Mount Siguniang (Chinese: 四姑娘山; pinyin: Sìgūniang Shān; lit. 'Mountain of the Four Maidens'), or Mount Skubla (Tibetan: རི་བོ་སྐུ་བླ་[3], Wylie: ri bo sku bla, lit. 'Mountain of the tutelary deity'[4]) is the highest mountain of Qionglai Mountains in Western China. It is located in the bordering area of Siguniangshan Town, Xiaojin County and Wenchuan County in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

Mount Siguniang
རི་བོ་སྐུ་བླ་
From left to right: Yaomei Feng, Sanguniang Feng, Erguniang Feng and Daguniang Feng.
Highest point
Elevation6,250 m (20,510 ft)[1]
Prominence2,571 m (8,435 ft)[2]
ListingUltra
Coordinates31°06′24″N 102°54′06″E / 31.10667°N 102.90167°E / 31.10667; 102.90167[2]
Geography
Mount Siguniang is located in Sichuan
Mount Siguniang
Mount Siguniang
Location in Sichuan
LocationNgawa Prefecture, Sichuan, China
Parent rangeQionglai Mountains
Climbing
First ascent1981
Easiest routesnow/ice/glacier climb

Mount Siguniang is renowned for its beauty. Mount Siguniang National Park was identified as a UNESCO Heritage Site as part of Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries in 2006. The park comprises Mount Siguniang and the surrounding three valleys, namely Changping Valley (长坪沟), Haizi Valley (海子沟) and Shuangqiao Valley (双桥沟), covering an area of 2,000sq km.[5]

Peaks edit

 
Yaomei Peak

Mount Siguniang encompasses four peaks (with meaning 'peak'): Daguniang Feng 大姑娘峰 (Big Peak or 1st peak), Erguniang Feng 二姑娘峰 (2nd peak), Sanguniang Feng 三姑娘峰 (3rd peak), and Yaomei Feng, also known as Sanzuoshan Feng 三座山峰 (3rd peak).

The highest peak is Yāomèi Fēng (幺妹峰; 'peak of the youngest sister'), also known as the "Queen of Sichuan's peaks" (蜀山皇后), standing at 6,250 m (20,510 ft). It is also the second highest mountain in Sichuan Province and the easternmost 6,000 m (20,000 ft) or higher peak on Earth. The first ascent was in 1981 by a Japanese team via the east ridge. Very few people attempt to climb this and very few of those succeed.[6] The first ascent of the southwest ridge was made in 2008 by Chad Kellogg and Dylan Johnson.[7][8]

 
Yaks at Mount Siguniang Scenic Area

The other three lower peaks are regular mountaineering destinations through all seasons. Mount Siguniang DaFeng (四姑娘山大峰 or 大姑娘山; 'peak of the oldest sister', 5,025 m or 16,486 ft) is normally considered as a pure trekking peak while ErFeng (四姑娘山二峰 or 二姑娘山; 'peak of the second sister', 5,276 m or 17,310 ft) and SanFeng (四姑娘山三峰 or 三姑娘山; 'peak of the third sister', 5,355 m or 17,569 ft) are more challenging, requiring basic climbing techniques.[9][10]

References edit

  1. ^ "Yaomei Feng, China". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  2. ^ a b "China III - Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces". Peaklist.org. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  3. ^ This Tibetan alphabet shown on the Ticket
  4. ^ "墨尔多神山传说". 甘孜藏族自治州人民政府 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  5. ^ china.org.cn
  6. ^ www.adventure-video.com
  7. ^ Raleigh, Duane (16 February 2014). "Chad Kellogg Killed in Patagonia". Rock and Ice. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  8. ^ MacDonald, Dougald (16 February 2014). "Chad Kellogg Killed By Rockfall in Patagonia". Climbing. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  9. ^ www.dragonexpeditions.com Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ www.sportsandtravel.com.hk

External links edit