This trekking guide provides an exciting vision of the high and remote places of Bhutan. It includes both standard treks and spectacular routes seldom traversed. The author writes: "More people have reached the summit of Everest than have successfully completed the Lunana trek." Bart Jordans has accomplished an incredible task of documentation and compression. The guide is intended for trail use when weight matters; tough paper, pages sewn in signatures, cover strong but flexible. OK to kick it around on a tent floor.
The book has many virtues: Settlement and camp heights in feet and meters. Green boxes give average hours of travel, height changes, and distances. Clear sketch maps show peaks, settelements, camp sites, trails and rivers. A few spectacular photographs are included. There are also special blue boxes each with a different side topic: mountaineering history, botanical descriptions, local customs, explanations about monasteries and forts, snippets on such things as the taxation of yak herders, and advice on how to deal with a poisoned horse. Introductory topics include acclimatization and stretching exercises. Perhaps one day there will be a larger home edition containing all the cultural and mountaineering information that had to be cut (see www.bhutantreks.com).
The guidebook will be an invaluable addition to the information given by your Bhutanese guide. Read about the areas you will not be visiting. Get the benefit of Jordan's years of commitment to this wonderful unforgettable country. Take this book with you, as I did last year.
