Tuesday, May 7, 2019

THAMSERKU AND KANGTEGA BY ISABELLE SCHEIBLI


ISABELLE SCHEIBLI (bn. 1949) 
Thamserku ( 6,608m - 21, 680ft) 
Kangtega (6,782m - 22,251ft) 
Népal 

In Le Thamserku et le Kangtega depuis Thame, watercolour on paper, 2005, Private collection
Courtesy Isabelle Scheibli.

The mountains 
Thamserku ( 6,608m - 21, 680ft) is a mountain in the Himalayas of eastern Nepal. The mountain is connected by a ridge leading eastward to Kangtega. Thamserku is a prominent mountain to the east of Namche Bazaar and lies just north of Kusum Kangguru. The first ascent was made in 1964 from the south by members of Edmund Hillary's Schoolhouse Expedition: Lynn Crawford, Pete Farrell, John McKinnon and Richard Stewart. Below the basin on the southwest face, they reached the south ridge after climbing a difficult couloir. The team described the climb as difficult and the route has not been repeated in its entirety by anyone else. In 2014, Russian climbers Alexander Gukov and Alexey Lonchinskiy made the first ascent on the southwest face
Kangtega (6,782m - 22,251ft) known also as The Snow Saddle, is a major mountain peak of the Himalayas in Nepal.  It was first ascended in 1963. by David Dornan, Tom Frost, Michael Gill, Jim Wilson,[ in an expedition led by Edmund Hillary.

The artist 
Isabelle Scheibli (bn. 1949) is a french journalist, screenwriter, essayist and watercolorist, passionate about mountains. She is the author of the novel "Gaspard de la Meije" published in 1984. As a journalist she worked for several mountains magazines such as "Vertical" or "Montagne Magazine". She wrote several films scenarii related to the mountain such as "Le passe montagne" (1996), "Jours Blancs" (1990) or "Gaspard de la Meije" (1984) based on her novel, winner of a prize in the Festivals of Trent and of Les Diablerets, and also recompensed by the La Fondation de France. As a watercolorist, she illustrated three albums from the Carrés de France collection for Editions Equinox, about the Haute Savoie (2002), the Savoie (2003), the Drôme Provençale (2008).
Isabelle Scheibli made several voyages to Patagonia and Antarctica, which are her favorite places on earth. She doesn’t always paint in situ, due to the extreme conditions in these lands, especially speaking about watercolors! She often paints watertcolors in her studio from her drawings or photos, she realised herself in the Antarctic.  About those voyages she wrote :
 «Painting the glacial world is a long-term process. To accompany close alpinists and Himalayists in their expeditions, I have often been in the mountains, in the Alps, in Nepal and in Tibet. The peaks have become a privileged motive. In 2014, I had the opportunity to go to Patagonia, to follow the coast of the Beagle Channel on a sailboat and to go to the foot of the glaciers of Tierra del Fuego. It was a very violent aesthetic shock.  Here the conditions did not always allow me  to paint as I wished. When I returned I undertook a work in my atelier from the many drawings, watercolors and photos that I had brought back. The dimension of immensity quickly led me to paint in a large format, which I had never done before. In 2016, I set out on a sailboat to approach the absolute quintessence of the glacier, an entire continent of ice, Antarctica. I had somewhat underestimated the navigation part of this trip but the discovery of this icy pole was a glare. Once again I brought back watercolors stolen between two gusts, many drawings and photos. And I got to work on the way back, immersing myself completely »

___________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau