The snow leopard - Peter Matthiessen

An unforgettable spiritual journey through the Himalayas
In 1973, Peter Matthiessen and field biologist George Schaller traveled high into the remote mountains of Nepal to study the Himalayan blue sheep and possibly glimpse the rare and beautiful snow leopard. Matthiessen, a student of Zen Buddhism, was also on a spiritual quest, to find the Lama of Shey at the ancient shrine on Crystal Mountain. As the climb proceeds, Matthiessen charts his inner path as well as his outer one, with a deepening Buddhist understanding of reality, suffering, impermanence, and beauty.

Winner of the National Book Award when it was published in 1978, The Snow Leopard is both a classic of modern nature writing and a deeply moving account of a "true pilgrimage, a journey of the heart."