Circling the Three Snow Peaks: Nine Days on the Yading Grand Kora

I came to Daocheng for a clean autumn sky and stayed for the silence between the passes. The Grand Kora is a nine-day, high-altitude circle around three sacred snow peaks in western Sichuan — a pilgrimage route, not a sightseeing loop, and an honestly hard one (I'd call it 4.5 out of 5). For days you live above 4,000 metres, cresting prayer-flag passes, threading glacier-fed lakes, and waking to cold alpenglow on the snow. What moves me isn't the difficulty; it's the devotion written into the land — herders' cairns, wind-shredded flags, the same path walked for centuries to wash away a lifetime's failings. Come in autumn, late September into early November, when the larches turn to gold and the skies finally clear. Walk it slowly. Let the altitude teach you patience.

The land

Yading sits in Daocheng County, in the Garze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of southwestern Sichuan — on the wild eastern rim of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, deep in the folded ranges of the Hengduan Mountains, near 28.37°N, 100.23°E. Its Tibetan name is Nyidên. This is one of China's most intact alpine wildernesses, protected as a UNESCO Man and Biosphere reserve since 2003, covering roughly 1,300 to 1,460 square kilometres and climbing from valley floors well below the tree line to the 6,032-metre summit of the highest peak.

The land is written by ice. The core holds glaciers and glacier-fed lakes, and the wider massif is studded with high ground — by one mountain survey, dozens of peaks rise above 4,500 metres and ten clear 5,000. The kora threads past the famous lakes: Pearl Lake below Chenrezig, milky-turquoise Milk Lake at roughly 4,400 metres, and the Five-Color Lake just above it (lake elevations wander a little depending on who you ask, so I keep them approximate). Above the water stands the signature vegetation of this corner of the plateau — larch that ignites gold in autumn, and rhododendron that burns in early summer. The reserve shelters more than a thousand vascular plant species and close to three hundred vertebrates.

A short history

Three summits stand here in a great triangle, known together as Konka Risumgongba, each held to be the living form of a bodhisattva: Chenrezig (Xiannairi), the highest at 6,032 metres; Jampelyang (Yangmaiyong), just under 6,000 metres; and Chanadorje (Xianuoduoji), of similar height. These peaks were sanctified by the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century, and Chonggu Monastery, at the inner gateway, was rebuilt by one of his disciples.

To the outside world the mountains were almost a rumour until 1928, when the Austrian-American botanist Joseph Rock pushed in from the kingdom of Muli, guided through bandit country, and came back with photographs no Westerner had taken before. His National Geographic article of July 1931 — "Konka Risumgongba, Holy Mountain of the Outlaws" — put this place on the map, and the route I'm tracing is still nicknamed after him. The same era's dream of a hidden mountain paradise eventually gave the gateway its modern name: the town of Riwa was rechristened Shangri-La Town.

The people & their mountains

This is Khampa (Kangba) Tibetan country, and Khampa families make up the large majority of the people who live and herd here. Their lives turn on yak and cattle, on summer pasture and winter shed, and the place names along the kora — Galuo, Gongga Zhaze, Niangxi, Xinguo — are the names of working herder camps, not waypoints invented for trekkers.

To walk a kora is to circle a holy place clockwise, one of the deepest acts of Tibetan devotion. The inner kora circles Chenrezig alone; the grand kora — the one I'm walking — encircles all three peaks. A single circuit is said to wash away the failings of a lifetime, and for centuries pilgrims and herders have come on foot to do exactly that. I walk it as a guest in someone else's act of faith: I keep to the clockwise direction, I don't climb on the cairns or the mani stones, and I treat the passes, with their snapping prayer flags, as the thresholds they're meant to be. The mountains aren't scenery to the people here. They're alive.

Walking the route

The rhythm of the Grand Kora is patient and high. You start low in the Daocheng valley, climb hard into a world that stays above 4,000 metres for days, and only descend at the very end. Mornings are cold and bright; afternoons can turn fast. You measure progress not in kilometres but in passes crossed and lakes counted, and you let the thin air set the pace.

Day 1 — Arrive and gather in Shangri-La Town, Daocheng (2,900 m)

We meet in the gateway town at around 2,900 metres. The day is for arriving slowly, sorting gear, and beginning to feel the altitude — nothing strenuous, by design.

Day 2 — Shangri-La Town to Chonggu Temple (3,990 m) and Boyong Lake camp (4,750 m)

We pass Chonggu Monastery at the inner gateway near 3,990 metres, then climb steeply to our first high camp at Boyong Lake, around 4,750 metres. The jump in elevation is real, and you feel every metre of it by dusk.

