On 18 Aug 08, at 17:16, Lee Poulsen wrote: > This makes me very curious about the climate in that canyon (Tsangpo > Gorge), purportedly the largest/deepest in the world and very recently > (re-)discovered. ["The canyon has a length of about 150 miles as the > gorge bends around Mount Namcha Barwa (7756 m) and cuts its way through > the eastern Himalayan range. Its waters drop from 3,000 m near Pe to > about 300 m at the end of the gorge. "] Sounds like an amazing place to > try visiting one day (if they don't dam it first). Google Maps can be used to trace out the route of the river using satellite imagery. The Tsangpo flows from west to east at the north foot of the main range of the Himalaya. If you can't spot this by eye, use the Google Maps search box to position yourself on Lhasa, then follow the Kyi-chu river first west then south and west to its junction with the Tsangpo. Then follow the Tsangpo east (downstream). It eventually gets into some very hairy mountainous territory as it does as hairpin loop around the foot of Namcha Barwa, eventually turning generally southwards and emerging from the mountains in Assam, where it has the name Brahmaputra. It's not easy to trace its route around Namcha Barwa but if you zoom in fairly closely and take your time you can mark out the route. It helps to have a Google ID so you can create a map with the route of the river marked. Frank Kingdon Ward's book "The Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges" will shed further light, as will some other travelogues set in Tibet before WWII. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island