Gongga Mountain

Gongga Mountain

This entry is compiled and applied by "popular science China" Science Encyclopedia

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Gongga Shan, also known as Minya Konka, is located in the south of Kangding, Sichuan Province. It is the main peak of Daxueshan. There are 45 peaks with an altitude of more than 6 000 meters around. The main peak stands at the top of the peaks with an altitude of 7 556 meters, which is 6 000 meters higher than the Dadu River in the East. It is the highest peak in Sichuan Province, known as the "king of Shu mountains", and is a national scenic spot.

brief introduction

Gongga Shan, also known as Minya Konka, is located in the south of Kangding, Sichuan Province. It is the main peak of Daxueshan. There are 45 peaks with an altitude of more than 6 000 meters around. The main peak stands at the top of the peaks with an altitude of 7 556 meters, which is 6 000 meters higher than the Dadu River in the East. It is the highest peak in Sichuan Province, known as the "king of Shu mountains", and is a national scenic spot.

The main peak of Gongga Mountain is composed of granodiorite. Influenced by the Ocean monsoon, it forms a variety of vegetation and natural ecological environment. There are two sister valleys: Yanzigou and Hailuogou, among which Yanzigou is also known as the eastern Alps. The snow line of Gongga Mountain is 4 600-4 700 meters above sea level, and the scale of glacier development is large. Hailuogou Glacier, the largest glacier on the east slope, is 14.2 km long and its end reaches 2850 meters. It has fallen into the forest belt. Under the long-term glacier action, the peak develops into a cone-shaped bighorn peak, surrounded by 60 ° to 70 ° cliffs, making it difficult to climb.

Minya Konka scenic spot is located in the eastern edge of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, in the middle of Daxueshan mountain in Hengduan Mountains, between Dadu River and Yalong River. "Gongga Mountain" in Tibetan means ice and snow, "Ga" means white, which means "white iceberg", which also means "the highest Snow Mountain". The mountain is about 60 kilometers long from north to South and 30 kilometers wide from east to west. Its main peak is 7 556 meters above sea level. It is located between Kangding, Luding, Shimian and Jiulong counties of Sichuan Province, 29 degrees 35 minutes 44 seconds north latitude and 101 degrees 52 minutes 44 seconds east longitude.

Gongga Mountain is a famous mountain exploration and mountaineering Holy Land in the world, but Gongga Mountain is also the most difficult to conquer large-scale extremely high mountain, and its climbing difficulty is far greater than that of Everest. According to statistics, so far, only 24 people have successfully climbed the top, but 37 people have died during and after climbing, including 14 foreigners. The death rate of mountaineering is far more than 14% of Mt. Everest and 30% of Mt. chogori, second only to Mt. Meili and Mt. Yala.

Gongga Mountain is famous for its glaciers. There are 159 modern glaciers at the foot of the mountain, covering an area of more than 390 square kilometers. It is one of the earliest developed areas of oceanic glaciers in Shanghai in the world. Among them, the famous ones are Gongga No.1, No.2 and No.3 glaciers in Yanzigou, mizigou glacier, Hailuogou No.1 glacier, Gongba glacier and Bawang glacier. The ice thickness is 150-300 meters, which is very spectacular. Due to the erosion of glaciers, the steep peaks became pyramidal, towering into the clouds and piercing the sky.

geographical position

Gongga Mountain scenic spot is located in Luding, Kangding and Shimian counties of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. With Gongga Mountain as the center, there are 145 ice peaks with an altitude of 56 km around the main peak of Gongga Mountain, forming a magnificent scene of mountains surrounded by snow mountains. There are more than 10 plateau lakes in Gongga Mountain scenic area. The famous ones are Yanzigou, mugeco, Wuxuhai, Renzonghai (also known as renzhonghai), bawanghai (also known as bawanghai), etc. some are at the foot of glaciers, some are surrounded by forests. The lake water is clear and transparent, maintaining its original and beautiful natural style. In the scenic spot, the vertical band spectrum is very obvious, the vegetation is complete, the ecological environment is primitive, the flora is complex, and 4880 species of plants have been identified. More than 20 kinds of animals belong to the first, second and third categories of national protection.

There are dozens of hot spring spots in the scenic spot, with the water temperature between 40 ℃ and 80 ℃, some of which are above 90 ℃. The famous ones are Erdaoqiao hot spring in Kangding and Hailuogou hot spring swimming pool. There are also Paoma mountain, Gongga temple, Tagong temple and other Tibetan Buddhist temples, as well as rich and colorful ethnic customs of Tibetan and Yi people. The famous peaks around Gongga Mountain are: Zhongshan Mountain is 6886 meters above sea level, edjia peak is 6618 meters, redemai peak is 6549 meters, Bijia mountain is 5880 meters, shehaizi mountain is 5878 meters, baihaizi mountain is 5924 meters, and tianhaizi mountain is 6070 meters.

