Ice Mortar Relic Park

Ice Mortar Relic Park

Ice Mortar Relic Park is a cultural tourism attraction.

Ice Mortar Relic Park is located in the Lama Mountain Nature Reserve, 28 kilometers north of Fengning County, Hebei Province, and 208 kilometers from Beijing. It is a must-pass destination on the way to the First Grassland North of Beijing. The area features steep peaks and serene canyons, with many magical landscapes scattered along the roadsides. The main peak, Lama Mountain, stands at an elevation of 1,198 meters and is home to ice mortar clusters resembling "heavenly pots." In addition, there are naturally formed wonders such as cliffside meditation caves, saddle stone carvings, the Lama Buddha, the Divine Split Stone, the Peak Tower, stacked rocks, Nine Maidens Peak, and Hole Mountain, forming a 15-kilometer scenic gallery.

Ice mortars are one of the strong pieces of evidence proving the past existence of ancient glaciers and serve as extremely important historical testimonies to changes in ancient climate and environment. They have been discovered in places such as China’s Huangshan, Lushan, and Tibet. However, those are typically found in glaciers, U-shaped valleys, and glacial beds. In contrast, the ice mortars in the Lama Mountain area are distributed along ridges, peaks, and foothills, making them rare both domestically and internationally.

The discovery of the Lama Mountain ice mortar cluster proves that around 2 million years ago, during the early Quaternary period, large-scale glacial movements indeed occurred in China’s eastern mountainous regions. The glacier type was a continental-scale ice sheet, with ice thickness exceeding 1,000–2,000 meters. It also confirms that a massive and dramatic cooling event took place globally during the early Quaternary period. This provides crucial practical evidence for analyzing and predicting ancient climate and environmental changes in the region and worldwide, human origins, current climate evolution trends, as well as for the discovery and exploration of glacial till-type gold placer deposits. Therefore, the discovery of the ice mortar cluster holds extremely high scientific value and academic significance.