Tomur Peak in Tianshan Mountain [Touch Tomur Peak at the top of Tianshan Mountain]

We are a group of outdoor adventure lovers living at the foot of Tianshan Mountain. Over the past few years, although we have walked into the Xiate Ancient Road that runs through the north and south of Tianshan Mountain, crossed the road where the Wolf Tower in Tianshan Canyon is guarded by wolves, and even climbed to the top of East Tianshan Mountain, Tomur Peak, as the main peak of Tianshan Mountain, has always been so sacred in our hearts. We dream that one day we can witness its majestic vastness with our own eyes and feel the vastness of Tianshan Mountain with our hearts.

In order to realize this dream, in 200 1 year, we established the Tomur Peak Expedition in the name of Urumqi Mountaineering and Adventure Association. Starting from Zhaosu County, Yili, we plan to cross the Xiate Ancient Road and enter the Tomur Peak area to inspect the climbing route and surrounding ecological environment of Tomur Peak. Sadly, President Dong was killed while crossing the Chater Ancient Road. Mountaineering and exploring are Dong and our dreams and pursuits, and they are also a part of our lives. At the memorial service, Dong's elderly mother solemnly donated 5,000 yuan to our association and said with tears, "Although my son left me, you are all my children. Mountaineering is my son's dream and your common cause. I hope you will continue. "

In May 2002, with a long-cherished wish, we once again embarked on the journey of exploring Tomur Mountain.

I met Qiongtailan Valley for the first time.

After a night of turbulence, we arrived in Aksu, an important town in southern Xinjiang, which is more than 0/000 kilometers away from Urumqi/Kloc-0 in the early morning of May. This is also the first stop to enter Tomur Peak. In order not to delay time, we rented a double-row van immediately after getting off the bus.

Southern Xinjiang has entered summer in May, and the temperature quickly rose to more than 20 degrees. Eight of us were crowded into a dusty taxi. As the car bumps on the bumpy dirt road, the hot air on the Gobi desert keeps shaking in front of us. Only the torrent flowing down the Tailan Canal has brought vitality to this barren land.

Soon after entering the mountain, a cool breeze came to my face, and the surrounding mountains were also covered with green clothes. This is Talake Ranch in the shallow mountain area of Tomur Peak.

Taklak, which means a place surrounded by mountains in Uygur language, has become a tourist attraction in Aksu and the entrance to the tourist area set up by the Tomur Peak Nature Reserve Management Station. The main peak of Tomur Peak and its surrounding mountain area of 6.5438+0.5 million mu were listed as autonomous region-level nature reserves as early as 1980, and were promoted to national nature reserves in 2003. Tomur peak area is the core area of nature reserve, so you can't enter it without relevant procedures.

The car drove along the steep winding mountain road for more than ten minutes, and arrived at the tourist area of Ta Calaque Ranch. At an altitude of more than 2300 meters, it is a large lawn surrounded by mountains, and the locals also call the tourist area a platform. Since the establishment of Tomur Peak Nature Reserve, the policy of stopping trees for afforestation has been adopted. The logging industry that prevailed in the 1960s and 1970s has stopped. The forest farm in the core area of the reserve has been abandoned, and the driveway into the forest area has been neglected. It has already been washed away by flash floods, and our arduous hiking adventure began here.

For us, everything in the Tomur Peak area is unknown, and we have learned a painful lesson from the 200 1 Chater ancient road exploration. Our team is all male players, including Li Cheng and Huayang, who have participated in the exploration of Tomur Peak, and everyone has made full preparations for safety protection. With the command to start, none of the eight players was willing to lag behind, and they crossed the platform grassland in less than an hour. When the leader was blocked by a river valley more than 300 meters deep, we judged from the map that we had reached the Qiongtailan River Valley.

