Higher Still on Yulong

The third day of our tour, while based in Lijiang, comprised an ascent of Yulong Xueshan, and a visit to Su He Ancient City, not far from Lijiang. While the ascent by cable-car to 4,506 m is simple and quick, the logistics of accessing a berth in the car are a nightmare, given the massive numbers of tourists (mostly in tour groups like us). Having arrived at the base, we were first taken away to see some artificial lakes and rapids in a nearby river, coloured naturally blue by carbonates and sulphates in the water. We then waited an hour back at the main base, before being taken by bus to the cable-car station where waited for another 40 minutes in a queue. The ride was of course provided pleasure and challenge for both of us, and was spectacular up to a point; we soon entered cloudland, and saw little else but the nearby snow, and of course the shops, pub, boardwalks, altitude markers and a prayer wheel at the terminus. The boardwalks went up another 1,000m or so to the summit, but we only made it to 5,000 odd metres. Oxygen bottles were readily available and recommended, but carried by only a minority of visitors. Myself and Dan shared a bottle, and it barely lasted the hour or so we were up there. We were otherwise kitted up quite well and had some fun in the snow and ice. On returning to base, it was sad to see one tourist brought down on a stretcher, after suffering acutely from the lack of oxygen at that height.

Yulong is immensely important culturally, including as the abode of the mountain goddess, but also as a place where some of the most important herbs, roots and fungi used in traditional medicine are found. One of our obligatory shopping stops on tour was a vast traditional medicine warehouse at the base of Yulong, fascinating indeed (incidentally, this was one of a number of shopping stops that are an obligatory part of any tour in China).

Su He was in many respects a better preserved and rather less crowded “ancient city” than the old quarter of Lijiang, but still entirely transformed into shop-fronts of one kind or another. One gets little real sense what life must have been like before we tourists turned up. We stayed back in Lijiang again that night, before setting forth the next day for Shangri-La, via Tiger Leaping Gorge.

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