FIELD NOTE 05 · XIZANG / 2024

Westward in Winter: An Atmospheric Sampling Field Note

December 2024. From Shigatse into Ngari, then east across northern Xizang to Siling Co.

Recorded 2024.12.21—12.30Fieldwork · Xizang5 min read

Western shore of Siling Co · Photographed by Lin, 2024.12.30 · Cropped and lightly color-corrected

In late December 2024, I traveled with the field team from Shigatse west into Ngari, then east across northern Xizang to Siling Co. The fieldwork focused on atmospheric sampling across several regions.

The album preserves roads, stops along the route, and the intervals around the work rather than a complete record of the fieldwork. This post therefore stays with what the images and metadata can confirm. Sampling locations, procedures, parameters, and results remain in the formal project documentation.

From Shigatse

The first photographs were made in Shigatse. The low winter sun pushed the city and mountains quickly into shadow. From here, the record becomes less about one place than about roads, short stops, and changing terrain.

A winter afternoon over Shigatse, monastery buildings, and distant mountains — 21 December, Shigatse. The album opens in low winter light.

The project records the method. The photographs record the setting.

Westbound

From 24 December, the images move away from the city. Much of the journey was spent in transit. What remains on camera is usually what came before arrival or after work: low cloud, exposed ground, wind-shaped sand, and broken snow cover.

Low cloud over an open winter plateau and rounded mountains — 24 December. Low cloud over the westbound route.

Pale winter dunes with snow-covered mountains in the distance — 25 December. Sand, river country, and a distant range.

Later that day, the snow cover beside the road became more continuous.

A high plateau slope with broken snow under intense sunlight — 25 December. Snow across an exposed slope.

Mount Kailash beneath a blue sky, with prayer flags in the lower-left corner — Mount Kailash along the westbound route.

Ngari

Between 26 and 28 December, the album pauses in Shiquanhe. Two photographs look in the same direction, two days apart: first a clean outline of the distant range, then fresh snow drawing the city and mountains into gray layers.

Shiquanhe under a clear sky with a long snow-covered range beyond the town — 26 December, Shiquanhe. The distant range remains sharply defined.

Shiquanhe and the surrounding mountains during snowfall — 28 December. The same town under snow.

Sampling work continued during the stay in Shiquanhe. The photographs retain the change in weather and terrain.

Turning East

On 29 December, the record begins moving east. Evening cloud opened briefly over a valley, leaving a faint arc of color at the left edge of the frame.

An evening plateau valley under cloud with a faint rainbow — 29 December. A brief rainbow on the eastbound route.

The next morning, the frame opens again. A snowy horizon, pale grassland, and a pair of wheel tracks give way to the deep-blue water on the western shore of Siling Co.

Golden winter grassland with a long snow-covered range on the horizon — 30 December. Winter grassland and a distant range.

Wheel tracks crossing winter grassland toward Siling Co — 30 December. Tracks leading toward Siling Co.

Deep blue water, a pale winter shore, and low mountains at western Siling Co — 30 December, western shore of Siling Co. This sequence ends here.

The photographs preserve the conditions of the work: winter, altitude, long-distance travel, and a sampling route across several regions.