Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Travelogue

For our honeymoon, we chose Yunnan's Lijiang-Dali-Chuxiong as our travel destination, with a focus on the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. The weather on Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is unpredictable, often shrouded in clouds and mist, making it a rare opportunity to see its true face. Indeed, while I was standing on the cable car at an altitude of 4506 meters taking photos, it was sunny, but in an instant, a cloud of fog drifted over and blocked the sunlight, and unfortunately, it even started to snow. I could only hope that when I climbed to the highest point of the scenic area, the clouds would clear and the snow would stop, allowing me, who had come from afar, to witness the magical visage of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. From the end of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain's main cableway at 4506 meters, climbing to the highest point accessible to tourists at 4680 meters involves a vertical difference of 174 meters, with a wooden plank road connecting the two points. According to local guides, this distance would take about an hour for young people who exercise regularly and do not have a strong reaction to high altitudes, but many tourists who attempt to reach 4680 meters give up halfway because they are not strong enough. This height was not difficult for me; I had been to the even higher Everest Base Camp, so without any hesitation or delay, I climbed along the plank road towards 4680 meters. Along the way, snowflakes mixed with mountain winds hit my face painfully. Sometimes a cloud of fog would drift by, turning everything into a white expanse, making it hard to distinguish between the snow peaks and the clouds, but this monochromatic beauty of the snowy weather, the interplay of wind, clouds, and light, showed me a Jade Dragon Snow Mountain that is ever-changing. Sometimes the clouds are steaming and the Jade Dragon appears and disappears; sometimes the sky is clear as water, and the peaks are dazzlingly bright; sometimes the clouds girdle the waist, with the snowy peaks pure white above and the green hills below; sometimes the glow of the dawn reflects off the peaks, making them look like they are draped in red silk, stunningly beautiful. No wonder Mu Gong, the eighth-generation prefect of Lijiang during the Ming Dynasty, wrote 'Inscription on the Snow Mountain': 'The unmatched peak north of the county, the first mountain of southern Yunnan. Always bright and clean through the seasons, its grandeur follows the dragon for eternity. The top where the Milky Way turns, the summit where the sun and moon pass. Its cold majesty can be seen for a thousand miles, standing tall like jade on the Snow Mountain.'