Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is located 15 km north of Lijiang Ancient Town, stretches 35 km from north to south with 960-square-kilometers of snow-capped area. It consists of 13 peaks and their average altitude is more than 5,000 meters. Among these 13 peaks, Shanzidou is the highest one with an altitude of 5,600 meters. The distance from north to south of this incredible mountain is about 35 kilometers and the distance from east to west is about 20 kilometers. In Lijiang City you can have a magnificent view of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, with the main peak thrust into the clouds, the Old Man Peak standing out on the right and Black Snow Peak on its left.
Nowadays, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is a famous scenic spot for sightseeing, mountaineering, skiing, exploration, scientific research and taking holiday. What’s more, widespread legends and myths of the Naxi ethnic minority are important attractive spots for tourists come to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.
The gorgeous view of Jade Snow Mountain also changes in seasons and weathers. Sometimes it is wrapped around by mist looking like a veiled beauty; sometimes circled by the cloud around the waist, sometimes completely covered by cloud. Sometimes, it almost put on various looks of itself within a day. Therefore, if you care about it, you will find this diverse scenery of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in a day.
The Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is one of Yunnan’s protected nature reserves, and it has attracted the attention of many scholars and travelers. There is one fourth of all plant species in China can be found here and 20 primeval forest communities shelter a big family of 400 types of trees and 30 kinds of animals which are protected by the state. These species live in different temperature levels and create different kinds of views of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. If you want to see the high land flowers, arrive there at the end of spring and the beginning of autumn, you will find thousands of flowers are blooming all over.
When you explore around the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, you can have a trip to Dry Sea Meadow (Ganhaizi), Cloud Fir Meadow, and Yak Meadow and so on. Dry Sea Meadow is the first stop for your travel from Lijiang city to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. At Dry Sea Meadow, there ia a chairlift ascends to a large meadow at 3,050 meters. And the go ahead to the second stop Cloud Fir Meadow. A ski lift has been built at Cloud Fir Meadow, 36km from Lijiang. The lift takes you up to a plateau at 3300m, from where there are walking trails. Views from these two meadows, you will get a splendid impressive. The other attractive spot around Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is Yak Meadow. Yak Meadow (Maoniuping) is around 60 km from Lijiang, where yet another cable car takes tourists up to the meadows at 3500m.
