The Big Open: On Foot Across Tibet's Chang Tang [Hardcover]

Rick Ridgeway (Author), Galen Rowell (Photographer), Conrad Anker (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 18, 2004

On foot and on their own, four adventurers brave the challenges of nature on a 275-mile trek through one of the most beautiful—and most remote—regions of the world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Adventure writer Ridgeway (The Shadow of Kilimanjaro) crafts an urgent, poetic narrative as he guides readers across Tibet’s barren and treacherous northern plateau in search of the calving grounds of the chiru, an endangered antelope. Along with his three companions-late nature photographer Galen Rowell, Conrad Anker, who wrote the foreword, and Jimmy Chin-the seasoned mountaineer traces the female chiru’s 200-mile migration route. The bulk of the story focuses on the Chang Tang’s natural splendor and the adverse conditions the group faced while lugging 200 pounds of food, water and photographic equipment on aluminum rickshaws at soaring altitudes. "To conserve batteries," Ridgeway writes, "everyone but Conrad turns off their headlamps. In the east a fingernail of moon glows through a reef of clouds. We are traveling at a compass bearing of 30 degrees, and I assume that Conrad, like me, is using the stars in the sky to maintain our course." But Ridgeway also offers a thoughtful regional history and an affecting description of the complex human struggle surrounding the rampant poaching of chiru and the illegal trade in their pelts (their fur is woven into shahtoosh, an ultrafine and precious wool). The group’s mission is ultimately successful: the Chinese government plans to create a national preserve based on their discovery. The international effort to save the Tibetan antelope and the "big open" steppe it inhabits elevates the narrative beyond the usual extreme travel tour to an enthralling and hopeful height. Color photo insert not seen by PW.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic; First Edition edition (May 18, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792265602
• ISBN-13: 978-0792265603
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.2 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,775,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting, July 5, 2004

By 

Sophie Hunter (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Big Open: On Foot Across Tibet's Chang Tang (Hardcover)

This is another strong Ridgeway book. Although he doesn't have the wide range of material to draw from as in the Shadow of Kilimanjaro, this book is still fascinating. Anyone who reads this will be intrigued by the fate of the chiru, appalled that so many people could be convinced that their fur could be collected off bushes and rocks (including major magazine publications), and interested in the dynamics of four determined personalities working together to cross the Chang Tang. Highly recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great story, May 5, 2009

By 

HWJ3 (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Big Open: On Foot Across Tibert's Chang Tang (Paperback)

I've read a lot of outdoor adventure books and this is a great one. A nice switch from the "I climbed a mountain and almost died" type book (which I love.) As another reviewer said, I would have loved more photos. But the read was first rate. The feeling it gave me of being so far from civilization was excellent.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Big Open, September 28, 2004

By 

Scott Matthies (Chaplin, CT) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Big Open : On Foot Across Tibet's Chang Tang (Hardcover)

Ridgeway does it again with a thoughtful, engaging story of a trek across the high tundra of Tibet looking for the calving grounds of the Chiru, an antelope which is in danger of extinction from killing it for it's wool. With Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and the late Galen Rowell; one gets to know these characters as friends and I'm envious of the time they were able to spend crossing an amazing landscape seen by few westerners since 1903. The Chiru were the reason for the trek and hopefully this book will help in their protection.