This piece had a number of influences. The first is a comment that Zidders made a while back about being homesick for a place he'll never see. I thought that there was a simple and very nearly crystalline profundity in that statement, which I think many people who have a love for the natural world can understand and indeed truly grok.

Another influence was the poem 'Ash Wednesday' by T. S. Eliot, as well as two particular songs. The first of these is "The Snow Leopard" by the Austin, TX-based Indy-band "Shearwater", and which I consider to be one of the most soaringly-epic and freakishly-gorgeous I have ever heard in my now 42 years of life.
I also think the best online video for the song is actually a fan-created one, and it can be found here: (Shearwater - The Snow Leopard).

Jonathan Meiburg (lead singer and main songwriter for Shearwater), said that his main inspiration for the song was Peter Mattiessen's 1978 book "The Snow Leopard", which I own, and have read several times, and which I also highly recommend.

The second song, which provided some inspiration is "Shambala" by Three Dog Night, itself based upon the ancient legends of Shambala (sometimes also spelled Shambhala), which have been conflated into the Western tales of Shangri-La.