine on Crystal Mountain. As the climb proceeds, Matthiessen charts his inner path as well as his outer one, with a deepening Buddhist understanding of reality, suffering, impermanence, and beauty. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction by acclaimed travel writer and novelist Pico Iyer. For one thing, there was the semi-mystical possibility of sighting a snow leopard, the bharal’s predator, an animal seen by only a very few western travellers. There was also the chance to live for a while among the Dolpo Pa, the leathery mountain people who lived a “pure” form of Tibetan culture cut off from outside influence (Matthiessen, born into Wasp-ish east coast privilege, had already spent half a lifetime as a writer escaping it in search of remote indigenous tribes and landscapes untouched by man).But more than that, the journey to the Himalayas came at a moment in the writer’s life when his mind was desperate for clarity and, perhaps, solace. But there is a disarming directness and honesty to Matthiessen's account, he tells us that his relationship with his wife was bad, until he really realises that she is going to die, he tells us about his restless travels and drug taking, he tells us that his boots are not broken in before the journey, he tells us of his longing for inner peace just as in the next paragraph he will talk about how angry he is, indeed how angry he was even before his wife died.

Wharton, D., S. Mainka. 1997. Management and husbandry of the Snow Leopard. International Zoo Yearbook, 35(1): 139-147. The Hook - Peter Matthiessen passed away April 5, 2014 at the age of 86. I had read some of his fiction, loving the way his adventuresome novel Far Tartuga (1975) made me feel. I decided it was time to give this memoir, The Snow Leopard (1978) recounting his climb of Mount Everest in search of Blue Sheep and a quest to spot the elusive snow leopard a try.Oh boy. I gave up on this book. An alternative title to this book should be: “The Snow Leopard: As elusive in this book as in real life”. The snow leopards can be seen behind the wolverine enclosure on the way up to the viewing area at the top of the hill in the walk-around section. Threats and conservation Subchapter 16.2: Argali Sheep (Ovis ammon) and Siberian Ibex (Capra sibirica) Trophy Hunting in Mongolia Freeman, H. 1982. Characteristics of the social behavior in the snow leopard. Int. Ped. Book of Snow Leopards, 3: 117-120.

Promoting coexistence through improved understanding of human perceptions, attitudes, and behavior toward snow leopards Christensen, J., B. Hewitson, A. Busuioc, A. Chen X Gao, I. Held, R. Jones, R. Kolli, W. Kwon, R. Laprise, V. Magana Rueda, L. Mearns, C. Menendez, J. Raisanen, A. Rinke, A. Sarr, P. Whetton. 2007. Regional Climate Projections. Climate Change, 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, University Press, Cambridge, Chapter 11, 4: 847-940. One day he comes across his fellow villagers wanting to kill a captured snow leopard, which has killed many of the villager’s sheep and goats. Rinzin, who is only 16, makes it his mission to save the life of this beautiful snow leopard. I came to this book through Without Ever Reaching the Summit: A Journey which purports to follow in Matthiessen’s footsteps. My review for it quotes the author saying how little has changed in the 40+ years since the original journey but I realise now how untrue that statement is. An internet search finds a whole host of trekking companies offering guided walks through this region, following the trail of ‘The Snow Leopard’ in many cases. Where Matthiessen and George Schaller camped in often squalid conditions are now found hotels and tea houses catering for travellers. I even found videos on YouTube of mountain bikers travelling the route. It’s not surprising as there are few parts of the world that haven’t changed since the early 1970s. Whether these changes are for the better in every respect is another matter. The secret of the mountain is that the mountains simply exist, as I do myself: the mountains exist simply, which I do not. The mountains have no 'meaning,' they are meaning; the mountains are. The sun is round. I ring with life, and the mountains ring, and when I can hear it, there is a ringing that we share. I understand all this, not in my mind but in my heart, knowing how meaningless it is to try to capture what cannot be expressed, knowing that mere words will remain when I read it all again, another day.”

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One Indian snow leopard, protected and observed in a national park, is reported to have consumed five blue sheep, nine Tibetan woolly hares, 25 marmots, five domestic goats, one domestic sheep, and 15 birds in a single year. Threats to survival Lovari, S., R. Boesi, I. Minder, N. Mucci, E. Randi, A. Dematteis, S. Ale. 2009. Restoring a keystone predator may endanger a prey species in a human-altered ecosystem: the return of the snow leopard to Sagarmatha National Park. Animal Conservation, 12: 559-570. The third time he read his father’s words was nearly two years ago, when he was invited to retrace the journey to the crystal mountain in the company of his father’s original companion, George Schaller. This time, he says, “because [my father] had died and was gone I felt a greater imperative, if you will, to use the book as a way to more deeply understand him and his thinking, not only what that experience had been like for him, but also who he was in life”. Alex took notes on every day of the trip just as Peter had done, partly, he says, so he could one day share his experiences with his young son, as his father had shared his journey with him. At the suggestion of others – Alex does not think of himself as a writer – he is currently contemplating if he might turn those field notes into a book. His travelling companion, George Schaller, was 83 years old when he undertook the trek, but still impossibly sprightly. “George had a lot of insights into what it was like being up on the mountains with my father,” Matthiessen says. “But as you can imagine, perhaps, he is kind of a reserved fellow. He is not necessarily one to dish emotionally, as it were.” This is a Holy grail story, but as you remember from the story of Parzifal, you don't just have to know what question to ask, you also have to know that you are meant to ask a question.