Maybe it's because the terrain of the platform is too high. The Qiongtailan Valley under our feet is like a mountain stream running north and south, and the Tailan River, which originated from Tomur Glacier, winds down the valley floor like a white dragon under the sunshine, drawing a beautiful curve. Looking north along the valley, there are many misty snow-capped mountains, which appear and disappear. The deep river valley continues to extend and finally disappears into the distant sea of clouds.

There is an abandoned driveway on the west bank of the valley, which extends northward on the undulating ridge. We didn't go far with a load of nearly 30 kilograms, and we were already sweating like a pig. When we crossed three ridges, there was a call from striker Sean on the intercom. It turns out that the road ahead has been washed away by the flood in the West Valley. After decades of erosion, a cliff with a width of more than 50 meters and a depth of 100 meters has been formed, and muddy snow water at the bottom of the cliff continuously flows to Qiongtailan Canyon. While we were discussing the countermeasures, Huayang and Wu Qiang had climbed to the top of the mountain in the west, and they tried to bypass the cliff. Considering the possibility of flash floods in early May, the rest of the team began to walk to the bottom of the Qiongtailan River.

Due to unplanned deforestation and continuous overgrazing in the 1960s and 1970s, the vegetation in nature reserves was destroyed. The slopes on both sides of Tailan Valley were washed away by flash floods, and stone piles piled up by landslides can be seen everywhere at the bottom of the valley.

It's easier to go up than down. When the team members carefully descended to the bottom of the valley, it was already dark, and the dense fog floated down the valley, making people almost breathless. At this time, everyone was worried about Huayang and Wu Qiang, and they chose the way up the mountain. Judging from the intermittent conversation on the intercom, they are at least 5 kilometers away from us. Tomur Peak is the core of nature reserve, where there are many wolves, snow leopards and brown bears. Night and dense fog make their situation more dangerous. I made a decisive decision to go camping. Everyone kept calling with walkie-talkies, trying to guide their teammates on the mountain with lights. Until the evening 12, they finally returned to the camp safely.

Capra wild goat, the spirit on the cliff.

On May 2, the sky was overcast, dense fog filled the whole valley, and snowflakes floated in the sky from time to time. Before leaving, I reiterated the action discipline, and players are absolutely not allowed to act alone. Looking back on our experience in Chater Road last year, the players felt a little heavy. Today, we will walk 15km through the primeval forest of Kumu Baishi and reach the end of Qiongtailan Glacier.

As the altitude rises, the backpacks on their backs become heavier and heavier. The team members walked slowly in the cobblestone river bed with their heads down for two hours, and finally set foot on the grass in the forest. At this time, the clouds gradually dispersed, and the warm sunshine sprinkled on the earth through the clouds, so that the pine grassland moistened by dew gave off a unique fragrance. We stopped at a clear spring. While everyone was studying the map, Wu Bin, a member of the team, ran out of the Woods in panic and said that he had seen a big black animal. Everyone suddenly became nervous. Some people speculate that it is a bear, while others say it is a wild boar. Just as everyone looked around nervously, Sean lying on the grass in the sun shouted, "What are you afraid of? There are people here. " Everyone looked in the direction of his finger. On the hillside to the east of the valley, thousands of pale yellow sheep were grazing leisurely. I wonder, in the core area of Tomur Peak Nature Reserve, from June 5438+ 10 to mid-May of the following year, the mountains are closed by heavy snow, and there are few people there. How can anyone herd sheep this season? I took out my telescope, and through the thick horns like machetes in the lens, I concluded that this was a group of national second-class protected animals, alpaca wild goats.

Goats are excellent climbers in the flock. Their hooves are as elastic as sponges and have a strong grip on rocks, which is also their magic weapon. Goats are very good at climbing and jumping. Their hooves are firm, their joints are elastic and their toes are like pliers. He can gallop freely between steep rocks, which often makes the snow leopard, known as an expert in mountaineering, helpless. Capra wild goats like group activities, generally 4 ~ 10, but we see a rare super group, at least thousands. Goats have a keen sense of smell, and once they find any signs of human activities, they will run away.