Mount Siguniang

Four snow peaks stand in a row at the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, and the highest of them, a sharp pyramid of rock and ice, is the summit of the Qionglai range. Mount Siguniang, the "Mountain of the Four Maidens", rises to 6,250 metres; it is the easternmost mountain on Earth to pass 6,000 metres, and its sheer faces above green alpine valleys earned the top peak the nickname "Queen of the Sichuan Mountains".

The Chinese name is usually explained as a reinterpretation of the local Tibetan and Gyalrong name, Skubla, "tutelary deity", which in Mandarin ears became Siguniang, "four girls". The four peaks are named as sisters in reverse order of height: Dagu, the eldest, at 5,025 metres; Ergu at 5,276 metres; Sangu at 5,355 metres; and Yaomei, the youngest sister, the 6,250-metre main summit. The three lower peaks are climbed regularly, Dagu being little more than a high trek, while Yaomei itself is a serious technical objective. A Japanese party first reached the top in 1981 by the east ridge, and the south-west ridge was not climbed until 2008.

The mountain sits in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, on the border of Xiaojin and Wenchuan counties, and is surrounded by a national park of about 2,000 square kilometres. Three long valleys run up towards the peaks: Changping, Haizi and Shuangqiao, with meadows, forest, lakes and yak pastures beneath the glaciers. Since 2006 the area has been part of the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries World Heritage Site, which protects a core part of the giant panda's remaining wild habitat.

Getting there

The peaks rise above Siguniangshan Town in Xiaojin County, the base for the three valleys. In a straight line the nearest larger town is Linqiong, about 93 km away, and Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU) is about 117 km away, with the mountain road from Chengdu considerably longer.