Em and I spent four days hiking around 2 of the 3 holy mountains in Yading Nature Reserve. The mountains are gigantesque. Each is over 6000 m. Chanadorjee (meaning ‘power’ in Tibetan), Jampelyang (meaning “wisdom”) and Chenresig (meaning “compassion”). Our goal was to circumnavigate Chanadorjee and Jampelyang.
The experience was incredible. We were self-sufficient, however were frequently spurred by the smiles of nomads, fuelled by yak butter tea and eternally grateful for some route-finding help on numerous occasions during the trip.
The gallery of pics below provide a fun overview of the adventure. You can click on any image to start the ‘gallery’ view. Some images load slowly. To view an image that is slow to load, click forward in the sequence using the arrow keys and then back. It should load.
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- Em making friends with the Yading village locals
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- Our bestest map of the trekking route!
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- Slowly ascending to the first pass
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- Worked hard not to end up like this beast
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- The first pass in the distance
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- Sometimes it was snow going 😉
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- Met a couple Tibetan dudes who we assume were completing the “Kora” – circumnavigation of the 3 holy mountains
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- On the far side of the first pass some sections of the hillside seemed to be crawling. We realized it was Tibetan people searching for the fabled caterpillar fungus.
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- Got one!
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- Yolo!
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- Yak(s)…!
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- …everywhere
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- Arriving in the Nomad Camp which would shelter us on the first night
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- Our newfound friend making yak butter tea
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- He help Em set up our tent in a wind-protected animal shelter
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- Another nice man invited us in for tea
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- No common language, but some smiles
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- Yak whisperer?
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- The young boy spoke a few words of English. Mandarin was slightly helpful as well
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- Our first proper glimpse of Chanadorjee
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- Cold
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- Rhododendrons in the foreground
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- Looking up at one section of the second pass (many ‘false summits’)
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- A jagged ridge of Chanadorjee
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- Looking back down the valley we walked on Day 2
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- Em painting at Camp 2 – just short of Yaka Pass
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- Looking up to the foot of Yaka pass. Start of Day 3
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- Up and over Yaka Pass (the 3rd pass)
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- A view of The Shoulder in the distance. Jampelyang is up to our left
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- The traverse of the scree ledges around The Shoulder in the distance
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- A close-up of the same
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- A shrine between Yaka Pass and the Ampitheatre
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- Tibetan inscriptions at the shrine
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- Looking up at the icy ledges of Jampelyang
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- These things are hardy
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- A clear shot of Jampelyang
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- The picturesque Amphitheatre nestled below Jampelyang and The Shoulder
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- The trail traversing the scree slopes. We deliberated whether to stay a night in the Amphitheatre and round the Shoulder the next day, however I was quite concerned that snow would fall overnight and make the traverse significantly more treacherous
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- A proud snap back down the valley
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- Same pic without us
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- Slowly picking our way around the Shoulder
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- Just traversing
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- From further along the Shoulder
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- Finally about to ‘Round the Shoulder’ – our 2nd of 3 passes that day
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- And then there was more walking…
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- View along the range in the direction of Lugu Lake
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- A small lake near Rock’s rock – the place where the famous Austrian-American explorer was said to have camped with his entourage in the early 20th century
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- Looking down a valley away from the 3 holy mountains
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- Taking in the last rays of sun after and pretty epic day – 3 mountain passes, 11 hours of walking, lots of ups and downs
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- Serenity is broken
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- Em showing pictures to fungus foragers as we were packing up camp on our final day
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- Curiosity and cultural swaps
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- Testing the weight of my pack
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- Snake lake. We headed left to the sixth pass
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- Success!
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- The path we would take if we wet around all 3 mountains
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- Our seventh + final pass
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- Some wildlife with with Chenresig
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- Looking down at Milk Lake – where the bravest of normal tourists arrive
Thanks for viewing. If you have any questions or are thinking of making the trip yourself send a note. We highly recommend and have a fair amount of insight. If you are the Chinese government and don’t like that we did this, sorry.