Source::Kittiya Pawlowski
Kittiya Pawlowski, an American photographer, wanted to click the photo of a snow leopard and started her journey from the lower Mustang. It had rained the week before, so the snow leopard’s first footprints were still fairly new when she found them. After a 7-hour ride to a small airstrip in the Tamakoshi River Valley, she boarded a plane and after about 20 minutes she was in the most dangerous airport in Lukla.
She travelled to the north through the dusky gorge of the Dudh Kosi with a group of guides, porters and yaks. She then took a rest in a teahouse around midday. At the teahouse, she played Bagha Chal with lots of Sherpas.
She took a stroll through Sagarmatha National Park’s upper valleys. She explored the Khumbu Valley by moving along the icy rim of a gaping chasm. After discovering snow leopard tracks outside of Gorak Shep (16,942 feet/ 5,164 metres). She had to climb in order to get the best view because the weather was erratic at 18,000 feet and this was the highest point at which snow leopards could be found.
She eventually managed to get a shot of a snow leopard with her telephoto lens. Overlooking Phantom Alley, a field of ice pinnacles, was a snow leopard. She left Gorak Shep in the northeast and crossed a frozen lakebed at night while carrying 25 pounds of camera equipment.
“Squinting through my camera’s telephoto lens, I noticed something in the shadow of Mount Pumori. At first, I thought it was a rock, but it was exactly what I was looking for,” said Pawlowski.
“After backpacking through Earth’s most forbidding terrain, lung-starving altitudes, soaring peaks, and high deserts. This was the most difficult and rewarding set of photos I have ever taken,” she added.
According to Bhumiraj Upadhyay, the park’s chief conservation officer, there are more than 300 snow leopards in the park.
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