Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (; Naxi: or ) is a mountain

massif In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...

or small mountain range in

Yulong Naxi Autonomous County Yulong Naxi Autonomous County (; Naxi: ) is a county located in the northwest of Yunnan Province, China, bordering Sichuan Province to the northeast. It is the westernmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Lijiang. Wenhai vil ...

Lijiang Lijiang (), also known as Likiang, is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Yunnan Province, China. It has an area of and had a population of 1,253,878 at the 2020 census whom 288,787 lived in the built-up area (metro) made of Gucheng ...

, in

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

province, China. Its highest peak is named Shanzidou or Shan-Tzu-tou () and it is above sea level.

Etymology

The Chinese name, Yùlóng Xuěshān, translates directly as Jade Dragon Snow Mountain; it is sometimes translated as Mount Yulong or Yulong Snow Mountain. The mountain's Naxi name is Mount Satseto.

Geography

The Jade Dragon Snow Mountain massif forms the bulk of the larger Yulong Mountains, that stretch further north. The northwestern flank of the massif forms one side of the

Tiger Leaping Gorge Tiger Leaping Gorge () is a scenic canyon on the Jinsha River, a primary tributary of the upper Yangtze River. It is located north of Lijiang City, Yunnan in southwestern China. It is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas W ...

(Hǔtiào Xiá, 虎跳峡), which has a popular trekking route on the other side. In this gorge, the Jinsha (upper

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

) River descends dramatically between Jade Dragon and Haba Snow Mountain. The Yulong Mountains lie to the south of the Yun Range and are part of

Southwest China Southwest China () is a region in the south of the People's Republic of China. Geography Southwest China is a rugged and mountainous region, transitioning between the Tibetan Plateau to the west and the Chinese coastal hills (东南丘陵) and ...

's greater Hengduan Mountains. Settlements surrounding Jade Dragon Snow Mountain include Baisha Town to the south, Longpan Township to the west, Daju Township to the northeast, and

Jade Water Village Jade Water Village () is a natural village in the town of Baisha, Yulong Naxi Autonomous County, Lijiang, Yunnan, China. The village serves as a Dongba cultural centre, and a home to Nakhi people. The village is near Jade Dragon Snow Mountain ...

at the foot of the mountain to the east.

Exploration history

In 1938, an expedition led by the Australian lawyer, feminist, conservationist, and mountaineer,

Marie Byles Marie Beuzeville Byles (8 April 1900 – 21 November 1979) was an Australian conservationist, pacifist, the first practising female solicitor in New South Wales (NSW), mountaineer, explorer and avid bushwalker, feminist, journalist, and an ori ...

, failed to reach the summit due to bad weather. Bitterly disappointed by this failure, she became a follower of Buddhist thought as a consequence. Shanzidou has been climbed only once,Tamotsu Nakamura, "East of the Himalaya", ''

American Alpine Journal The ''American Alpine Journal'' is an annual magazine published by the American Alpine Club. Its mission is "to document and communicate mountain exploration." The headquarters is in Golden, Colorado. Subtitled as a compilation of "The World's M ...

'', 2003, p. 146. on May 8, 1987, by an American expedition. The summit team comprised Phil Peralta-Ramos and Eric Perlman. They climbed snow gullies and limestone headwalls, and encountered high avalanche danger and sparse opportunities for protection. They rated the maximum technical difficulty of the rock at YDS 5.7. The Austro-American botanist and explorer

Joseph Rock Joseph Francis Charles Rock (1884 – 1962) was an Austrian-American botanist, List of explorers, explorer, geographer, linguistics, linguist, ethnographer and photographer. Life Josef Franz Karl Rock was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of a s ...

spent many years living in the vicinity of Mt Satseto, and wrote about the region and the

Naxi people Naxi may refer to: * Naxi people (), an ethnic group mainly living in southwest provinces of China * Naxi language, the language of the Naxi people * Naxi District Naxi District (Tibetan: Jang; ) is a county-level district of the city of Luzho ...

who occupy it. An interest in Rock later drew the travel writer

Bruce Chatwin Charles Bruce Chatwin (13 May 194018 January 1989) was an English travel writer, novelist and journalist. His first book, ''In Patagonia'' (1977), established Chatwin as a travel writer, although he considered himself instead a storyteller, ...

to the mountain, which he wrote about in an article that appeared in the New York Times and later, retitled, in his essay collection '' What Am I Doing Here?''. Chatwin's article inspired many subsequent travellers, including

Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries. Palin w ...

, to visit the region.

Tourism

Lijiang Yunnan China-Naxi-people-carrying-baskets-01

The view of the massif from the gardens at the

Black Dragon Pool Black Dragon Pool () is a famous pond in the scenic Jade Spring Park (Yu Quan Gong Yuan) located at the foot of Elephant Hill, a short walk north of the Old Town of Lijiang in Yunnan province, China. It was built in 1737 during the Qing dynasty ...

(Heilong Tan) in

is noted as one of China's finest views. The mountain is part of ''Yulong Snow Mountain National Scenic Area and National Geological Park'', an AAAAA-classified scenic area. The Park operates a tourist cable car that climbs to an observation platform at an elevation of , and there is also another higher observation platform, one of the highest in the world, at an elevation of for close views of the snow peak. Due to the extremely high elevation many people become oxygen starved and carry cans of compressed oxygen to help. Some have criticized the cable for accelerating the melting of the snow and reducing the water retention by the mountain. The mountain was featured on Episode 4 of ''

The Amazing Race 18 ''The Amazing Race 18'' (also known as ''The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business'') is the eighteenth season of the American reality television show ''The Amazing Race''. It featured eleven teams of two, each returning from a previous edition of t ...

''. File:1 yulong xueshan yak 2012.jpg, Yak and cascading pools with the mountain in the background File:Lijiang Yunnan China-View-of-Jade-Dragon-Mountain-01.jpg, View of Jade Dragon Mountain File:玉龙雪山瀑布.JPG, Yulong Snow Mountain Waterfall File:1 yulong xueshan 2012.jpg, Glacier on top of the mountain File:Lijiang Yunnan Black-Dragon-Pool-01.jpg, Yunnan Black-Dragon-Pool File:Lijiang Snow Mountain Summit.JPG, A view approximately 900m below the summit File:水色會變的藍月谷 20190928195012.jpg, The characteristic of the Blue Moon Valley of Yulong Snow Mountain: water renowned for its "milk" color and its "pure" quality becomes blue when the weather is nice.

References

{{authority control Five-thousanders of the Transhimalayas National parks of China Mountains of Yunnan Tourist attractions in Yunnan Geography of Lijiang Yulong Naxi Autonomous County