Queer Mountain rises abruptly on the southeastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, located in the western Sichuan Plateau, in the northern part of the Hengduan Mountains, stretching from northwest to southeast. To its north lies the Mola Mountain, and to its south is the Shaluli Mountain. On its northern side flows the Yulong River, a tributary of the Yalong River that runs from west to east, while on its southern side are the Xi River and Maishu River, both tributaries of the Jinsha River that flow in a northerly loop. The main peak of Queer Mountain stands at an elevation of6168meters, with geographical coordinates of99°4'east longitude31°47'and5000north latitude, situated in the southern section of Queer Mountain, within the territory of Dege County. The mountainous area has dozens of snow-capped peaks over“meters in elevation and serves as a strategic passageway on the Kang-Tibet transportation route. The Tibetan name for Queer Mountain is”Tso La,6168meaning "the wings of a great bird." Towering and majestic, with its snow-covered peaks, Queer Mountain is located in the northern section of the Shaluli Mountain Range. Its highest peak reaches5500meters in elevation, and the mountain stands prominently above a surrounding cluster of peaks, all around“meters high. Hence the saying:”"Climb Queer Mountain, and you can whip the sky."
1Introduction
A famous high mountain in Sichuan Province. Located between Garze and Dege in the northern section of the Shaluli Mountains, it stretches over a hundred kilometers from northwest to southeast. Originally a remnant of an ancient planation surface, it later became a towering massif atop the plateau as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau rose. The mountain peaks exceed5500meters in height, with more than6000peaks surpassing3meters.,Hence the local saying:“"Climb Queer Mountain, and you can whip the sky."”The mountain base sits at an elevation of3500to3800meters, with a relative height difference of approximately1000to2000meters. The mountain is composed of granite intrusions. Through the effects of water flow and glaciers, the rocky peaks are rugged, and the ridgelines are jagged. There are over30glaciers of varying sizes,,with a total distribution area of80square kilometers, second only to Gongga Mountain. The modern snow line is found at elevations of,to5100~5200meters, is one of the regions in China severely affected by snow hazards. Queershan Mountain features numerous ancient glacial landforms, while its foothills are covered with gravity-deposited materials. The Xianluhai Lake on the eastern flank is a glacial lake at an altitude of4148meters. It stretches approximately3kilometers from north to south and1kilometers from east to west, making it one of the high-altitude lakes in Sichuan Province. With breathtaking scenery, it is known as the“"Jade Pool of the Western Paradise"”. The Queershan Mountain section of the Sichuan-Tibet Highway passes through a mountain pass at an altitude of4889meters, which is the highest highway pass in Sichuan and a notorious hazardous point along the Sichuan-Tibet Highway.
Queershan Mountain (known as Zhuola Mountain in Tibetan) has a main peak at an altitude of6168meters.,Located at longitude99.1°and latitude31.8°, it sits in the southern section of Queershan Mountain within the territory of Dege County. The main peak of Queershan has two ridges: northwest and northeast. On the northwest ridge, about3kilometers from the main peak, lies Queershan Peak at an altitude of6l19meters. It stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the main peak above the sea of clouds, covered in snow and ice, towering and majestic. The main peak of Queershan Mountain has a massive body, complex terrain, well-developed glaciers, and dense crevasses, making it technically challenging to climb. The relative elevation difference from the valley bottom to the summit ranges between200meters and400meters. On the northern and southeastern slopes of the mountain peak, two large glaciers lie in the valleys, with their glacier tongues extending all the way to the edge of the forest at an altitude of4500meters. At the northwest foot of the main peak lies the glacial lake Xianluhai (known as Yulong Lacuo in Tibetan) at an altitude of4100meters, boasting unique flora and fauna resources. In front of the lake lie two lateral moraine dams and terminal moraine walls, standing200meters high and stretching3kilometers long, rising10to15meters above the lake surface. These are remnants of ancient glacial activity from the hard trough valleys on the northern slope. The hilly plateau is dotted with block-distributed spruce and juniper trees. The forest grassland is home to over20species of animals, including black bears, forest musk deer, white-lipped deer, blue sheep, snow leopards, and argali. In1990, the People's Government of Sichuan Province designated Xianluhai as a provincial-level nature reserve.1951In that year, the People’s Liberation Army built the Queershan Highway with rudimentary tools and sheer determination, completing it in half a year. Since then, the towering and perilous Queershan Mountain, the glacier-dotted Queershan Mountain, and the Queershan Mountain that boasts the highest pass on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway have become widely known.
