ABSTRACT
This chapter provides formative expeditions to the Himalaya insight into exploration and its motivations before touching upon the challenges faced in managing the shrinking arena for remote exploration. The ice dribbles down a corner of rock that's a major feature of a 400-metre headwall of sedimentary rock, the final barrier to the summit of this Himalayan giant called Annapurna II.The industrial age reached its peak towards the end of the nineteenth century, just as the largest blanks on the earth's surface were being filled in. The golden age of physical exploration was coming to an end. After the Second World War, Nepal tentatively began to open its doors to foreign travellers, almost at the same time as the Chinese communists invaded Tibet, closing access to the north side of Everest. In Tibet, the Chinese have adopted a pragmatic approach.
