China
Trekking to Mind Mountain
| Outfitter |
Price |
Accommodations |
Geographic Expeditions
800-777-8183, www.geoex.com |
$5,950 |
camping |
High Asia Exploratory Mountain Travel
800-809-0034, www.highasia.com |
$3,800 |
camping |
|
The Route: A 21- to 25-day trek to the sanctuary valley of 22,107-foot Kawakarpo, aka Mind Mountain, a sacred Buddhist peak in the remote Yunnan Province, whose mountains shelter Tibetan culture. On the approach, you’ll explore the more traditional towns of Lijiang and Dechen.
When to go: May-June and October-November
Difficulty: Difficult
Travel advisory: Don’t be offended when these Himalayan villagers stick out their tongues at you. It’s a traditional Tibetan Buddhist greeting that was originally meant to demonstrate that they were not disciples of the black-tongued devil god.
High/low points:
- Sitting in the courtyard of a red-lacquered Lijiang home as nonagenarians play ancient instruments that survived the Cultural Revolution thanks only to Yunnan’s distance from Beijing.
- Driving by jeep down the terrifying road to Dechen 鈥 a sheer gorge on one side of you, a mountain on the other.
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