The unique massif of Kailas protruding through the morning mist. On this, the north east face from about 4km, the distinctive rock strata and pyramidal shape are clearly discerned.

Within the league of mountains, Everest and K2 are renown solely for their size; their sheer height above the distant seas. On a more spiritual level, many mountains are seen as sacred, bridging the gap between earth and heaven, even providing a suitable earthly abode for the gods. Modern Turkey abounds in peaks sacred to the pre-Turkish inhabitants: Olympus, home to the Hellenic gods, & Mount Arrat, sacred to the Armenians.
Further east, beyond the Himalaya, Gan Rinpoch or - to use the more popular Indian name - Mount Kailas, is a contemporary pilgrimage site to Buddhists, Hindus, Jains and Bön-Po. Pilgrims make the sacred yet arduous journey from across South and East Asia, to a mountainous region enduring in its isolation. A region devoid of airports, roads, hotels and most modern conveniences. A region beyond reach of the twentieth century.

The ruin of a fort sit dramatically atop a ridge overlooking what was once the major caravan route between Nepal, Ladakh and Central Tibet.

Twelve dusty hours south of Ali, capital of the Ngari region of Western Tibet, the peak of Kailas rises from the plateau. Anticipating our approach, the more experiences pilgrims - many were returning from other pilgrimages nearby - had climbed atop the back of the truck, awaiting their first glimpse through the foothills and swirling cloud of the snow clad peak. The two dozen Tibetan sharing the truck with us, were all Buddhist save for a couple of Bön-po. Traces of the ancient rivalries between the animist Bön-po and the upstart Buddhists were nowhere among the pilgrims, but the dramatic Himalayan landscape bore the scars of the mythological battles for dominance between the incumbent Bön-po priest, Narn Bön-chung, and the Buddhist saint Milarepa. Though Buddhism won both the battle for devotees and - at least in the legend of Tibet - the battle for Kailas, the two religions practice perfect tolerance between each other.

Beyond its significance to Buddhist and Bön-po, Kailas is revered by both Hindus and Jains. To Hindus, Kailas is the earthly throne of Shiva. This stems from an association between Kailas and the mythological Mt. Meru, and separating one from the other is often difficult. To Jains Kailas - or Astapada - is reputedly the place where Rishabha was the first being to attain Liberation.

For most pilgrims, their reason for making so arduous and expensive a pilgrimage is to perform one - though more usually more - circambulations of the mountain. Traditionally the circuit, or Kora, starts and finishes in Darchen, a small village of mud-brick buildings recently supplemented by two crude guesthouses for foreign visitors: one for Indian pilgrims, and one for the rest of the world.