Chonggu Monastery

Situated on Haitse Mountain, at altitude of 3,880m, Chonggu Monastery is one of the must visit when one comes to Yading.  In fact, when the car coming through cascade of mountains and winding roads the chance is that one will see Chonggu Monastery before seeing the Yading village.  The Chonggu Monastery is almost directly above Yading village, although at the time and day of our arrival, it is hidden most of the time behind the fog.

I sat on the horseback, with a Canon 5DII + EF 24-104/4L IS on my hand try to stabilize to get some shot of the beautiful, nature and healthy ancient and virgin forest along the trail, some what tough but thanks to my long experience on horseback, I managed to get some pictures.

Finally, we arrived at the Risa Pass and for the first time of this trip, the Chonggu Monastery is clearly in sight, and the north face of Chenrezig Peak stunned many of the first timers who have never seen a major peak this close, this clear, a sign of a good day!

The shot was made with Canon 5DII with EF 70-300/4-5.6L IS, C-PL used.

High-altitude Green

Along the trail up to Risa Pass on horseback is a pleasant ride, early in the morning, and the weather seemed finally clear, and surrounded by the ancient, virgin, healthy, beautiful forest, and oxygen rich thin air, most would try to breath to get used to the high altitude and fresh air, stunned by the nature beauty, and I just kept trying to take some image while on the horseback.

The Horseman

Finally arrive at Yading (Gongga estuary) 2,900m, paid the admission fee 158 RMB and in front of us before reaching the scenic points is a 8km good climb to Chonggu Monastery, 3,880m, alomost 1,000m vertical distance.  It is a good climb if it is near sea level, not at this altitude for most, especially carry camera(s), water and lunch, is a very tough climb for most, impossible for quite some.

Since this is one of the key spot I expected to get some good images, I carried with myself two systems of cameras, the 135mm full-frame Canon 5DII and 3 lenses (TS-E 17/4L Tilt-Shift lens, EF 24-105/4L IS and EF 70-300/4-5.6L IS) in a Domke F-2 bag, and a medium format digital system – the Phase One P65+ on Hasselblad H2 and 4 lenses, the HC 35/3.5, HC 50-110/3.5-4.5, HC 210/4 and the HC 300/4.5, pack inside my 10-years-old Lowepro AW.  Also in the bag are the 67mm, 77mm and 95mm B+W C-PLs which I use deliberately.  I also carry a system camera shade from Lee, the bellow lens with 2 slots for 4X5 filters, and 3 Formatt Graduate ND filters, 0.3/0.6/0.9.  The choice of Formatt filters because they go on the Matt Box for my filming projects.   Then there is my 13-years-old Gitzo Mountaineer carbon tripod and a 20-years-old Arca Swiss B1.  And I have 2 apples, 1 bottle of water, and 2 pack of instant noodle in my compact shoulder bag.

As a result, as much as I want to hike on the trail, like many others, I took the horse ride and have my horseman help shoulder the backpack for me but then I determined, I will carry the load for the rest of day and coming back down on foot, which I did.

The picture of horseman, a typical Tibetan, a nice and strong man.

The road ahead

Sublimation of the thin ice frozen overnight once bathed by the heat of rising sun climbed above the mountain line.

Yading is just minutes ahead!

Pine Tree

High altitude mountain pine in Yading area, China.

Rainbow over Yading Village

It was on the 5^th day of my Great Shangri-La expedition that we have finally arrived at Yading – one of our primary locations of the trip.  Weather continued to be a concern among the group although the forecast favors what we are looking forward to.

We stayed at Xiangcheng last night, not a bad hotel.  Few of us walked the street after dinner to try to find some dry food and convenient food for the whole day today in the Yading Nature Reserve where we hope to see the famous patron saint of Tibetan – the three holy peaks, which I have posted earlier.

Shortly before we arrive Yading the weather again deteriorated and we found in front of us heavy fog and light rain. 

I was here last year around similar time and have a rather poor day in Yading ending seeing just the fogs but however I kept optimistic, after all, with the change of altitude and time of the day, the weather high in the mountain is really hard to predict. So be it.

Just like déjà vu the rainbow I saw last year on the Yading village is again appeared on almost the exact same spot,  and I quickly took a few shots.   

Just nice to be back!

The Light Show

The light change at high altitude is just like its weather, in short, very dramatic.  One can observe constant shifts of light in minutes, in seconds!  And you got to love the modern digital camera – not much because its digital raw capture, its high definition, or even Photoshop, but for the fact the media it uses for storage.  No longer one is limited to 2 captures – in the case of technical camera – before one has to change its quick load sheet-film.  No longer one has to change after 4 shots – in the case of 120 film for 617, or 6 shots for 612, or 8 for 6X9, 10 shots for 6X7, 12 shots for 6X6 or 16 shots for 645 – which I use them all in the past and absolutely no desire to go back.  Even the relatively small 135mm camera, you get 36 or maximum 37/38 shots before having to change the film cartridge. * See film formats.

With digital, for example the 16G CF card on my Canon 5DII used to take this image, I can take hundreds. Not that you need to take that many to get the shot – but you are given the chance to record all the swift change of light show – particular the twilight moment.

High altitude mountain allow the light cast from the sun a lot longer and received the reflections of air much more and much longer, the density of the air, its humidity and temperature all contribute to all the subtle differences from one second to another. 

For example this image of Chenrezig Peak, shot on the exact location just minutes later than the last one posted earlier, tells one to hang on, and always a good advise for the landscape photographers – be the last one to leave.

Shot with Canon 5DII with EF 24-105/4L IS lens (setting at 70mm) stopped down to f/7.1, 1/400s.  Yading Nature Reserve.