The Magnificent Glacier on Jade-dragon Snow Mountain

Famous among Hengduan Mountain range, Jade-dragon snow Mountain is the spiritual place of Naxi people, the holy land to live by since their ancient ancestors. With 19 glaciers influenced by the oceanic monsoons, it looks magnificent, beautiful or charming due to different seasons, different weather in different periods of daytime. The mountain appears extremely marvelous from the end of spring to early summer: pretty blue sky, green meadows, blooming wild flowers, surrounded by luxuriant pine & fir forests. It has been called the Museum of Glaciers and Natural Park of Highland Wild Lives for its unique geomorphologic structure, ancient animal fossils, a variety of plants including rare flowers and medical herbs.

Usually, glaciers only can be found in high latitude areas. However, the high elevation and abundant precipitation made it possible for glaciers to form on Jade-dragon Snow Mountain despite its low latitude in southernmost Eurasia. Extending to 35 kilometers, its 13 peaks rise above the horizon into the clouds, visible from anyplace in Lijiang city. The main peak, Shanzi Dou reaches 5596 meters above seal level, an unconquered mountain for human over half a century. The unpredictable weather and severe harsh environment defeat the great ambition of many climbing teams, domestic or abroad. Jade-dragon Snow Mountain is mostly constructed by white limestone and dark basalt. The sharply contrasting colours make it a grand painting by traditional Chinese ink. Naxi people divide Snow Mountains into 3 kinds: white. black and green. The green snow mountain refers to the one with glaciers, because the snow on the surface keeps melting in the daytime, revealing the green ice crystals under the blue sky. From the distance, the mountain looks like shining with light green colour. The landscapes and climates are quite different between the river valley at the foot of the Mountain and its snow peaks. Going up by the cable car, you will jump from the comfortable subtropical climate to the freezing cold zone, meanwhile enjoying the obvious intact distribution of various vegetation at different heights: broad-leaved, coniferous, hard-leaved ever-green, until the rocky desert grass and azalea bushes on the mountain top. That’s very impressive, indeed.

After Blue Moon Valley, Mr.T and I had a simple lunch, got one small bottle of oxygen each, put on our rented winter coats and took a cable car to the Glacier Park in Jade-dragon Snow Mountain. The car went up so fast that many people felt dizzy, plus suffering high altitude sickness. We had to open the bottle to breath some oxygen, drink water and eat several chocolate bars. For a moment, the cable car was “besieged” by the thick mist. Nobody talked. We felt lost in the dead silence. A thought of accident caused by the broken rope flashed into my mind. Oh, God bless us, amen. When we arrived in the station at 4500 meters altitude, I noticed lots of people resting on the benches, worn out. M.T and I walked slowly along the wooden path to watch the amazing glaciers, using the oxygen bottle time to time. Then we just relaxed, sitting in the open air of the snow mountain for a while. In the gloomy day, it was pretty foggy with cold wind. We left this freezing “rocky desert” before getting wet by the showers of rain.

001 The entrance of cableway

002 Going up to the mountain by the cable car

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005 Mr.T said we would get high after breathing the pure oxygen. Let me have a try.

006 The wood platform, 4506 meters above sea level

007 Move, move……

008 The amazing glacier in the mist

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012 Resting in the open cool air

013 Tourist posed in minority costumes

014 Grassless Rocky Desert

015 Let’s go down

016 Bright sunshine above the meadow far away while raining outside the cable car

017 People like taking photos with the Stone in entrance

Jade-dragon Mountain during spring&summer

Golden meadow in autumn

Snow in winter

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