'Wild Himalaya' wins environmental award

NEW DELHI: Prolific writer Stephen Alter has won the prestigious Mountain Environment and Natural History Award at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival 2020 in Alberta, Canada, for his book "Wild Himalaya" (Aleph) that brings alive the greatest mountain range on earth in all its terrifying beauty, grandeur and complexity.

Travelling to all the five countries that the Himalayan range - 2,500 kilometres in length, between 350 and 150 kilometres in breadth and rising to a maximum height of almost nine kilometres above sea level (Mount Everest) - traverses through India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal and China, Alter braids together on-the-ground reports with a deep understanding and study of the history, science, geology, environment, flora, fauna, myth, folklore, spirituality, climate and human settlements of the region to provide a nuanced and rich portrait of these legendary mountains.

Adding colour to the narrative are riveting tales unearthed by the author of some of the range's most storied peaks - Everest or Chomolungma, Kanchenjunga, Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, and Nanga Parbat, among others.

Th­e book is divided into eight sections which delve deep into particular aspects of the Himalayas.

"Orogenesis" explores the origin, evolution, geology, geography and other such core aspects of these mountains; "The Third Pole" concerns itself with weather, glaciers, wetlands and rivers; "Flora Himalensis" details extraordinary Himalayan plants and trees; "Winged Migrants" goes deep into the world of Himalayan birds and insects; "Mountain Mammals" crosses high passes and goes above the tree-line in search of brown bears, blue sheep and snow leopards. (IANS)

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