Nyenbo Yurtse Mountains and Jiuzhi Tibetan area (6 days)
Travel into the Jiuzhi Tibetan area for a two-day trek in the Nyebo Yurtse Mountains; visit Lanzhou’s Bingling Temple and Danxia Landform on side trips.
This trip is not currently scheduled
Trip overview
Day One
Early flight to Lanzhou, visit Bingling Temple, overnight in Hezuo.
Day Two
Drive to Jiuzhi, visit the temple and old town.
Day Three
Drive to Nyenbo Yurtse, begin a six-hour trek to the campsite. Overnight in tents.
Day Four
Hike out to Rigancuo Lake, drive back to Jiuzhi, overnight in Jiuzhi.
Day Five
Drive back to Hezuo, visit the temple, overnight in Hezuo.
Day Six
Drive back to Lanzhou, hike in the Lanzhou Danxia, evening flight to Beijing.
Trip highlights
Trekking in the Nyenbo Yurtse Mountains
A six-hour high-altitude trek takes us up long valleys past glacial lakes, crossing a 4,500m pass before descending to our campsite in a 3,600m meadow.
The next day, a seven-hour hike takes us further into the mountains and down and out past Rigancuo Lake.
We’ll make it a little easier on ourselves by organising a yak team to transport the camp food and tents for us. While hiking you’ll need to carry your own clothes, water, and snacks.
Tibetan and nomadic culture
Jiuzhi is part of the Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, a thinly populated area that is more than 90% Tibetan. Around the lakes of the Nyenbo Yurtse Mountains we may bump into nomads grazing their animals.
The Giant Buddha at Bingling Temple.
Bingling Temple
One of the many Silk Road-related sites in Gansu, Bingling Temple is a collection of caves and cliffs filled with Buddhist carvings and sculptures that was recently only accessible by boat. The first caves date back to 420 AD, and more were being added as late as the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912 AD), and the sculptures and artwork in the caves preserves a record of the different styles of artwork popular during the time of construction.
We’ll tour the temples and caves, and then climb up to take a look at the 27m tall carved Buddha.
The colourful mountains of the Lanzhou Danxia Landform.
Lanzhou Danxia Landform
We started hiking here a few years back, as part of our trips through Xiahe and Zhagana. Like the Zhangye Danxia Landform, the mountains here are striped with unusual colours. The area is still undeveloped, which means we’re able to do get up into the hills for a good long hike. (The local gossip is that the whole area is going to be shut down at some point in 2018 so it can be developed as a park.)
We’ll do a quick hike of about 90 minutes in the hills here, heading up to a high point that gives great views of the colours of the mountains.
High altitude
During the trekking part of this trip we will be at high altitude.
We take the issue of altitude sickness seriously. If anyone has serious problems with the altitude, one of the BJH guides will take them back to Jiuzhi. Any extra costs incurred for transport/medical assistance are to be paid by participants. We will purchase insurance on your behalf, but you must be prepared to cover any up-front costs.
At high altitude, the weather may change suddenly for the worse. We reserve the right to alter the itinerary to ensure the safety of all participants.
Altitudes
Hezuo: 2,900m
Jiuzhi: 3,500m
Nyenbo Yurtse trek: from 4,000m up to 4,500m
Campsite: 3,600m
Accommodation
In the towns, we will be staying in hotels.
While trekking, we’ll be sleeping in tents.
You’ll be sharing a room at the hotels with another hiker. If you'd like a hotel room to yourself, it can be arranged at an extra cost of 520 RMB for the trip, if a room is available—usually not a problem!
Further details about room shares and single supplement can be found in the documents we send you as part of the registration.
Flights and transport
We’ll be flying from Beijing to Lanzhou, and back the same way. We'll have a comfortable private vehicle for the drive to Jiuzhi.
Frequent flyers: Please let us know if you would like to use your frequent flyer miles or if you are a frequent flyer member. If you would like to organise your own flights, we can provide further details.
Food
In the towns we’ll be eating in Chinese restaurants – sometimes at the hotel, sometimes in town. During the trekking part, we’ll be accompanied by a chef who will cook simple Chinese vegetable and meats dishes, and we’ll bring along extra snacks to make sure we can fill up. Please let us know if you have any special dietary requirements or food allergies.
Things to bring
We recommend that you travel light and pack only the essentials
For the trekking and camping, assume the temperature could go below zero.
Bring:
- Waterproof jacket and trousers
- Warm thermal/fleece jacket and thermal/fleece trousers
- Warm hat
- Heavy gloves
- Heavy socks
- Hiking boots
- Hiking pack that can hold everything you need
