Boyles reveals secrets of Shangri-La

Middlebury’s Febs do all sorts of wild and wonderful things during their semester before college, so it is impressive if not surprising that Morgan Boyles ’12.5 decided to hike through the Himalayas with his father on a search for ancient documents of the Bon religion.

The Middlebury Mountain Club (MMC) had screened the film, entitled “Secrets of Shangri-La: Quest for Sacred Caves” on March 11. Despite being scheduled in the middle of midterms, the event drew a sizable mixed audience of climbing enthusiasts, religion studies majors, history buffs and other curious students.

Bon is the oldest spiritual Tibetan tradition, and has been losing influence among the Tibetan people since the rise of Buddhism in the 7th century. Boyles was a climber and assistant cameraman for the trip, which was made into a film documenting the expedition.

The expedition took place in Mustang, Nepal in the fall of 2008. The goal of the trip was to investigate previously inaccessible caves to find artifacts, texts and Buddhist and Bon cave murals, in order to paint a clearer picture of the region’s past. Boyles’ father, Edgar Boyles, was the director of photography and main cinematographer on the trip. Christian Woodard ’11, current president of the MMC, succinctly summed up what might have been a typical reaction to the film.

“Morgan’s experience there sometimes makes me wish that I had a videographer for a father,” said Woodard.

Boyles, an Environmental Studies-non-fiction major, quipped, “Basically, I want to major in John Elder.”

On the expedition he was able to combine two of his passions, climbing and film, quite literally, as his job was to film the climb as well as film in the caves where the larger cameras could not be taken.

On the expedition, the climbers often had to resort to dangerous “choss” climbing — that is, climbing loose or rotten rock ­— to reach these caves. Whether making the exciting discovery of a Bon library dating from the mid-15th century or finding untouched human remains, the journey was filled with adventure.

In the film, the story of the climbers is interspersed with Bon legends and commentary on the changing cultural and political environment of the remote Mustang region, which Boyles described as “frozen in time because of its poverty.” Boyles does not agree with the title of the film, explaining, “A subsistence-farming region losing its cultural identity to globalization and its crops to climate change in a country where half of the population lives on less than $1.25 is not a Shangri-La.”

The film was followed by a slideshow presentation by Boyle of photographs from his trip. Among the photographs of breathtaking panoramas and colorful cave-paintings were scattered snapshots that gave the audience a glimpse into the intimate lives of the vibrant people of the region, as well as into their changing lifestyle.

“Crocs are a real favorite among the old, traditional ladies,” Boyles joked. He went on to discuss the Westernization of the region, coupled with overgrazing and deforestation, as the “[erosion] of culture and landscape.”

One of his last pictures depicted an old woman in a traditional outfit standing at the threshold of a house as a youth stands outside it dressed in Western clothes. The two are gazing in opposite directions in a poignant symbolization of the generation gap being experienced in Mustang.

Generation gaps exist everywhere, but can be bridged with shared time and experiences. Whilst Boyles said that rappelling into caves where no one had been for hundreds of years and filming the discovery of ancient artifacts was a “beyond-thrilling and culturally surreal experience,” he took care to add that “the best part of the trip was being able spend time working and traveling with my father, who is my biggest hero.”

Edgar Boyles is currently in Chile working on an anti-dam project on the Rio Baker in Patagonia, but continues to influence his son, who plans to use this anti-dam project in a nonfiction essay he is currently working on that compares rivers to narratives.

Boyles is also allegedly in negotiation with MMC treasurer Pier LaFarge ’10.5 to organize a fully funded spring break trip to Nepal next year, which we hope will become a reality so that other students can experience the wonder of the region firsthand.