Haba Snow Mountain

Geographic Location: Zhongdian province, Yunan, China
Date climbed: 2006.6.17 - 2006.6.25.
Leader: Wee Yin
Tour Guides: Ninie, Fox
Trekking Guides: Yangxiaoming, etc.

中文版

Prelude

Mid April 2006. My trekking plan to Nepal was cancelled due to the unstable political situation there, so I signed up SAC's Haba Snow Mountain trek organized by Wee Yin. But I was worried - previous experience had told me that summer is not a good time for trekking due to rain and unstable climate. The following weeks I did some researches on the internet and confirmed my concerns - July and August are the months with highest rainfall around Chengdu and Kunming region. But since I had already signed up and paid, I was hoping for the best.

There were four groups in this trip, most belongs to group 1, and will only climb Haba Snow Mountain. Seng Hock and Wendy were in group 2, climbing Haba and Parrot Peak. Graeme alone was group 3, climbing Parrot, 2nd Sister and 3rd Sister Peaks, and would join us after Haba. Group 4's Wee Yin and I intended to climb all 4 peaks.

17.6.06 (partial rain) Lijiang

After a few months of gruesome training, the long awaited day had finally arrived. I rushed to the airport with my 17kg luggage to meet up with my teammates. But the 2:30am flight to Kunming was delayed for more then an hour, making our transit time from Kunming to Lijiang very tight. At Kunming it was funny to see the service counter lady taking her own sweet time at first, and turned pale after suddenly realizing how rush we needed to be. But at the end we all made it up the plane.

The Haba Mountain trekking portion was handled by Maguotou Outdoor in LiJiang. We were warmly received by Ninie and Fox, the tour guides from Maguotou. Accommodation is at Delamu Inn, owned by Ninie and in the old city of Lijiang. It was free and easy time after the Pu'er tea welcome ceremony, and while some teammates chose to have some rest, Jason, Yau and I went to the old city to visit the Sifangjie (Square Street) and WanGu pagoda. Lunch was local Yunan dishes at the Inn. In the afternoon, Ninie brought us to a nearby outdoor shop for gears purchase, before touring the old city of Lijiang and Suhe. It rained at Suhe, and as it was already dinner time, we rushed underneath the eaves to the restaurant. Dinner was a traditional Horse Carawan feast which we all felt was too oily. Rain stopped after dinner, and we enjoyed the traditional Naxi tribal dance at Suhe's city square.

LiJiang Old City	Snacks
Big Stone Bridge	Sign: Hiring Lady Boss

18.6.06 (cloudy) Shangrila

Original plan was: Lijiang - First Bend of Yangtze River - Qiaotou - Tiger Leap Gorge - Haba Village. However, when we reached Qiaotou, the road at Upper Tiger Leap Gorge was cut off by land slide. At the end, Mr He, the boss of Maguotou, dicided to change the route to take the long way from Qiaotou - Shangrila - Baishuitai - Haba Village. Due to the much longer distance we'd be spending a night in Shangrila. When passing Xiaozhongdian we stopped to visit the "Flower Sea" which cost 1 Yuan a person, but unfortunately the flower season just passed and we could only see yellow flowers. As Seng Hock, Wendy, Wee Yin and I would be going straight to Sichuan after Haba, unlike group 1 which would have more time to tour Shangrila, Ninie suggested for the 4 of us to make use of the opportunity to visit Songzhanlin Monastery. Wee Yin went a few times before, and Seng Hock was suffering from AMS and needed rest, so in the end only Wendy and I went. Shangrila at 3200m AMSL is higher then Haba Village's 2800m, more ideal for acclimatization but was worst off for Seng Hock. In the evening Wendy found that her shoes were broken, and bought a pair of RMB250 outdoor shoes while visiting the town with the rest. The hotel we stayed was called "Geqiarewang", meaning "happy land on earth" in Tibetian, and the rooms were warm and cosy.