Day 3 — Free day at Boyong Lake (4,750 m)

A deliberate rest and acclimatization day at the lake. We move gently, stay hydrated, and let our bodies catch up before the highest crossing of the whole route.

Day 4 — Boyong Lake to Cuogaida Pass (5,036 m), Niang Lake, Galuo farm and Gongga Zhaze camp (4,100 m)

The big day. We top out at the Cuogaida Pass near 5,036 metres — the high point of the entire kora — with prayer flags streaming, then drop past Niang Lake and the Galuo herder farm to camp at Gongga Zhaze, around 4,100 metres.

Day 5 — Gongga Zhaze (4,400 m) to the Chanadorje traverse pass (4,500 m) and camp below Zhabala Pass (4,400 m)

We traverse beneath Chanadorje, the Buddha of power, crossing a pass near 4,500 metres, and camp at roughly 4,400 metres in the shadow of the next climb.

Day 6 — Zhabala Pass (4,750 m), Niangxi farm and Xinguo cattle farm camp (4,300 m)

Over the Zhabala Pass at about 4,750 metres, then down through the Niangxi farm to a herders' camp at Xinguo, around 4,300 metres, where cattle graze the high meadow.

Day 7 — Xinguo to Black Lake Pass (4,720 m), Butterfly Stone, Snake Lake Pass (4,730 m) and Snake Lake (4,500 m)

A double-pass day — Black Lake Pass near 4,720 metres, then the Snake Lake Pass at about 4,730 metres — past the curious Butterfly Stone, to camp by Snake Lake around 4,500 metres.

Day 8 — Snake Lake to Songduo Pass (4,670 m), Five-Color Lake, Milk Lake, Resong Lake and Kasi cattle shed camp (4,400 m)

Over the Songduo Pass near 4,670 metres into the day of lakes: the Five-Color Lake, milky-turquoise Milk Lake, and Resong Lake, before camping at the Kasi cattle shed, about 4,400 metres. For many trekkers this is the most beautiful stretch of the whole circle.

Day 9 — Kasi to Songluo Pass (4,650 m), Pearl Lake, Chonggu Temple (3,990 m) and back to Daocheng

The closing of the circle. We cross the Songluo Pass at around 4,650 metres, descend past Pearl Lake below Chenrezig, return to Chonggu Monastery at 3,990 metres, and drop back to Daocheng — the kora complete.

Know before you go

• When to come: Autumn, from late September into early November, is the window I'd choose every time. The skies clear, the larches turn gold, and the meadows hold their last warm colour before winter shuts the high passes.
• How hard: Challenging — 4.5 out of 5. The difficulty here is altitude as much as terrain: you spend days above 4,000 metres and cross the Cuogaida Pass near 5,036 metres. Acclimatizing slowly is not optional, which is why the itinerary builds in a free day at Boyong Lake. The nearest airport, at 4,411 metres, is the highest civilian airport on earth, so you may arrive already feeling the thin air. Altitude sickness is a genuine danger; if you have any heart, lung, or blood-pressure condition, consult your doctor well before you commit.
• Guide or solo: I'd be honest — this is not a route to improvise alone. The trail is remote, the passes are exposed, conditions change quickly, and park rules and permitted camps shift from season to season. A licensed local team knows the current regulations, the herder camps, the weather windows, and what to do if someone falls ill far from any road. If you don't speak Chinese or Tibetan, English-language support makes the difference between a guided pilgrimage and a guess.

FAQ

How fit do I need to be? Fit enough to walk long days at altitude on rough ground, carrying a daypack, day after day, with multiple high-pass crossings. Prior multi-day trekking experience and serious training beforehand will make this far more enjoyable than enduring.

How bad is the altitude, really? Real enough to take seriously. You live above 4,000 metres for most of the trek and top out above 5,000. The built-in rest day at Boyong Lake helps, but everyone responds differently — drink constantly, walk slowly, and tell your guide immediately if you feel headache, nausea, or breathlessness that won't settle.

Where do we sleep? In camps along the kora, several of them at working herder sites between roughly 4,100 and 4,750 metres. Nights are cold even in autumn, so a warm sleeping system matters.

What's the food and water situation? Meals are prepared along the way, and water comes from the mountains; this is remote country with no shops between the gateway and the finish, so you carry what you need and rely on the team for the rest.

Will it actually be sunny and golden? Autumn is the most reliable window for clear skies and golden larch, which is exactly why it's the recommended season — but these are high mountains, and weather can still turn. Build in flexibility and don't bank on a perfect forecast.

Is this a religious site I should be careful in? Yes. The peaks are sacred and the kora is an act of devotion. Walk clockwise, don't disturb cairns, mani stones, or prayer flags, ask before photographing people, and move through the passes with the respect they're given by those who have walked here for generations.