Destination:  Yunnan

Attraction type:  snow-capped mountain, alpine lakes/meadows, glaciers, forest, river valley

Best Season: End of April to October

Access: Kunming> Lijiang > Haba Village

Starting/Ending: Haba Village 
 

Introduction

Rising above the northwest side of Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan, China, the Haba Snow Mountain (Chinese: 哈巴雪山; pinyin: Hābā Xǔeshān) towers 3,500 metres above the Jinsha river. It boasts forests, glaciers,lakes and waterfalls. From June to August each year, tons of azaleas come into bloosm. Currently it is the only snow mountain in Yunnan permissible to climb. More about >>  Haba Snow Mountain,

Itinerary

D0: Lijiang

Arriving and orientation  at Lijiang

D1: Lijiang(2410m)-> Lashihai(2500m)->1st Bend of Yangtze River(1720m-> Qiaotou(1900m)-> Upper TLG(1830m)->Middle TLG(1650m->Haba Village(2100m)

Take an early morning ride from Lijiang to Haba village, pay drop-by visits to a few palces en route. The journey takes around 5~6 hours. 

Overnight in Haba Snow Inn.

D2: Haba Village (2100M) -> Haba Base Camp(4100M), 28KM, 7~12hours

The trekking route starts from the west side of the Haba ridge.  The ascent from 2100m to 4100m  is the way up to the ridgeline

Overnight in wooden house at BC, with upper & lower berth, each room is shared by 10ppl. Camping is not a must unless the wooden house is fully booked during golden weeks in early May and Oct. But a sleeping bag is still highly recommended for the sake of hygiene.

D3: Base Camp(4100M)-> Summit(5396M) -> Basecamp(4100M),  8~9 hours

Start out at around 4:00am for an early summit to welcome the first ray of sunshine

The summit offers a great view of the mountains in distance, such as Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Kawa Karpo Range in Deqen, Three Holy Mountains in Yading of Sichuan Province and some other nameless mountains.

Overnight in wooden house  

D4: Basecamp(4100M)-> Middle Tiger Leaping Gorge (1650M) 

Overnight in Tina's Guest House

D5: Tina's -> Bottom of the Gorge-> Tiger Leaping Stone->Lijiang

Exit from Lijiang

Haba Snow Mountain GPS data

Haba Village: E100.08.110 N27.18.935 altitude: 2626 m
Base camp:E100.05.419 N27.20.556 altitude: 4115 m
C1 camp: E100.06.382 N27.19.766 altitude: 4967 m
Peak: E100.06.230 N27.19.161 altitude: 5396 m 

Special Gears needed

Sleeping bag of -15℃ (even just for the sake of hygiene); ice crampons & ice axes, alpenstock.