Geology and geomorphology

There are many folds and faults in gonggashan area due to frequent tectonic activities. With the rise of the mountain, the East and West slopes of the river form a canyon with an elevation difference of nearly 5000 meters. The main peak of Gongga Mountain has four main ridges: Northwest ridge, northeast ridge, southwest ridge and Southeast ridge. Because the rock strata in this area are mainly granite, coupled with long-term ice erosion, the narrow ridge is like an inclined blade, the slope wall is steep, the rock is exposed, and the slope is more than 70 degrees. Gongga mountain area is also the peak concentration area of Hengduan Mountain system, where there are more than 20 peaks above 6000 meters above sea level. There are about 45 glaciers in the mountain area, covering an area of 290 square kilometers, mainly valley glaciers, suspended glaciers and iceberg glaciers are also distributed. There are 5 glaciers with a length of more than 10 kilometers. The longest Hailuogou Glacier is a famous Glacier Park in China, which has all the glacial wonders. Among them, the great ice waterfall is more than 1000 meters high and wide, which is particularly spectacular. Due to the influence of climate, the glacier activity in Gongga Mountain is intense, and the lowest part of the glacier extends down to 2800 meters above sea level. Below the snow line, valleys and hillsides are covered with dense virgin forest. There are many kinds of plants in the forest, including more than 40 rare plants. At the same time, it is also a paradise for wild animals, where more than 400 kinds of Alpine animals and forest animals live. There are also many hot springs and various tourist service facilities on the active fault zone in the mountain.

The height of Gongga Mountain is far beyond the general famous mountains in the mainland. After climbing on it, you can see the snow covered area creeping at the foot of the mountain. The vast field of vision and the sense of achievement generated by the height of the mountain are definitely worth climbing. Because the altitude of the mountain is not comparable to that of other mountains, the climbers are required to be fully prepared so as not to give up halfway due to fatigue and cold. Most climbers climb from the northwest Ridge Route, which is also the experience summed up by predecessors.

Gongga Mountain is light green granodiorite. The peak of the main peak covered with ice and snow all the year round is similar to the platform, covering an area of about 70 square meters. Due to the North-South trend of Hengduan Mountains and Gongga mountains, the moist air from the South can drive northward along the valley. The climate around the main peak is humid and changeable, which is one of the reasons for the difficulty of climbing Gongga mountain. At the same time, Gongga Mountain is one of the earliest developed areas of oceanic glaciers in Shanghai in the world. Under the action of long-term glaciers, Gongga Mountain has developed into a pyramid shaped bighorn peak, with extremely frequent ice and snow avalanches. It is surrounded by cliffs. The narrow ridge is like an inclined blade. The slope is steep, the rock is exposed, and the slope is more than 70 degrees. Moreover, the height drop is very large, with a radius of 6 km, The altitude difference is more than 1000 meters, so the difficulty is reflected in the changeable weather and the steep route.

Gongga Mountain is also the mountain with the largest relative height difference in the world, reaching 6200 meters (the highest mountain from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain).

Glacier condition

More than 10 plateau lakes are distributed in the scenic area. The famous ones are MUGECUO, Wuxuhai, renzhonghai and bawanghai. They are either at the foot of glaciers or surrounded by forests. The water color is clear and transparent. They maintain the original and beautiful natural style and look like "yaochi fairyland".

Most of the glaciers in Gongga mountain area are very rare low altitude marine glaciers. Such glaciers took a short time to form. Hailuogou and Yanzigou were formed 1600 years ago. Different from the ordinary glaciers in frigid zone, it is formed by the monsoon carrying water to the extremely high mountains and the ice and snow activities at the top of the snow peak.

The most distinctive feature of Yanzigou is the "Chuan" shaped glacier near the viewing platform of the main peak of Gongga mountain. It is composed of three parallel huge blue glaciers with ice thickness of 150-300 meters. They are Gongga Glacier No.1, No.2 and No.3. The ice body is clear and transparent. Because of its gentle terrain, visitors can touch the three glaciers at close range.

Hailuogou Glacier tongue is 6 km long and 0.4-0.7 km wide, and the thickest is estimated to be 100-130 M. In the movement of glaciers, the glacial fracture zone, which is crystal like emerald and crystal, is formed. The glacial arch, curl, monoclinic and syncline structures with high ornamental value result in the glacial lamination. The single crack is more than 100 meters long, 5-10 meters deep and 0.5-2 meters wide, which is spectacular. In the process of melting glaciers, a variety of ice lakes, ice tables, ice caves, ice bridges and ice rivers have been formed, which make tourists praise them. In addition, the lowest point of the glacier is 3000-3700 meters above sea level, which can be used by mountaineers.

Glaciers have "three monsters":

Strange: not cold. The climate above the glacier is warm. In summer and autumn, you can walk in this fantastic glacier world with thin clothes and glaciers. You don't have to worry about "on the ice"

Chinese PinYin : Gong Ga Shan