Photo of the Day 304

Mountains and Climber, Tibet, China, 2004

Photograph by Jimmy Chin

A climber looks over the peaks of the Kunlun Mountains in Tibet's Chang Tang Reserve. This forbidding range in the Northern Tibetan Plateau is buffeted year-round by strong winds, bitter cold, and scant precipitation, suitable habitat for only the hardiest of plants and animals.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in the National Geographic book The Big Open: On Foot Across Tibet's Chang Tang)