Tibetan Buddhists believe that Milarepa, one of Tibet's most famous poets and Buddhist teachers, traveled to Mount Kailash to challenge Naro Bön-chung, a powerful leader of the Bön faith. It is said that the two fought a battle of sorcery, terrible to behold. It lasted for days but no clear...

Something that sticks with you about Mount Kailash is the smell: the strange mix of juniper incense, hot yak butter, high alpine air, and open pit outhouses. It's a combination that is, at first, odd to a western visitor, but common in the villages of Western Tibet. And it soaks into your hair and...

Many of the joys of winter camping are acquired tastes. Short days and long nights, clear skies, and the harsh honesty of cold air, the tackiness of skin on metal, and a hundred other things seem miserable at first. Still, when the summer comes, you find yourself dreaming about them as you sweat in the...