About Me
www.paleyphoto.com
my blog
Selected Publications
National Geographic AdventureMongolia / Shangrila (Bhutan) / Banff Award
OutsideTuvalu / My Toughest Shot
Aramco MagazineHunza
Le FigaroAfghan Kyrgyz
Geo is one of my favorite magazines to work with. They sent me to the Wakhan in winter to shoot a story titled “The Forgotten"
TimeBest of Asia
LinternauteInterview (in French)
OnearthHimalaya Melting
BackpackerChina

About Mountains
Maps
Silk Road - Dedicated to the region, with places of interest
Flashearth.com - Google Earth's forefather
Tibetmap.com - from the Tibetan Institue of Cartography, with many Tibet maps
Texas University online maps
Cartographic.com - from East View Cartography, many maps on the Pamir Knot region.
Festivals
Vancouver Mountain Film Festival
Grand Bivouac Mountain Film Festival in the French Alps
Banff Mountain Festival in Canada

Blank on the Map - a great site with a ton of information on the region: maps, culture, history. Created by Bruno Collard, a passionate friend whom I trekked and climbed with.
K2climb.net - THE web site on K2. Wonderful, can’t be missed!
Interesting page about Eric Shipton, one of Everest’s unsung heros.
Article about a crazy and unheard of Russian trip north of K2 region, in China.
Walk and Ride Pakistan - a trekking company based in Pakistan that's specialized in horse treks. Started by my dear friend Simone Carmignani, a pure-bred Italian
Karakorams.com - created by a bunch of friends all from Pakistan, this site is dedicated to trekking in the Karakoram.
Mockandoneil.com - website of Lonely Planet writers John Mock and Kimberley O’Neill, some of the biggest experts on North Pakistan, a wonderful site full of resources and great links.
Asie-centrale.com - information about Central Asia (French)
Interesting paper on Hunza and its inhabitant’s diet.
Alpinisme.com - (French)
Tvmountain.com - each summit climb is described with a video. Entertaining!
Juldu.com - from Julien Dufour, with information on trekking in the Pamir.
Article about Ethnic Minorities and Marginality in the Pamirian Knot, from famed anthropologist Hermann Kreutzmann.
Interesting information about the origins of the Pamiri people, their languages etc. A must.
Geca.org about the Wakhi people living in the Pamir Knot region.
National Geographic page on the Pamir Knot's biodiversity.
The Genographic Project - National Geographic's project of mapping out Human Migration, Population genetics etc. Among other fascinating things, this link might help you understand why european looking people can be found in the Pamir Knot region. At the 40.000 BC marker, click on the M9 route migration and find out more about the Eurasian clan... Wah!
Pamirs.org - great reference site by Robert Middleton focusing on the Tajik Pamirs



News on the Region
Eurasianet.org - news on Central Asia
Asiaplus.tj - news on Tajikistan
Asian section of the New York Times
Le Fiagro India Blog - news on Pakistan, Afghanistan and India (French)

Books
Warrior Wanderer - The Life and Times of the Legendary Explorer Bill Tilman
Chesslerbooks.com - specialist of mountain books
K2 - Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain - about the most recent book from famed climber Ed Viestur.
Digital Silk Road -  53 books online available for free, old maps etc – fantastic!
Johnkeay.com - official website of writer John Keay, author of  “When Men and Mountains meet” and others
Good compilation of Wakhi related work, including our Wakhan brochure produced with John Mock and Kimberley O'Neil.

Recommended Reading in no particular order
All books by Peter Hopkirk, especially “The Great Game”, “Foreign Devils of the Silk Road” etc.
Caravane of Tartarie, Roland and Sabrina Michaud (picture book – French)
When Men and Mountains meet, John Keay
The Gilgit Game, John Keay
Mountains of the Gods, Ian Cameron
Blank on the Map, Eric Shipton
6 mountain travel books, Eric Shipton
Eric Shipton, by Peter Steele
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, Eric Newby
La Folie du K2, Charlie Buffet (French)
Par les sentiers de la Soie, Philippe Valery (French)
Among the Mountains, Wilfred Thesiger
La rumeur des steppes, Rene Cagnat (French)
The Heart of a Continent, Francis E. Younghusband
In the Ice World of Himalaya, Fanny Bullock & William Hunter Workman
Through the Heart of Asia; Over the Pamirs to India, Gabriel Bonvalot
The Golden Peak: Travels in Northern Pakistan, Kathleen Jamie
The Last Nomad, Wilfred Thesiger
Unknown Karakoram, R.C.F. Schomberg
The Snow Leopard, Peter Matthiessen,
Surviving the Extremes, Kenneth Kamler
On top of the world; 5 women explorers in Tibet, Luree Miller
In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods,
Galen Rowell
After you, Marco Polo, Jean Bowie Shor
Massoud l’Afgan, Christophe de Pontfilly (French)
The Flame of Adventure, Simon Yates,
The Kyrgyz and Wakhi of Afghanistan, Nazif Shahrani
Karakoram: Mountains of Pakistan, Shiro Shirahata (Picture book)


Trekking in the Karakoram and Hindukush,
John Mock and Kimberley O’Neill, Lonely Planet
Tajikistan and the High Pamir, Robert Middleton & Huw Thomas, Odyssey Publications
Northern Pakistan, Dave Winter, Footprint Editions
Trekking in Pakistan and India, Hugh Swift
Pakistan & the Karakoram Highway, Lonely Planet
 
 
Hindi/Urdu Phrasebook, Lonely Planet
Central Asian Phrasebook, Lonely Planet
Tajik-English Dictionary and Phrasebook, J.F. Conry and Firdaus Shukurov
Adventure books from the region
Guidebooks
Phrasebooks
Organizations and NGOs
Asia Society
Alpine Club of Pakistan
Royal Geographical Society
The French Explorer's Society
Aga Khan Development Network - very influential in North Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan’s Pamir region.
Acted - doing much rehabilitation work in Tajikistan
IUCN - the World Conservation Union
World Conservation Society - check out their work in the Pamir region
GTZ - German organization doing lots of work in the Pamir region
Mountainwilderness - dedicated to the protection of the mountain environment
Mountainunity.org - a site dedicated to bringing more visitors to Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor.