The Queen is dead. God save the Queen. Now Charles is king. Trump, trying to grab the spotlight as always, predicted (who cares?) that “King Charles III, who I have gotten to know well, will be a great and wonderful king.” (See story here.) That remains to be seen; the first King Charles[...]
Archive for September 8th, 2022
U.S. life expectancy is dropping
Most Americans assume longevity is increasing, but lately it’s gone into reverse. From 2019 to 2021, average U.S. life expectancy dropped from 79 years to 76 years (see story here). Losing over a million Americans to Covid-19 obviously skewed the statistics. But U.S. life expectancy was alread[...]
September 8th, 2022 - 5:23 pm § in Misc.
Road to Rongbuk (video)
In October 2019 a group of 11 motorcyclists drove to Tibet’s Rongbuk Monastery. This video has spectacular views of distant high mountains, including Everest, which from the Tibetan Plateau probably is similar to viewing Mt. Rainier from the Puget Sound lowlands; both mountains rise roughly 13[...]
September 8th, 2022 - 2:09 pm § in Misc.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Rongbuk Monastery
Built in 1902 in Tibet at 16,434′ elevation, and destroyed during China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), it was rebuilt in the 1980s and is an active monastery again. This site figures prominently in prewar Everest climbing history. Formerly a 5-week overland trek from India, today it&[...]
September 8th, 2022 - 2:02 pm § in Misc.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Lunag Ri
This 22,621-foot mountain in the Everest region wasn’t climbed until 2018, after failed attempts in 2015 and 2016. In the foreground is 19,050-foot high Nangpa La (pass), a traditional pilgrimage and trade foot route through the Himalayas between Nepal and Tibet. Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]