That touch of Ledomain blue! Climbing a 6,112-meter technical snow mountain!
⛰️ Ledomain, this beautiful name comes from Tibetan transliteration, "Main" means "eternal snow," which is a glacier. Whenever good weather comes to the Gongga Mountain area, the Ledomain glacier sparkles under the sunlight.
🔢 Besides the small hill Nama Peak, Ledomain, with an altitude of 6,112 meters, is a relatively "easy" peak in the Gongga Mountain area. In 1999, a team of teachers and students from Gakushuin University in Japan made the first ascent along the west ridge.
🧗 Today's mature commercial climbing route is based at Ledomain Ice Lake. Follow the moraine ridge on the right hand side, climb up the gravel valley, pass through the C1 camp at 5,100 meters, and climb hundreds of meters of rock routes (level 3-4 terrain). Next is the spectacular ice and snow world of the west ridge. Camp overnight on the flat ground of C2 behind the snow eaves under the bright stars. On summit day, climb the 60-70° ice and snow slope and enjoy the panoramic view of the Gongga Mountains from the summit.
🚗 Transportation: Navigate directly from Chengdu to Laoyulin Village, Kangding. It takes about 4-6 hours by car. Then, hike into the mountains along the Gongga loop, and arrive at the climbing base camp, Ledomain Ice Lake, after 2 days of hiking.
🧊 Style: The first two days are a classic Gongga trek through forests, grassy slopes, glaciers, and pastures. Along the way, you can enjoy the snow-capped mountains such as Little Gongga, Jiazi, and Riwuqie. Starting from BC, there is a long moraine ridge and gravel slope, which is relatively boring. From the C1 rock section, the sense of exposure gradually becomes stronger, and finally, you reach the summit through the steep ice wall of "eternal snow."
🔧 Technical equipment: Mainly ice and snow equipment, ice screws and ice pitons are required. Natural anchors are mostly used in the rock section.
👏 In the words of Lao Bu, Ledomain is all snow slopes, and you can walk up it. But after all, it is a 6,000-meter-level peak in the Gongga Mountain area, and there have also been many accidents (including the fall in 2020 and the fall + hypothermia in 2023). Climbing this peak is definitely not as easy as everyone thinks. It is not recommended for any so-called "independent climbing team" to attempt it without sufficient preparation.
During the climb from C1 to C2, we encountered unprecedentedly bad weather. Everyone on the ice wall was climbing in a blizzard. As soon as the snow hit the glasses, it immediately froze into ice, blocking the view ahead. The snow brought up by the rope also froze on the climbing equipment, and the strong wind did not allow you to take off your thick gloves to deal with all this. From the moment we climbed the ridge to face the wind to the C2 camp, many people couldn't even take a sip of water and could only endure it.
Starting from C2, the weather finally improved, but at the same time came the biggest difficulty of this climb—traversing the ice wall. During the traverse, the hundreds or thousands of meters of ice wall under our feet gradually became clearer under the sunlight, and the sense of exposure became stronger. Without rich experience in setting ice and snow protection anchors, once you fall, you will be doomed.
Overall, the technical difficulty of climbing Ledomain is not too high, but the consequences of a fall are serious, requiring rich experience in setting rock and ice anchors. At the same time, as a 6,000-meter-level peak with a long ridgeline, Ledomain also requires sufficient physical strength.