Squaw Valley Institute Presents: Bhutan Land of the Thunder Dragon

Ruth Anne Kocour, a photographer and author, has shared her adventures in books, articles and on radio and TV shows including CNN's International Hour and The Discovery Channel. Her photos and stories have appeared in People, Harpers Bazaar, Health, Adventure West, Sunset, Nevada Magazine, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, St. Petersburg Times, Reno Gazette, Tahoe Quarterly Magazine and Tashi Delek Magazine of Bhutan.

Ruth Anne is based in northern Nevada with vast experience of the region. She loves working with words and images to share stories about little-known people and places. When taveling beyond Nevada she opts for the Himalayas and Central Asia where she has been part of mountaineering teams including the 1997 American Cho-Oyu Expedition in Tibet. Her climbing has taken her to Aconcagua Argentina), the Baltoro Glacier to K2 (Pakistan), along the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan, Denali, Mt. Elbrus (Russia), Mts. Kilimanjaro and Kenya, Nevado Illimani (Bolivia), Orizaba and Popocatepetl (Mexico), Torres De Paine (Patagonia), Bhutan, Ladakh, Kashmir and rural China. Ruth Anne is a supporter of the Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club and the Missouri Photo Workshop.

Buddhism arrived in Bhutan in the eighth century on the back of a flying tigress. Ruth Anne arrived in Bhutan in 2000 on a British Aerospace minijet, one of two aircraft that comprise Druk Air, Bhutan's national airline. Buddha brought religion; She brought a fervent desire to see the world's last surviving Buddhist kingdom. To the Bhutanese around the corner means up-and-over a mountain, so that's how Ruth Anne saw their country--by walking. Since 2000 she's trekked Bhutan five times, visiting seldom-seen ethnic groups in Bhutan's most remote regions including Gangkar Puensum, the highest unclimbed mountain in the world. Join Squaw Valley Institue and Ruth Anne as she shares her experiences trekking through one of the worlds most mysterious countries.