Veiled Mountain, Hidden Valley

Namcha Barwa, Mountain of Burning Thunder, still guards the heart of the world, as he was sent by the gods to do. As kings, he and his brother Gyala Peri watched over southeastern Tibet, a land of mystery to this day. But Namcha Barwa slew his brother in jealousy, decapitating him and throwing the head away. The gods turned them both into mountains, Namcha Barwa 7800 meters high, Gyala Peri and his missing dome 7300.

So sayeth the Epic of King Gesar, Tibet's ballad and the longest literary work in the world. No myth could fit better. The world's highest monument to guilt and jealousy, Namcha Barwa veils itself almost unceasingly in clouds and mist. On the rare days that the sun can burn away its cloak, the mountain astonishes in its stark beauty. Chinese National Geographic named it by vote China's most beautiful mountain in 2005, but such flattery does nothing to sway the silent sentinel. Namcha Barwa has defied all but one ascent to his peak, in 1992 no less, and still holds off all but the hardiest from reaching its charge, the enigmatic Yarlung Tsangpo Gorge.

The Yarlung Tsangpo River wends its way through 1700 kilometers of Himalayan headland. At the foot of Namcha Barwa, it takes a sharp turn south, and begins a course through 250 kilometers of gorge so deep and lush that the Grand Canyon is a dusty trench by comparison. At an average depth of 5000 meters, Yarlung Tsangpo Gorge provides a vertical tour of all the earth's ecosystems from rainforest to arctic, but only to the hardiest birds.

The river rages and churns to ensure that only it may traverse the gorge to its southern exit, where it emerges into India purified, becoming the sacred Brahmaputra. Kayaking expeditions have tried and failed to make it all the way through, with death attendant on audacity. A National Geographic expedition in 1998 lost expert kayaker Doug Gordon in the attempt, and it wasn't until 2002 that an international team completed a descent of the gorge's upper section.