Songzhanlin Monastery

Happy land on earth

19.6.06 (partial rain) Haba Village

Shangrila - Baishuitai - Haba Village. We continued our journey to Haba Village after breakfast. The weather was bad, and it started raining not long after we left. The unventilated air due to the closed windows, coupled with the thin air and winding roads, had made me feeling nausea and headache. It was a relief when we finally reached Haba village, and I felt better after taking in the fresh air. We would be staying at Haba Snow Mountain Inn, which is run by "Dr. He" who would also be cordinating the trekking guides for us. Rooms were assigned by Ninie, with 2 to 3 persons to one room. There were actually 5 beds in each room, but this was more comfortable, and there were plenty of rooms since it is off season anyway. John, Seng Hock and I were sharing a room. From Haba village it is possible to see the summit, but it was cloudy the entire day and the summit was obscured. We had barbeque lamb for dinner, which was actually slaughted yesterday for us. We met Alan at the Inn, who just came down from Haba BC due to bad weather. Alan was from Hong Kong, Ninie asked him to try again with us, and he happily agreed.

Scenic	Herding
Barn	Kids

20.6.06 (cloudy) Haba BC

Morning after breakfast, we gathered our luggages at the front of the Inn, took some group photos and prepared to set off. The guides, helpers and horsemen had all arrived, and the horsemen divided the loads before tying them on the horses. Our chief guide, Yangxiaoming, is Dr. He's brother in law, and the assistant guide is Chengxiaohe. To conserve strength, Ninie had prepare a horse for each of us. I actually wanted to trek up myself, but Ninie wanted me to ride a distance to get use to the horse, and I did not persist. Initially Fox wanted to trek too, but Ninie wanted him to save the strength for the summit.

Horses	Riding
River Beside Haba Village	River Crossing

We headed for the mountain around 9:15am, our horses riding in front guided by the horsemen, follow by horses hauling the luggages. After passing Haba village, we came to a river which the water was said to flow down from the snow slopes of Haba Mountain. The water was rapid and deep, and we needed to unmount from the horses and walk across a single plank bridge. I decided to start trekking after crossing the river. After several farms and numerous pine forests, I was panting madly and could barely keep up with the fast pace of the caravan. Consider that they are native highlanders who are already very used to the route, it is unsurprising a lowlander like myself carrying an 8kg backpack was having a hard time keeping up. My horseman, a very nice and friendly old lady, followed me closely all the way with the horse, asking me constantly whether I would want to ride. But I felt that mountain trekking is a challenge to both my body and mental strength, and should persist on to the end.

Farm	Lunch Point
Haba Base Camp	Stream Not Far From BC

We reached the half way mark around 11:55am and stopped for lunch. A dog from Haba Village came along. Ninie distributed packed lunch to us before set off, and inside were packed cakes, Halogen egg, saussage, biscuits, and chocolates. All of us did not like eggs, especially vacuum packed Halogen eggs, and they ended in the dog's tummy. The horsemen and guides cooked their lunch and were not ready when we finished. After waiting for awhile, Ninie decided to proceed - we would walk first and they would follow later. But not far on we stopped and waited for the horses. Since I would be walking anyway, I slowly walked on after informing Ninie. 2 hours later the caravan caught up, and my horselady was once again following behind me. I let pass the caravan, decided not to follow their pace, and the trek was much more enjoyable.

We reached base camp (BC) at about 3:15pm, and quickly set up the tents. John was sharing tent with me. Seng Hock's AMS seemed to be much better, but it was Jason's turn to get it, hiding in the tent with headache, without any appetite for dinner. Fortunately, he took a Diamox after reaching BC, and was feeling much better in the evening.

21.6.06 (sunny/drizzle) Haba BC

Sunny morning, and the wind was stronger then yesterday. According to the original plan, the day after reaching BC was acclimatization day. But since we lost a day due to the detour to Shangrila, the plan was changed, and we were to move camp from BC to C1 (high camp 1). But it was raining and snowing the days before, Ninie was worried about the snow slopes and had asked the guides to go up recce and set up the ropes. After lunch, Fox led some teammates to tour "Black Sea". Wee Yin and I became quite anxious when the guides did not return in the afternoon, as the sunny day had provided us a very good window. To miss it would be a waste, not to mentioned it would upset our itinerary.

