ABSTRACT

84 85The Karakoram is a harsh, unforgiving land of rock and ice, further north than the Himalaya, beyond the reach of the monsoon, where the soils are thin and growing things scanty. In the middle of this wilderness there is a one-acre patch of lush green grass covered in spring flowers that are buzzing with insect life by midsummer. It is protected from the mountain winds by converging moraines on two sides and by the rocks below the Ogre’s Thumb on the other (see Figure 5.1). At the base of the Ogre https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315204246/8f8c2229-a1cc-4e6c-b0b9-2c9b3615d544/content/fig5_1.jpg"/> Photograph by Doug Scott