A WILD JEWEL
Yading’s natural beauty lures a growing number of hikers, runners and festival goers, but it’s still remote enough to offer solitude
It’s a pilgrimage and an experience mixing with fun and challenge to jog in the pristine wilderness at an elevation above 4,000 in Yading. I heave along the 10-km tortuous track that traverses terrain from mountain and grasslands to lake shore. Walking at such a high altitude is already very demanding to me, but seeing some other runners beside me at the Yading Skyrunning Festival spurs me on.
Some sections are covered with small gravel, and some only allow for one to pass at a time, with a precipice immediately on the other side. But the view is spectacular. Three mountain peaks blanketed by dazzling white snow resemble a beacon and guide the way for us all the way.
“These three peaks are clad in white all year long, and locals regard them as having been given by Buddha,” a local guide tells me at the festival in early May.
The blue waters of rivers and lakes meeting lush alpine meadows all make for a majestic tapestry.
Multicolored prayer flags and local Tibetans leading mules hauling goods along the difficult mountain path add an exotic touch to it.
Yading sits in southern Daocheng county, Garze Tibetan autonomous prefecture, in Sichuan province.
The place is considered by many to be one of the few remaining pristine lands on earth. It was first brought to the attention of the Western world by Joseph Rock, an American explorer, who presented the stunning beauty of Yading in National Geographic magazine in 1931.
Due to its remoteness, the Yading Nature Reserve remained a relatively unbeaten path for visitors from home and abroad over the years.
But building the local airport in September 2013 changed things.
It takes roughly one hour to get there from Chengdu now. Many comers will take photos at the Yading airport, which is 4,411 meters above sea level and claims to be the highest civil airport on Earth.
Direct flights to many major cities, including Chongqing, Zhejiang province’s Hangzhou and Shaanxi province’s Xi’an are now available.
The best season for visits is from May to mid October. Climate gets rough in winter.
The Yading scenic spot received 153,000 visits for the first six months of 2015, surging more than 60 percent over the previous year, according to the local tourism authority.
Tourism income stood at 61.1 million yuan ($8.9 million).
At the National Day holiday