Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Blue Moon Valley

11 September 2024

We brought fleece and/or down jackets for a trip to Yunnan in end of summer, just for this activity in our itinerary. This is the day where we would ascend by cable car to 4506 meters above sea level at Jade Dragon (Yulong) Snow Mountain (玉龙雪山) and then hike to an observation deck at 4680 meters.

It is known that the weather up in the mountain is unpredictable. The temperature could drop to 5°C on the top of the mountain.  In our warm clothing, just to visit Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

From Lijiang, we had arranged a private tour with car and guide for this trip. This is a very popular tourist destination and cable car tickets, especially to Glacier Park, can sell out quickly. So it is best to let the local travel agent do all the legwork to book all the tickets including those for Blue Moon Valley.

The drive from Lijiang to the cable car station is pleasant. We made a quick stop en-route to buy some oxygen canisters. The accessible altitude of this mountain is 4,600 meters which can cause altitude sickness, especially for people who lived all their lives at sea level where the oxygen level in the air is higher.

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is a spectacle of nature's beauty, with its 13 snow-capped peaks stretching across the horizon like a majestic white Chinese dragon. The weather for the past few days have been cloudy with intermittent light rain.

View of the mountain range as we approached the cable car station.

After arriving at the destination, we had to take a shuttle bus to the cable car station. In the high season (from April to June), visitors usually have to wait for 30 to 90 minutes for the shuttle bus and another 20 to 60 minutes for the cable car.

Thankfully, there was no queue for us when we arrived.

Boarding the shuttle bus to the cable car station. The people in red winter clothes are from the big group tour. Winter clothes are available for rent at the shuttle bus station.

There is no queue at the cable car station as well. Each cable car could take 8 persons up to the Shanzidou Peak, the main peak of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

Look at the facility to support long queues for the cable cars. Thankfully, we could board the cable car immediately.

The cable car is located at 3356 meters altitude. From there, we will ascend to Glacier Park at an altitude of 4,506 m within 15 minutes. Air at high altitude is lower in oxygen and the rapid ascent may cause altitude sickness. This is where the bottled oxygen comes in useful. Even our guide, who goes up this mountain frequently, bought a bottle too. This is a place not for those with serious heart problems.

A few quick puffs of oxygen on the way up. Prevention is better than cure. Symptoms of altitude sickness are headaches and vomiting.

Arriving at the top of the ropeway, we could instantly feel the cold air. We felt nice and comfortable since we had proper attire. Unfortunately, the mountain top was covered with clouds and visibility was not good.

The weather on the mountain at 4508m altitude is foggy with clouds.

 We could not see the glacier due to the clouds. 

There is not much to see (no thanks to the weather). Even then, we decided to walk up the walkway leading to 4680 meters. We wanted to experience hiking at high altitude, especially for my son who would be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in November. With the thin air, every step was difficult and we were gasping for air.

There was a rest stop at 4576 meters. My wife who is prone to altitude sickness decided to wait here while the rest of us continued on.

At the rest point at 4576 meters.

There is a stall selling drinks and hot food along the way to observation deck at 4680 m.

Taking it slow, we arrived at our destination at 4680 meters. This is the highest point along the trail. There is a marker where everyone was queuing to get a photo with.

Marker at 4680 meters. This is the highest altitude I have ever been.

Still no good visibility.

 

Making our way down.

Look at the number of people walking up and down the trail.

The sky began to clear as we slowly made our way down to the cable car platform at 4506 meter.

Looking back at the path leading to the observation platform at 4680 m.

Finally we were able to see the glacier at Yulong Snow Mountain.

The Shanzidou Peak, the main peak of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, was still not visible.

Viewing platform above the clouds.

My wife was feeling the effects of altitude sickness despite using the oxygen canisters so we did not stay too long up on the mountain.

Our next stop after getting down from Yulong Snow Mountain is the Blue Moon Valley (蓝月谷). This valley is famous for some of China's most spectacular mountain and lake views. The valley gets its name because it resembles a blue crescent moon inlaid at the foot of the mountain when seen from a distance.

We took a shuttle bus from the base of the cable car station to the entrance of Blue Moon Valley. Although the altitude at Blue Moon Valley is around 3,000 meters, my wife felt much better after descending from the mountain.

From there, we took a smaller electric powered tram to get to the valley. The tram travelled dangerous fast down the mountain pathway to the first lake.

The scenery in the river valley, with lakes in the foreground and the mountain as the backdrop is stunningly beautiful.

This stone marker, with the name of the place in blue Chinese characters, is a popular photo spot.

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in the background.

The river and lakes are formed by water run off from the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Glacier lakes usually have almost unreal blue water. However, the water we saw was a milky blue. The local Naxi people name it White Water River (Baishui River) as the river water could turn as white as milk after a heavy rain where white mud and limestone rubble gets swirled up from the river bed.

A long exposure shot of the first waterfall using my Samsung S24 with built-in Neutral Density ND filters.

Putting up a show with the oxygen canister. By now, she was feeling better.

Our guide told us that the Naxi people would wash their hands three times using the ice cold river water. They believe it would wash away bad luck and receive good fortune and health.

Washing your hands using the river water is a local Naxi practice.

A handsome white hair yak is onsite to photo shoots. Many locals would dress up in traditional Naxi costumes for a photo shoot on this yak. 

Although it is the low season, the valley was full of visitors.

Further downstream are a series of curved terraces. We saw the natural rim-stone terraces when we visited the Jiu Xiang Caves. Here the terraces are man-made.

Man-made rim-stone terraces along the river.

Even though the terraces are man-made, they are excellent for photos.

The White Water River (Baishui River) meandering down the Blue Moon Valley.

The shuttle tram would make 3 stops along the Blue Moon Valley. After exploring the valley at the first stop, we took the shuttle tram to the last stop, skipping the middle stop as instructed by our guide. I am not sure why we skipped the middle stop. Either we were short of time or he knew the scenery at the second stop was not worth the time.

Alighting at the last stop, we walked a little back upstream and downstream to enjoy some excellent views of the valley.

These are the photos at the last stop:

 

 

Overall, the scenery at Blue Moon Valley is awesome and excellent for landscape photography, despite the crowds. However, I felt our time at Blue Moon Valley was a little rushed. I would have loved to hike slowly down the valley, enjoying the mountain air and nature, instead of taking the shuttle tram. I guess the shuttle trams were deployed to move people in and out of the valley quickly to handle large crowds during the peak periods.