This is the second half of the tale recounting my Jade Dragon Snow Mountain climbing adventures. In the first instalment, I told the sorry tale of failure, misleading information and disappointment. What follows is an account of events leading to eventual success, but that didn’t happen without a lot of planing, a larger team and the uncovering of a few more local half truths.

The second attempt. 

I was determined to have another go at reaching the famous 2000m cliffs. This time I had an advantage, I knew what to expect. It was definitely going to be hard work and I needed greater motivation. Then it dawned on me that I should turn my mission into a management team building expedition. That was it, I had found the reason to try again.

Off to an early start. Mr Qin was too big for his pony!

I did some further research and used Google earth pro to locate the exact position of the trails that would lead to our goal. I prepared a presentation with photographs, a plan of the route as well as a list of things we would need in the way of simple equipment and clothing. Then I called for a meeting with all the department heads to present the plan.

Surprisingly the meeting went quite well, especially as they were all considerably younger than me and I told them I had been there before. They all decided to go and with a feeling of excitement the plan moved ahead. My good friend Lushan He agreed to be our guide and negotiated a good deal with the pony guides in Yuhu Village from where we would set off. We also thought it would be good to end the day in her local restaurant. So all was now set.

Dismounting for the difficult bits the ponies couldn’t manage

We had fixed a date in late autumn and were very lucky to wake that morning to a fine day with clear skies. We needed an 8am start to ensure we would have enough time to get to the top and back before dark. To begin with all went well, though the pony owners wanted to charge a surplus for my engineer whom they considered too big for the pony he was on. (Er, how did that make it easier for the pony?) Anyway we set off.

The pony trails led through some lush rhododendron forest and afforded some great views looking south towards Lijiang. At a couple of points along the trail we had to dismount,  since the climb was too much for the ponies.  There were also two stops required along the way to rest them, but I didn’t mind as we were making good time. To my surprise we came across a couple of hidden valleys with grasslands that cannot be seen from the bottom of the mountain. I was equally surprised to find a herd of Yaks grazing there, but when I checked my altimeter it showed we were already up around 3000m by then, which is well within their natural habitat.

We arrived at the hut right on time and stopped for a packed lunch and to regroup.

Yaks grazing on the alpine meadow

We knew we would have to hike from there as the ponies (and grumpy guides) would go no further. I had purchased climbing sticks for the group. We were already at 3750m and after a short break ready to press on.

That was when we had our first casualties.

Hidden valley

Altitude sickness struck two of the ladies only a little way further on and they returned to the hut to wait it out. The group made very slow progress and I realised if we continued at that pace, we were never going to get to the top. As it was a beautiful fine day, I delegated the leadership to my deputy and told the group to climb as far as the col and wait there, if they could make it that far, or else return to the hut.

Lushan was with them so I was not concerned since she knew the local area and that particular trail very well. Several of the team elected to follow me, but unfortunately they soon dropped off the pace. I guess due to some preparation in the weeks leading up to the hike I was fitter than they were.

By mid afternoon I had made it to the col. Looking back I could see some of the team pressing on about 200m below. Here we go I thought, I can do this.

Victory. 2000m of sheer beauty

I referred to my maps and easily found the trail that was still in plain view at this point. I got to 4100m and the breathing became a bit tough. 4200m and a lot of puffing but I knew I wasn’t far off my goal. Then one last bit of trail and I could see the main peak in the valley opposite, coming into view. I made it over a rocky rise and there it was. Jade Dragon Snow Mountain from the south side. The cliff in front of me dropped almost 1500m to the valley floor. My goal had been reached. I checked the altimeter and it was 4251m. Not as high as I had hoped, but the view of the mountain opposite me was out of this world.

But that wasn’t the only surprise. Sitting on a rock, listening to music from a boom box and calmly smoking cigarettes were a couple of young guys dressed in army uniforms. I figured they must have come up from the Peoples Liberation Army barracks in Baisha village, not far away.

At the col. Happy with their sense of achievement

I think they were as surprised to see me as I was them. “Ni hao” I said. They smiled broadly and gave me the thumbs up. One of them wanted a selfie with me. I looked at the time and realised I was half an hour over the deadline for returning, so I took a couple of MP4’s and a few more pic’s and set off on the downward trip, but not before more handshakes and thumbs up’s from my new best army friends.

On the way back to the col I met two staff on the way up, still determined to get to the top. But when they saw me they decided to give up and head back. A pity, I thought. Down at the col I was pleasantly surprised that there were quite a few of the team sitting around. There had been a few more altitude sickness casualties who had gone back to the hut. But this happy group were proudly posting photos to their friends back in Lijiang in front of a fake sign that stated “Dragon Col elev. 4600m.” Yeah right… I couldn’t convince them that it was fake and let them enjoy their moment of glory. The sign had been put there by the locals to make people feel they had hiked higher than the tourist facility with the cable car on the other side of the mountain.

Going back was obviously a lot easier, except for the cranky pony guides, but a happy Lushan told us to ignore them. We arrived back at her restaurant just as the sun was passing behind the mountain and sat down to a brilliant local Nakhi Hot pot. (That’s another story).

As I contemplated the day, I was both happy and sad. Happy that I had reached my goal, sad that I was the only one to have done so. Still, the old GM earned quite a bit of respect that day…