The American who wanted to beat Everest 
resume our literary adventures pointing in the direction opposite to our usual. This time you go to the east, in the heart of the Tibetan Plateau, and the time machine takes us to 1948, the years dell'irresistibile advance of the troops of Communist China and the desperate resistance of the nationalist who was among the majestic scenery shocking and Central Asia, one of the most epic stages, but little known of those facts. An enterprising American explorer, Leonard Clark, using his influence government agent fails to get the desired result of an expedition by the powerful but Pu Fang, commander of the armed anti-communist spread in Central Asia and intends to defeat the troops of General Lin Piao, creating a brand new axis between Tibetans and the fiercest warriors fighting Islamic fanatics in control of territories that stretch from the east of Turkey to the foothills of 'Far East. Harbinger of an alliance adverse implications on the facts today in the same theater of war that involved the same actors take today facing very different scripts. But politics and strategies seem to be of little interest all'impudente U.S., its real objective is the exploration of the legendary chain dell'Amne Machin, then almost unknown and brought to the fore the interest only for the scientific and geographic unfortunate, but accidental, loss of direction of some American airmen during the Second World War sighted returning the chain to do great altitude dwarf Mount Everest more than 9,000 meters! The possibility of being the first Westerner to be able to detect the actual height of the elusive mountain to follow the lead Clark-led military convoy from the auction but Colonel and headed for the northern territories of Tibet, almost at the gates of Mongolia. Clark's diaries are essential, written with enormous effort of will in the light of dim lamps fueled by yak butter in very cold nights with average temperatures below 15 degrees. Tell of boundless territories, the lives of nomadic tribes and weaker perennial hunt for survival was then represented by the incursions of ferocious bands of marauders' ngolok, native peoples of Tibet, whose ferocity and brutality just fits the image hagiographic all holiness and meditation consumerism built around today to the inhabitants of those places. But thanks to Clark also know the most touching and significant human encounters in the desert between groups of men who gather to celebrate a friendship, a meeting or a farewell. Or be enchanted at the spectacle unique, powerful and disturbing than an endless caravan of animals, people, goods and weapons from one end to the other extreme of Asia through the caravan routes for journeys that could last months or years. The Amne Machin at the end is identified, and braving the wrath of the 'local ngolok who consider it sacred and inaccessible, measured in long and wide to confirm (and very wrong) the drop reported by American pilots. Clark is unjustly forgotten figure today, but the reasons can be easily imagined. It is not a winner, let alone the man primates (the true height of the main peak is around dell'Amne Machin 6600 meters). After Mao's Communists conquer the territories of the east, was forced to flee to the following Ma Pu Fang perhaps more drawn by the load of gold that they are carried in the cabin of the aircraft with which he took refuge in Cairo for real solidarity. Remains a unique figure: a Westerner who could be comfortable in the tents of felt awkward or clumsy in the skin of sheep, who could talk and deal diplomatically with the most savage tribes of the Tibetan plateau and was able to recognize the wisdom fellow travelers, including the faithful interpreter Dorje cultured and refined Mongolian diplomat, the real numbers (102 for the Buddhist religion) inherent in life, in friendship, in fate and death.
Om mane padme hum. Leonard CLARK (1975), At The Gates of Mongolia
, Garzanti
