This is the account of a journey to the holiest mountain on earth, the solitary peak of Kailas in Tibet, sacred to one-fifth of humankind. To both Buddhists and Hindus it is the mystic heart of the world and an ancient site of pilgrimage. It has never been climbed. Even today, under Chinese domination, the people of four religions circle the mountain in devotion to different gods. Colin Thubron reached it by foot along the Karnali River, the highest source of the Ganges. His journey is an entry into the culture of today's Tibet, and a pilgrimage in the wake his mother's death and the loss of his family. He undertakes it in order to mark the event, to leave a sign of their passage. He also explores his own need for solitude, which has shaped his career as a writer—one who travels to places beyond his own history and culture, writing about them and about the journey. To a Mountain in Tibet is at once a powerful travelogue, a fascinated encounter with alien faith, and an intimate personal voyage. It is a haunting and beautiful book, a rare mix of discovery and loss. In its evocation of landscape and variety of exotic peoples, of mythic and spiritual traditions foreign to our own, it is a spectacular achievement from our greatest living travel writer, an artist of formidable literary gifts, uncanny intuition, and wondrous insight.

这是一个前往地球上最神圣的山峰--西藏的凯拉斯孤峰的旅程，它是人类五分之一的人的圣地。对佛教徒和印度教徒来说，它是世界的神秘中心，是一个古老的朝圣地。它从来没有被攀登过。即使在今天，在中国的统治下，四种宗教的人围绕着这座山，向不同的神灵献身。科林-图布伦沿着恒河的最高源头卡纳里河徒步到达了这里。他的旅程是进入今天的西藏文化，也是在他的母亲去世和失去家人后的一次朝圣之旅。他这样做是为了纪念这一事件，为他们留下一个标志。他还探讨了自己对孤独的需求，这也塑造了他作为一个作家的职业--到他自己的历史和文化之外的地方旅行，写下他们和旅程。致西藏的一座山》既是一部强大的游记，也是一次与异域信仰的奇妙邂逅，更是一次亲密的个人旅行。这是一本萦绕在心头的美丽的书，是发现和失落的罕见结合。它唤起了异国人民的景观和多样性，唤起了与我们自己的传统不同的神话和精神传统，这是我们在世的最伟大的旅行作家的惊人成就，他是一位具有强大的文学天赋、不可思议的直觉和奇妙的洞察力的艺术家。