Mt Chiburongi, near Gongga Shan

chiburongi, originally uploaded by mutikonka1.

Compare this picture to the one below taken 72 years earlier.

This is the beautiful sight that awaits you if you walk up the valley from Kangding via Lao Yuling [老榆林] towards the Djesi Pass [加则拉] and Gongga Shan. I must warn you though that it's a day and a bit to get here and you have to overnight in a yak herder's tent.

I've no idea how high it is.

This is the fork in the trail, where turning right [as we have done here] takes you up over the Djesi pass and down to the Yulongxi [玉龙西] valley and ultimately over the next pass (Tsemi La, 次梅山口) to the Gongga Gompa monastery [贡嘎寺].

Plan B is to take the left route - the notch you can see to the left of the mountain, which takes you on a more direct route to the monastery [serious climbers only].