2Mountain Access Routes
From Chengdu, follow the Sichuan-Tibet Highway westward via Kangding and Dong’eluo, then head north through Daofu, Garze, and Yulong District before descending. The entire journey spans868kilometers. After passing Xianluhai, you’ll reach the northern foothills of the main peak of Queershan Mountain and the southern shore of Xianluhai Lake, where the mountaineering base camp sits at an altitude of3800meters.
Sangxue Mountaineering Expedition Itinerary
D1:Chengdu---:Kangding---:Xinduqiao
: Depart in the morning, a drive of8:hours to Xinduqiao for accommodation and meals.
D2:Xinduqiao---:Daofu---:Garzê (3390M:)
: After breakfast, set off to enjoy the charming summer scenery of western Sichuan. The drive takes9:hours to reach Garzê for accommodation and meals.
D3:Garzê---:Manigange---:Xinluse Lake---BC :(4020M:)
: After breakfast, depart on a2:hour drive to Xinluse Lake. Then take a light-load hike for2:one and a half hours to reach the base camp, while enjoying the scenery around Xinluse Lake. Overnight stay atBC:.
D4:BC :(4020M:)
: Arrange altitude acclimatization training and basic mountaineering technical instruction. Overnight stay atBC:.
D5:BC---C1 :(4020M-4850M:)
: Ascend fromBC:toC1Full-day itinerary6About an hour. Overnight atC1the base camp.
D6:C1---C2 (4850M-5350M)
FromC1ascend toC2, spend the whole day walking on the glacier, passing many crevasses. The full-day itinerary is about6hours. Overnight atC2the base camp.
D7:C2---C3 (5350M-5750M)
FromC2ascend toC3, spend the whole day walking on the glacier. Today you will also pass many crevasses. The full-day itinerary is about4hours. Overnight atC3the base camp.
D8:C3---Summit push to---C1 (5750M-6168M)
FromC3after reaching the summit, return toC3for rest, then descend toC1.
D9:C1---BC---Garzê
FromC1Return to the base camp. After resting at the campsite, head back to Garze County for accommodation and meals.
D10: Garze---Xinduqiao
After breakfast, depart and enjoy the charming summer scenery of western Sichuan all the way back to Xinduqiao for accommodation and meals.
D11: Xinduqiao---Chengdu
After breakfast, depart and continue enjoying the charming summer scenery of western Sichuan, returning to Chengdu in the evening. (For everyone’s better rest, individual hotel rooms for solo accommodation have been arranged.)
D12-13: Reserved2One day of flexible time
Note: The flexible day is reserved as a buffer to deal with bad weather and various unexpected situations.
3Climbing Guide
Due to inconvenient transportation, very few teams choose to climb Mount Qionglong (Que'er Mountain). Even so, according to the reserve management, in the past five years around twenty teams have come to climb the mountain, but most only reached5500meters or so. Nowadays, taking a bus to Mount Qionglong generally means: Day 1 from Chengdu to Kangding, Day 2 from Kangding to Garze, Day 3 from Garze to Xinluhai, then transferring to horses to reach the base camp. The round-trip travel time takes six days, which is enough to deter domestic climbers with limited vacation time.
What is even more discouraging is the climbing route. People have not heard news of any new team successfully reaching the summit via the traditional route again. It is said that there are many crevasses on the route, as well as sections requiring rock climbing and ice climbing. The Blade Ridge Expedition Team just reached the summit on July 22nd, so I’ll talk about the details of this mountain’s routes.
Image on the right:C1ToC2passes through a gully, half of which is a rapid stream and half is a rocky path, with two sections requiring rock climbing.
