From Lion's Jaws

In 1959 a nineteen year-old lama, Ch gyam Trungpa, led 300 Tibetan men, women and children on a desperate nine-month escape from pursuing Communist troops. Forced to travel where people had never been, they trekked through some of the world's harshest weather. Then, starving and exhausted, they attempted a river crossing under heavy gunfire in flimsy vessels they'd made themselves -- only to face a midwinter climb over the Himalayas. Ranking with such legendary accounts of courage and survival as Shackleton's 1914-17 Antarctic expedition, it was marked by great compassion and good humor -- and touched by a magic long gone from the Western world. Told in spare, gripping language, enhanced by Ch gyam Trungpa's hand-drawn maps and illustrations, the story links to a gallery of images, video footage and satellite imagery that enable readers to follow the stunning route, breathe in the spectacular landscape.