Yading is the name of the nature park located in Daocheng Xian of Garze Prefecture in western Sichuan and at the border with Yunnan Province. In Yading nature park there are three holy mountains Mt. Chenrezig (6032m), Mt. Jampayang (5958m) and Mt. Chenadorje (5958m). These three mountains are considered the holy mountains in local culture and hence they are forbidden to climb. The park won’t allow any mountaineering activities in the park however the mountains are also under the charge of local sports bureau, who may have rights over the local Yading park, which is to grant climbing permits to these mountains, however no one has tried this before because it seems the fee is too much (over USD50000 per team only for the permit). Although there are several side peaks or those may be seen as separated peaks aside from these three mountains that are not listed as “forbidden”, again even these side peaks have not been tried by anyone before so there is a lack of official information on this.
Note that the mountains can also be accessed from their south and west, which are not inside the park of Yading, which is accessed from its north side. This means any unregistered climb may not be stopped as no one lives by the south and west of Yading Park but only local nomads people, who may probably be more interested in your gears than in stopping you pretending that they are some local authorities. Again, no one has tried this before.
To get to Yading to its north (the normal tourist route), one can drive for 2 days from Chengdu or use the flight to fly to Yading Airport from Chengdu taking about 1.5 hours. The north of Yading is the entrance of the park where tourists go. The town is called Xianggelila Zhen, where plenty of hotels and restaurants are available. The bigger town in the north 70km away is called Daocheng and it is usually called together as Daocheng Yading, which has become a main tourist destination in China. Driving from Chengdu to its north will pass Daocheng.
To get to Yading to its south one can go from Xichang and drive for 3 days to get to Dulu and walk for two days to its south face of Jampayang and Chenadorje. See details of a Yading Circuit Trek.
Climbing season of Yading Mountains are in spring and fall in May, September and October when the mountains will usually have a more stable air pressure and weather.
Mt. Chenrezig
Mt. Jampayang
Mt. Chenadorje
Route: Chengdu - Mt.Siguniang - Chengdu
Route: Chengdu - Gongga - Chengdu
Route: Chengdu - Gongga - Chengdu
