This was a bit of a redemption story for me. After utterly failing to photograph snow leopards in the Indian Himalayas in 2015, I was eager to try again for these elusive cats and finally come away with decent photos (i.e., anything within about 400 yards).

It went better than I could have imagined. Our first day encounter—which required a very steep and treacherous climb up skree-covered slopes—landed us an extended encounter at close range with a well-fed male.