Edinburgh and London, Blackwood, 1876, 2nd UK edition. 462 pp, color frontis, appendix. The foldout map is missing and the map pocket has been covered with newer end papers. Green cloth hardcover with bubbles and wear to cover. Very Good condition.
Signed by the author on the title page.
In the year 1873 the author traveled through one of the most inhospitable, but beautiful mountain ranges in the world, the mighty Himalayas. For six months Wilson made his way through these unforgiving mountains, struggling against the elements, desperate to buy provisions from a suspicious native populace, and always trying to fight off the unrelenting cold.
During portions of this epic journey Wilson rode a native Spiti pony. His descriptions of how this trusty mare saved her rider’s life by clambering over boulders and threading her way along sheer cliffs makes for thrilling reading. The lowest pass they crossed was the 11,578 foot high Zoji-la.
Alternately an adventure tale full of murderers and rogues, The Abode of Snow is also strewn with poetic passages regarding Wilson’s observations of the natural beauties he traveled through, including glacier flowers and snowy peaks. The book remains one of the best accounts of overland equestrian travel ever written about the wild lands that lie between Tibet and Afghanistan.
The mountains traversed by Wilson are cut by four successive ranges the Karakoram, the Punjab Himalayas, the Zanskar range and the Kumayun Himalayas-each with its own peculiar features and formidable terrain.
Wilson's expedition viewed in the light of the then prevailing conditions - the insurmountable hazards, sickness, raging storms, food and fuel shortages, lack of modern day facilities; would stand out as an example of indomitable courage and undaunted spirit of this legendary Scottish mountaineer. The Himalayan crest zone reached by Wilson is the most sought after trekking area in Asia. This makes the book all the more important and relevant even after it was first published in 1875.
