Long Gorge (Lara Peak, Chang-gou)

Long Gorge (Lara Peak, Chang-gou)

Page Type Page Type: Mountain/Rock
Location Lat/Lon: 31.12967°N / 102.91683°E
Additional Information County: China
Additional Information Elevation: 18701 ft / 5700 m
Sign the Climber's Log

Overview



Rough map of Four Girls Mountains


Mount Long Gorge (Lara Peak, Chang-gou) is a knife edged rock peak in southwestern China.
It is on the northern side of the highest peak 6250m of Mount Four Girls (Siguniang) Mountains.
Reffer to The northwest face of the main peak(6250m) .
Three Americans made the first ascent in the spring, 2007. Reffer to "http://www.alpinist.com/doc/ALP19/newswire-qionglai-lara-shan-puryear".
Mount Long Gorge is part of the Four Girls (Siguniang) Mountains, a beautiful Nature Reserve with many sharp rock peaks, lakes and marshes.
Glaciers shaped the area in a distant past. The highest peak in the region is Four Girls Mountain itself, reaching up to 6250m.
The area is known for it’s abundance of blooming flowers and alpine plants. Also, a lot of medicinal herbs can be found.
The Four Girls region is at the east end of the Tibetan cultural sphere. Many Tibetans live in this area for more than 1000 years.
The main living basis is pasturage and agriculture.

Note : Mount Long Gorge has another name as Lara Peak by the AAC Enews.
The Lara Peak was named for the late Lara Kellogg and climbed by her husband Chad Kellogg, Jay Janousek, and Joe Puryear.
AAC has established a new fund to create the Lara-Karena Bitenieks Kellogg Memorial Conservation Grant,
in honor of the Seattle climber who died this spring during an attempt on Mt. Wake in the Alaska Range.
Kellogg, an AAC member, was a former climbing guide and Mt. Rainier ranger, and she worked as a research scientist for
the University of Washington's Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory at the time of her death.










Getting There

Mount Long Gorge is located near Rilong town, Xiaojin County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province. In Rilong town you can find many hotels.
Beware that may 1st - 7th, and october 1st - 7th are a holiday in China, so the hotels are very crowded, they also change their rates.
Nearest major airport is in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province. This is a 3 hours flight from Shanghai.
From Chengdu it's a 6 hours bus trip to Rilong town.
Mount Long Gorge is in middle of the Long Terrace Valley. It takes 5 hour from Rilong Town to the base camp (around 3700m) by walking.
There is a farmer's house near the base camp. You can ask farmer to stay their house. The fee is around $2 each night.
You can employs porters and horse. The fee of porter is around $15 each day. The fee of horse is around $30 from the town to the base camp.
About the climb route, reffer to "http://www.alpinist.com/doc/ALP19/newswire-qionglai-lara-shan-puryear".
Special gear needed to climb up to the top.
In all season, the upper part of the route is covered by snow and ice.

Red Tape

You pay the Management Bureau a entry fee (about $9) at the entrance gate in the Nature Reserve.
There are three valleys in the Nature Reserve. At the entrance gate which is in each valley, you pay the entry fee and other (like a camping fee).
At present, the climber who reaches the summit pays the Sichuan Mountaineering Association a mountaineering fee.
Please inquire to the office at the entrance gate or the following for the details.
The Sichuan Mountaineering Association "http://outdoors.www29.cn4e.com/sma/".
Sometimes, the rules changes. You should confirm them at the entrance gate or in the travel agency.

Camping

Before building a tent, you notice this to the entrance gate and you'll have to pay a fee.

When To Climb

Spring is best.

Mountain Conditions

Will research into this soon, for now see the Nature Reserve website.
http://www.sgns.gov.cn/scholaweb/conts.htm
If you have information about this mountain that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.