After everybody was back from Black Sea, Wee Yin called upon all the team members and tour guides for a meeting, and Ninie explained that because the guides were not back, there were not enough people to execute the plan to move to C1. After several rounds of discussions, we decided to give up the C1 camping plan in favour for a direct summit assault. William's family felt that it would be too difficult for them and decided to abstain, and Holey gave up too. Alan was the most disappointed - he returned with us partly due to our C1 plan, which would be less physically demanding and would give him a higher chance of summiting.

Light and Shadow

Inside the Hut

We divided the ice axes and crampons before dinner and did some practices. With an extra day of rest, Seng Hock and Jason had fully recovered from AMS. The trekking guides were back, and we found out later that they went digging herbs after setting up the ropes. I chatted a while with John before sleep, and gotten to know that this was his first snow mountain. He was having nose congestion, and I gave him 2 Clarinase tablets to help him breath better to avoid AMS. At night my feeling was mixed - at one hand I was happy we were finally attempting the summit the next day, but on the other hand I was also worried if I could do it, and if the weather would be ok.

2am in the morning, I went out the tent to pee. To my surprise, I saw many stars in the night sky. The clouds had disappeared completely, and the milky way looked so bright in the clear sky. I quietly prayed to god to hope that this good weather would last.

22.6.06 (cloudy) Summit Haba

Summit day. Wind was blowing in the morning, and it was cold. We got up at 4am and ate some noodle soup. I had no appetite, and had to force myself to eat as I would need lots of energy later. Our initial plan was to set off at 4:30am, but the guides woke up late and had not taken breakfast. What was worse was that they chased us out of the hut, saying we were in the way while they prepared breakfast. We were made waited for more then an hour in the cold morning wind.

5:45am, we were finally ready to leave. Right before setting off, we noticed there were 3 guides missing, probably still sleeping in the hut far away. Originally 2 persons were to share a guide, but now Ninie could only improvise and reassign.

The route we took was the North Route. First we crossed 2 streams, follow by a slope blossomed with rhododendrons, before reaching the big granite slab. On top of the granite slab was a short scree slope, and then C1 which was near the snow line. Occasionally there were strong wind blowing on the slab, which we would bend down to let it blow over while taking the opportunity for a breather.

The North Route

Yang, Fox and I reached C1 around 10am, follow by John. After a short break, we put on our crampons and Fox and I proceeded up. There were 3 snow slopes from C1 to summit - at about 30-40 degree inclination, the first slope was more gentle and needed only basic snow techniques. The second slope was steeper, about 40-55 degree, and the guides had set up ropes here. Snow was knee deep, with the deepest up to buttocks level. Fortunately the snow condition was good, and the guides had created a trail yesterday, so it wasn't too difficult following the footsteps up. Half way up the second slope, Fox and I felt hungry, so we sat in holes dug out on the slope and ate the food Yang distributed. After eating, Yang stayed back to wait for other teammates, while Fox and I were led up by Chen.

Granite Slab to C1	C1, First and Second Snow Slope
Putting On Crampons	Scenery at C1

This Mr. Chenxiaohe was really a character, always walking on his own doing his disappearing act. Once he was up the snow slope, he would just lie on the snow waited till we came, and said: "You guys are really slow, if not waiting for you, I would have summitted and came back."

Cutting to the right at the top of the second snow slope for the third slope. This slope is just a short, corniced snow ridge turning right to the summit, with a vertical cliff on the left. Chen had already went up the summit to continue his sleep, Fox and I carefully moved along the right side of the snow ridge, to avoid collapsing the cornice. We summitted at 12:20pm, Fox and I did a celebration hug, and took some summit photos. When we asked Chen to join us for a group photo, he replied while lying on the snow: "No, I've done that millions of time."

