cover image Himalayan Odyssey

Himalayan Odyssey

Parker Antin. Dutton Books, $21.95 (291pp) ISBN 978-1-55611-197-6

In early April 1984, Antin and his party--a Nepalese guide and two porters--reached a 20,200-foot pass in the Himalaya. There was no trail and they were running short of food in the most inaccessible area of Western Nepal. Antin, a research biologist at UC-San Francisco, had started out with a friend who returned to Kathmandu after two weeks, leaving him to pursue his dream of trekking up and down mountains and immersing himself in exotic cultures. Antin met danger and adventure in plenty: Tibetan thieves, inhospitable villagers, perilous river crossings, rock slides. But he also found remarkable beauty in the stark landscape and a spiritual awakening. There was a bittersweet love affair as well. With freelance travel writer Weiss, Antin presents an engrossing tale of an odyssey on the thin edge of survival. Photos. (Nov.)