Garze Altitudes and Tips

The whole Garze is a high altitude place. Many parks and towns where hotels are located are at over 3000 meters. Visitors traveling to Garze must be aware of the high altitude and take precautions in accordance.

Base of Hailuogou is at 1700m, park of Hailuogou is at up to 3500m. Kangding is at 2600m. Minya Konka Trek goes to over 4800m. West of Minya Konka is at over 3800m. Xinduqiao is at 3400m. Trek to Mt. Yala goes to over 4200m. Tagong is at 3700m, Trek of Tagong goes to over 4000m. Yading Base is at 2800m, park of Yading is at between 3900m and 4600m. Genyen is at around and beyond 4000m. Base of Ganzi is at 3400m, Sertar and Yarchen Gar is at around 4000m. Danba base is at around 2000m. Lots of parks in Garze involves walking and not everywhere you can use a car to get to. Often the most beautiful views require a hard walk on high altitude.

A lot of people suffer from different levels of altitude sickness when traveling to Garze. It is normal when you have symptoms such as slight headache, which will usually go away as you travel. But please make sure all travelers are with decent physical conditions especially without sever heart or lung problems. Precautions are necessary to avoid getting altitude sickness, including:

• 1. Drink more water than you normally need everyday.
• 2. Wear more layers to avoid getting cold due to elevation/temperature/pressure change.
• 3. Eat properly (no alcohol and be careful of local street food) and have enough time to sleep.
• 4. Do not stress yourself both physically and mentally/ A little physical preparation is necessary.
• 5. Prepare medication for AMS, cold and diaries.

Useful medicine include Diamox, Hongjingtian Herbs. Diamox is difficult to come by in recent years since now it requires doctor's prescription. The herbal Hongjingtian is widely available in most pharmacies in Sichuan.