Riding the splitboard. 182 cm learning curve !!

This board is very long. This takes more calories to ride. I broke my other boards so I was down to just my longest board. The board can split into individual skis allowing long distance touring over powder covered Utah mountain ridges. Then reassembled into a snowboard for a quick descent back to the bus stop. In Utah it is possible to tour miles of powder right off the city bus. Minus the mor(m)ons Utah is similar to Mexico with snow !!

Lhasa... tucked away off of the Barkhor

We discovered this beautiful smaller temple off of the North side of the Barkhor. It was quiet but very active, bustling with pilgrims and pilgrim related activities.

Samye Monastery... the Utse... the main temple

from the front entrance courtyard! A very impressive structure!
We were excited to arrive at Samye Monastery. It was about 4 hours from Lhasa, all but the last hour spent on a smooth and beautifully paved highway. The last hour was spent cutting across a sandy, dusty montain side on a barely discernable "road". As usual we were tightly but safely packed into a pilgrim bus, having left at about 6AM from Lhasa. We pulled up in the front arrival courtyard, accompanied by a cloud of dust, with this sight of the Utse to greet us. There were two places to stay, the Monastery guesthouse, adjacent to the Utse within the Monastery itself, or the friendly, clean and totally vacant Tashi Guesthouse. Though not on the actual Monastery grounds, it was a short 3 minute walk through the East Gate. We chose the Tashi, better in every way. Once we settled in, we went exploring...

Samye Monastery... in the Utse

The wall of the inner chapel, on the third floor.
The small chapel with all the Buddha images was the chapel of the Longevity Buddha... good for long life!

Samye Monastery... Utse Holy art

In the main chapel of the Utse. They have really grand and amazing statues inside the Utse.

Samye Monastery...Utse... more Holy art

statues inside the Utse

Snowbird 2007 ~ Keeping your nose up...

The rule of the day with 15 inches of fresh powdery Utah snow!

Snowbird 2007 Dan... deep in it!

Nice sequence of shots (from the bottom to the top) showing how to surf powder!

Snowbird 2007 Sponsor shot!

Snowbird 2007 Seriously on edge!

Cutting through the powder!

Snowbird 2007 Comin' In Hot!

Check out these styly moves!! He's wicked hot!! Representin' Team Hollar at the Bird for the best powder week of the season!

Samye Monastery... hallway art inside the Utse

As you can see by the bottom photo, these hallways were often very dark. We forgot our flashlight this day, and the only way we could tell what was on the walls was by taking a flash photo and looking at the screen real quick. AMAZING what beauty we discovered, mere inches from our eyes!
~Crippled but free, I was blind all the time I was learning to see~

Samye Monastery...Utse inner decor

Samye Monastery... nomad campsite

with donkey!! Taken from the Utse roof top.

Samye Monastery... from the Utse roof

The Black and Red Chortens

Samye Monastery... on the Utse roof

Samye Monastery... white chorten

as viewed from the Utse roof. Notice the eyes of Buddha around the top spire.

Samye Monastery... main arrival area

Just in front of the Utse is this large open courtyard. All arriving buses pull up here in a cloud of dust, while masses of pilgrims bustle around, coming, going and praying. The tall poles in the center of the courtyard are a part of every monastery we went to, but I do not know what the significance is. They are always layered in prayer flags and topped with yak hide. These poles are joined by a huge incense burner, kept full of smoking juniper boughs all day long.

The Best of Time and Space...

I know I have the best of time and space, and was never
measured and will never be measured

I tramp a perpetual journey, (come listen all!)
My signs are a rain-proof coat, good shoes, and a staff cut
from the woods
No friend of mine takes his ease in my chair
I have no chair, no church, no philosophy
I lead no man to a dinner table, library, exchange
But each man and each woman of you I lead upon a knoll
My left hand hooking you round the waist
My right hand ponting to landscapes of continents and the
public road.

Not I, not anyone else can travel that road for you,
You must travel it for yourself.

It is not far, it is within reach
Perhaps you have been on it since you were born and did not
know,
Perhaps it is everywhere, on water and on land.
~ Walt Whitman~