The base camp is generally located4000meters into the forest, with nearly2100meters of elevation difference relative to the main peak. This is one of the challenges of climbing Mount Qionglong and also what makes it unique. From the base camp to the summit, it is usually necessary to establish two or three camps. The base camp can be set up on the beach by the traditional Xinluhai, which is the usual4000meter base camp; it can also be set up on the beach of Ganhaizi at about4300meters, where you can look up to see the broken glacier tongue hanging off the cliff, with the glacier river cascading down about seventy meters over a waterfall about three hundred meters from the camp. The camp is near the river channel, but there’s no need to worry about flooding from rising water levels, because the river flows down to Xinluhai three hundred meters below before it can rise significantly. The advantage of setting up at Ganhaizi is that if ascending from the4000meter base camp to the4950meterC1, it can be quite strenuous, whereas setting up the base camp three hundred meters further up means ascending from4300meters toC1meters of the4950meter section is relatively easier. The downside is that the usual base camp carries a larger amount of supplies, and between4000meters and4300meters, everything must be carried manually, making transport more difficult. The entrance to the Xinluhai Nature Reserve is at an altitude of4000meters. If you ride a horse to the traditional4000meters base camp, team members hardly expend any energy, so climbing up 300 meters to Ganhaizi on that day is completely normal.
Queershan Mountain
To reach the base camp from Xinluhai, you can approach from either the east or west side of the lake. The west side is only for hikers and requires navigating through woods, making transportation very inconvenient. On the east side, horse teams take the lakeside route in dry seasons, but during high water, they must climb over a not-so-high mountain ridge, then descend and cross four or five glacial rivers with fast and cold currents—be careful not to be swept into the lake. Even when riding a horse, stay alert. From the entrance of the Xinluhai Nature Reserve to the traditional base camp, walking from the west takes about two hours, while walking or riding a horse from the east takes around three hours.
From the traditional base camp to Ganhaizi, you’ll pass through a slope area mixed with shrubbery and rocky gullies—the path is not obvious. Just head upward along the right side of the glacier river. Within the shrubs, you’ll see a small mountain with not much height and very clean-washed rock walls. When you circle to the right and reach the same elevation as the small mountain, you’ve arrived at Ganhaizi. Apart from some shrubs near the campsite, everything above untilC1consists only of rocky slopes and scattered patches of turf. The larger rocks are easy to walk on—unlike scree slopes where every step slides halfway. Still follow the right side of the glacier river.4600At [a certain] meters, there’s a deep gully with cliffs over 50 meters high on both sides. The slope inside the gully is around 30–40 degrees, about 10 meters wide, with the glacier river taking up more than half the width. The gully is about 70 meters long, and there are two sections where you’ll need to climb via small rock faces—fortunately, each is only about 3 meters high. In summer, the river flows very fast, so do not attempt to wade. When I visited during the May Day holiday last year, there were only hidden streams under the snow, making it much easier to walk on the snow.
Soon after climbing the second rock face, turn right, then ascend along the right side of the mountain. In summer, you’ll see large areas of rocky slope, which are relatively easy to walk on. Around May Day, because of lingering snow on the rocks, if the snow isn’t hard, you might twist an ankle by stepping into hidden holes.
The junction between ice and rock is where we set up ourABC, at an altitude of4900meters, at the eastern edge of the5000meter ice plateau. About 100 meters to the south, it connects to a descending ice tongue. You’ll climb a roughly 30-meter-high, 60-degree ice slope—this spot is also good for basic training. Otherwise, you can easily bypass it via a gentler slope of about 20 degrees nearby.
Right image:C1Ice crevasses revealed when the platform is snow-free.
Above the slope is what is commonly referred to as theC1snowfield (in summer, it’s an icefield), which spans an area so large it’s no exaggeration to say it could fit 30 soccer fields. There’s a slight slope from west to east, with a few irregular bumps in the middle—you can practically set up camp anywhere. If you still have energy, it’s recommended to head further in to reduce the difficulty of the climb to theC1. If you still have the energy, it's recommended to go as far inside as possible to reduce the amount of climbing needed to reachC2.C1’s elevation ranges between4950and5000meters.
C1The icefield has many visible crevasses. In snowy seasons, you’ll need to probe your way forward, which will slightly slow your progress. Heading fromABCtoward the summit (south), you’ll need to detour right due to a rocky mountain marked on the map as being5290meters tall blocking the direct route. Therefore, at this point, you’ll need to continue moving closer to the lower right side ofC1. you’ll need to continue heading toward5290Peak. Depending on your energy level, get as close to5290Peak as possible.
