Chola Mountain

Introduction
Chola Mountain lies in Manigange Township, Dege County. As a steep pass on the Qinghai - Tibet Plateau, Chola Mountain has the highest peak of 6168 meters above sea level, overtopping ten other 5500-meter-high peaks around it. Chola is a Tibetan name, which means the peak is too high even for an eagle to pass. The mountain bisects Dege County in the middle. People in the eastern part live on animal husbandry, while those in the western part make a living by both agriculture and herding. The mountain is also the watershed of the area. It is here that rivers run into Jinsha River and Yalong River.

Chola Mountain stands high with stone forests, complicated land forms and mature glaciers full of broken belts. Consisting of granite mainly, the mountain has serrated ridges crafted by water and glacier. Over 30 glaciers cover an area of 80 square kilometers, second to Gongga Mounatin in terms of extension. The snowline of the mountain is 5100~5200 meters above sea level. Due to complicated land forms and long distance from the town, mountaineers barely set foot here. About 20 teams made attempts, yet most of them stopped at the spot around 5500 meters above sea level. The ever changing broken belts also make the former routes more impossible for the teams to come.

Xinluhai Lake
Xinluhai Lake at the east side is the glacial lake, 4148 meters above sea level, and stretching around 3 kilometers from north to south and 1 kilometers from east to west. As one of the highest lakes in Sichuan Province, Xinluhai Lake has marvelous scenery, covered by forests full of ancient spruce trees and over 20 species of wild animals. The lake area was recognized as provincial natural reserve as early as in 1990. The highway pass of the Sichuan-Tibet highway in Chola Mountain is the highest highway pass in Sichuan. The government began to build a tunnel through the mountain in 2012 and the work is anticipated to complete in 2017, when it will take only 3 hours to go to the Town of Dege County from Chola Mountain. Thanks to the tunnel, the tourism and economy of Dege County are expected to grow faster. More tourists will have access to the adventure in Chola Mountain.

How to Get to Chola Mountain
Starting from Chengdu in the Sichuan province of China you must drive west for almost 900km. A good place to spend the first night of driving is the village of Bamei. Ganze (Garze) is a good sized city with tons of character and the last place to stock up on fresh and moderately safe food. The last bit of "civilization" you will encounter is the village of Manigango (Maniganghen). This village has a couple of guesthouses with squatter toilets and home cooked food. Set aside 2 days and 2 nights for this drive. The drive is incredibly scenic passing through Yi and Qiang villages, nomadic yak herders, Buddhist monasteries, and beautiful mountain scenery.

Best Time to Visit
July and August the crevasses are more visible. Most of the successful summits have been in these months. We had about 8 days of beautiful sunny weather but storms with heavy and relentless precipitation have been known to last for days as well. Our summit day was a complete white-out.