First Snow Slope	Second Snow Slope
Fox and I	Summit Group Photo

It was very misty on the summit, the clouds kept coming in, visibility was only about 10s of meters, and we could not see much. John arrived 10 minutes later, followed by Sook Ling after another 10 minutes. As I was already on the summit for more then 20 minutes, my feet were getting numb due to the cold. Fox tried to radio Ninie to see who else was coming up, but the signal was poor. We decided not to wait and started our descent. 10 minutes into the descent, we met Jia An and Wee Yin together with Yang on the summit slope. We took a group photo there before they continued their ascent while we proceeded with our descent.

At the beginning we walked. Halfway into the descent, everybody was tired and we just sat and slided down the snow slope. When we reached C1, Meng Hui (Sook Ling's husband), Alan and Ninie had prepared hot coffee waiting to welcome us. There was also a temporary tent set up at the plateau in case of emergency. After chatting with them, I found out that the rest of the teammates had given up after reaching C1. It was unexpected that Yau did not go up either - he had the physical strength and had acclimatized well, and should have no problem summitting. We waited at C1 for Jia An and Wee Yin before descending.

Scree Slope

Haba Village In A Distance

On the granite slab Chen came up to me and taunted whether I could follow his pace, and I said no. He hurried down the slope, this time we never seen him sleeping on the ground. Other trekking guides walked on their own as well, never bothered to lead, and we nearly lost our way a few times.

We reached BC at about 5:15pm. The weather today was good, no rain, no snow, and the high altitude wind was not very strong. I thought we were either lucky, or god might have granted my prayers.

23.6.06 (partial rain) Haba Village

Misty in the morning. 10:15am we started the descent led by a young trekking guide. Except the luggages which would be carried by horses, the rest of us would be walking. The trail was covered with mud and horse shits due to the recent rains. Not far after we set off and it rained again. We stopped along the way at about 12:30pm for lunch. The trek was uneventful until 2:30pm after we crossed the river beside Haba village, where the guide was shocked to learnt that 7 people walking in the middle were missing from the team. Later we found out that they went into a wrong diversion, and exited from another side of the village. Dinner was a roast pork feast arranged by Ninie. The roasting was not perfect, but we ate them with beer, and everybody was happy.

Grassland	Small Stream
Roast Pig	Dinner

24.6.06 (cloudy) Tiger Leap Gorge

Set off at 8:15am and visited middle Tiger Leap Gorge after arriving at Mr. Chang's house. The team seperated after lunch, with group 1 proceeding to Baishuitai and Shangrila, while Wendy, Seng Hock, Wee Yin and I returning to Lijiang to fly to Sichuan for Siguniang the next day. Yau also came with us as he intended to spend a week in Lijiang. On the way to Qiaotou we passed by several landslide areas, and in some places we need to move out the fallen rocks for the vehicle to pass. We encountered a massive traffic jam on the highway after Qiaotou, and arrived in Lijiang only after 5:30pm. Mr He, the boss of Maguotou, brought us out for dinner in the evening.

Trail to Tiger Leap Gorge	Dashengou Waterfall
Tiger Leap Rock	Middle Tiger Leap Gorge

25.6.06 (cloudy) Lijiang

Since the flight to Chengdu is at night, after having Zhajiang rice noddle soup for breakfast, we spent our free time touring the old city. Yau and Wee Yin went to the bookshops, while Wendy and I went to the bank for exchanging currency. We gathered in the afternoon to have a very leisure high tea. Dinner was "the best Italian pizza I've eaten" highly recommended by Yau. Mr. He sent us to airport in the evening, but our 8:45pm flight was delayed to 9:30pm, and we arrived at Chengdu only after 11pm. We were picked up by "Potato" from Qingniao Outdoor, which was our agency for the Sichuan portion of the trek. Graeme had arrived in Chengdu since afternoon.

Copyright © David Wong. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced without prior permission from the author. To email me, remove the "_spamaway" from the following address: kalohimal_spamaway@yahoo.com.sg