5290Peak’s western side features a 200-meter-high cliff with slopes ranging from80degrees to50The 180-degree snow-rock mixed slope is quite challenging to climb directly. You can ascend straight up from the nearby chaotic ice area on the western side, but be cautious as this section contains numerous crevasses. Snow bridges also require careful assessment of their stability.88The Sino-Japanese joint climb in the middle of the year approached via a flatter and safer snow slope further west, but that route required a detour of over one kilometer—making even the snow slope climb quite arduous. Navigating through this chaotic ice area can be consideredC1toC2one of the most difficult parts, where route-finding and rope-team protection are key to success. Once past this chaotic ice zone, you’ll reach what is commonly referred to as theC2Snowfield, which is also about the size of ten or more soccer fields. Try to venture as far inward (south) as possible, depending on your energy levels for the day.C2Its elevation is around5350meters. Not far to the east lies5290Peak, while approximately two kilometers to the west is QueershanIIPeak, also known as Duopu’ezha (6119meters). Directly to the south is the main peak, whose east-west ridge gives those approaching fromC2a view of a horizontally aligned ridgeline, while the true summit is hidden behind a snow mound at this angle. FromC2, the upward view may appear to be a large snow slope, but upon reaching an altitude of5600meters, you’ll enter a maze of crevasses. These might more aptly be called ice faults, with widths exceeding three meters and depths ranging from five to ten meters. The walls of the crevasses are near-vertical, some even overhanging, with ice curtains hanging from the sides. We found a turning point at about a sixty-degree angle in one of the cracks to climb through. I attempted to climb directly up the vertical wall, but since it was actually composed mostly of snow layers that couldn’t hold an ice axe securely and the crampons couldn’t get a stable grip, it was extremely difficult and unsafe to climb.
After overcoming this challenging section, you’ll arrive at theC3Platform, which—if measured in soccer fields—is only about one to two fields in size. The elevation here is5750meters, and if you still have the energy, you can climb a bit higher to a good platform at5950meters.C3A slightly higher position here will set you up well for the summit push the next day. FromC3, the summit appears deceptively close, but the snow mound still blocks the main peak, creating the illusion that it’s just an easily reachable snowy mound. Aside from the sheer ridge wall to the south, the surrounding peaks—including QueershanIIPeak, which is now farther away—are no longer imposing, and the other mountains seem even smaller. At this point, the ancient saying “The higher you climb, the farther you see; all other mountains seem small” truly applies.C3Summit day is an exciting one. Climbing up to the col below the summit presented few difficulties. South of the col are snow-free mountains, while the col itself features a cornice. The steep southern slope drops over 500 meters, and the ridge leading to the summit includes a tricky steep section that’s hard to ascend. We moved left by about ten meters and started climbing up a roughly sixty-degree slope. On the ridge to the summit, there are two large rock formations, and our climbing route was aimed toward the lower one. Upon reaching the rock formation, we couldn’t safely continue along the ridge to the summit because the ridge’s edge was too narrow. We had to descend a few meters and traverse laterally across a roughly sixty-degree slope to reach the second rock formation, then climb up again. After moving to the south side of the ridge, we continued traversing, since the north side would lead to a snowball-like summit. The south side of the ridge offered a sixty-degree slope we could climb, whereas the north side would have required ascending at an overhang.
My partnerJONand I roped up and climbed to the summit. The top features a flat ridgeline about ten meters long, wide enough for around ten people, but due to strong winds, everyone must connect to secure anchors. The section from the6050-meter col to the summit is arguably the hardest part of the entire Queershan climb. Without roped climbing, you’d need to fix ropes for about 200 meters. Technical moves include ascending, traversing, and ascending again. For route-fixing, you can scrape away surface snow and place ice screws into the ice. Followers must be extremely careful at the belay points, as any mistake could result in a fatal plunge.6050col and then down toC3—is relatively safe. However, the return fromC3to base camp should not be taken lightly, as the elevation difference exceeds 1,500 meters and there are still some hazardous sections. It’s best to retrace your original route. We descended down a 200-meter mixed snow-rock wall on the western side of5290. Although this saved some distance, we had to descend one person at a time using a single rope, which took a considerable amount of time.
The Alpine style is the most suitable approach for climbing Queershan, with a normal climbing duration of eight to nine days. If using the polar style, you can establish aC2before proceeding toC2Move toC3the location, and except for the base camp, you needC1andC2two sets of camping gear.
Due to road construction between Erlang Mountain and Kangding (318National Highway), for the next two years Chengdu will remain a one-way in, two-way out route. If you want to take the provincial roads through Xiaojin and Danba, or the317National Highway via Barkam and Luhuo, these are strictly prohibited in Sichuan under so-called road administration management (inter-prefecture operations), so you need to plan your travel time accordingly.
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