The "forbidden zone" that became popular overnight has become a "scenic spot". What makes people love and fear Ailao Mountain?

During the just-passed National Day holiday, Yunnan's Ailao Mountain suddenly became popular: on the one hand, tourists flocked to the area just to see the magnificence of the Yuanyang Rice Terraces and experience the length of the Ancient Tea-Horse Road. There was even an exaggerated claim on the Internet that the number of visitors exceeded 100 million. On the other hand, the local nature reserve management bureau frequently issued warnings, emphasizing that the terrain is steep, the mountains are high and the valleys are deep, coupled with the changeable climate and the presence of snakes and insects, and explicitly prohibited any unit or individual from entering this mysterious place without permission.

Yunnan Ailao Mountain Wonderland released a video (screenshot from social media platform)

Ailao Mountain is like a rose with thorns. It is attractive for its beauty but also daunting for its hidden dangers. People compare it to the real-life "Yunnan Worm Valley". This unique phenomenon is ultimately due to the unique geographical environment and climate conditions of Ailao Mountain.

Before explaining this phenomenon, we must first clarify what Ailao Mountain is from a geographical perspective.

0 1Rolling mountains and towering peaks

Ailao Mountain is not just a mountain, but a system of mountains interwoven with many ridges and valleys, which is called a mountain range in scientific terms. It is located in the central part of Yunnan Province and is actually the remnant of the Yunling Mountains extending southward.

The Yunling Mountains are the marginal part of the Hengduan Mountains. The main part stands in the northwest of Yunnan Province and gradually descends eastward until it forms a relatively low and gentle remnant in the central part of Yunnan Province, the Ailao Mountains. The academic community also often refers to this continuous mountain system as the "Yunling-Ailao Mountains". This mountain range is like a natural barrier, separating the Hengduan Mountains from the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Dali, Lijiang, Chuxiong and other places to the north of it all belong to the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.

The Ailao Mountains are shaped like a winding giant loach, with its "head" located in Nanjian Yi Autonomous County of Dali City, and its "tail" extending to Yuanjiang County of Honghe Prefecture and Mojiang County of Pu'er City. It is about 500 kilometers long, with an average width of about 20 kilometers and a total area of ​​about 10,000 square kilometers.

Ailao Mountains topographic map

The Yunling Mountains are famous for their towering peaks, most of which are about 4,000 meters above sea level, and more than 10 peaks are over 5,000 meters above sea level. As its southern extension, the Ailao Mountains have more than 30 majestic peaks, including more than 10 peaks over 3,000 meters, and the main peak is as high as 3,166 meters, showing the wonders of nature.

0 2 Huge mountain range with beautiful scenery

Compared with the huge Ailao Mountains, the Ailao Mountain National Nature Reserve established in 1988 seems a bit small. The reserve is located in the middle and northern section of the Ailao Mountains, spanning Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Pu'er City and Yuxi City. It is a forest ecosystem type nature reserve. The reserve covers an area of ​​677 square kilometers, which is less than one-tenth of the total area of ​​the Ailao Mountains.

Compared with the Ailao Mountain National Nature Reserve, the Ailao Mountain Scenic Area is more compact, with a total area of ​​about 500 square kilometers. This scenic area mainly covers the marginal areas of the Ailao Mountain Range that are not included in the national or county-level nature reserves, including Nanen Waterfall, the Ancient Tea Horse Road, Jinshan Primeval Forest, Damaoyan Peak, Daxueguo Mountain, Daque Mountain, terraced fields and many other natural landscapes. These attractions are not only beautiful in nature, but also contain profound historical and cultural heritage.

The terraced fields in the Ailao Mountain Scenic Area are particularly famous, and the Yuanyang Terraces are the gem of the Honghe Hani Terraces. The Yuanyang Terraces are large in scale and magnificent, spanning Honghe, Yuanyang, Luchun and Jinping counties, and are the result of generations of hard work by the Hani people.

In 2013, the Red River Hani Rice Terraces Cultural Landscape was included in the World Heritage List, becoming China's first world heritage site named after an ethnic group. These terraces are like works of art carved on the Ailao Mountains. The water-filled terraces reflect the sea of ​​clouds and sky under the sunlight, and change with the sunrise and sunset, which is of great viewing value.

The Ailao Mountain Scenic Area is divided into several categories, including buffer zones and experimental zones, according to different management levels.

Among them, Shimen Gorge, the Ancient Tea Horse Road, Jinshan Primeval Forest, Qianjiazhai, and the Confucian Temple were designated as experimental areas, where tourists can visit safely on the premise of abiding by the management regulations of the scenic area. During the National Day holiday, it was these experimental areas that attracted "100 million" tourists.

It is worth noting that entry into the core area of ​​the Ailao Mountain National Nature Reserve is strictly prohibited. The Chuxiong City Management and Protection Bureau and the Shuangbai County Management and Protection Bureau have successively issued notices, strictly prohibiting hunting, picking, using fire and other behaviors to ensure the originality and purity of the natural ecology.

0 3 Complex environment and harsh conditions

The Ailao Mountains are loved for their endless beautiful scenery, but their complex geographical environment and harsh natural conditions are also frightening.

The geological structure of Ailao Mountain is extremely complex, with crisscrossing valleys and steep slopes, and natural disasters such as mudslides and landslides often occur due to gravity. Especially in the rainy season, flash floods and landslides occur frequently, posing a great threat to those entering the mountain.

When the rainy season comes, the water level of the rivers in the mountainous areas rises sharply, forming an insurmountable natural barrier. This scene is quite similar to the scenes in the movies "Escape from the Amazon" and "Anaconda", which is chilling.

In addition, the Ailao Mountains contain a large number of deep metamorphic rocks, gneiss and other rocks. The presence of these rocks can easily cause anomalies in the Earth's magnetic field, causing compass failure and increasing the risk of getting lost. In November 2021, four professional geological surveyors died in the Ailao Mountains. The disordered magnetic field was one of the reasons why they got lost.

The fundamental reason for the complex geographical environment of Ailao Mountain can be traced back to the orogeny 70 million years ago. During that movement, the east side of Ailao Mountain was uplifted on a large scale by the Red River Fault Zone, and the river cut sharply downward, forming the deep-cut landform we see today. This geomorphic feature makes the geographical environment of Ailao Mountain more complex and changeable, adding more uncertainty and risks to those entering.

Fault distribution map of Ailaoshan-Honghe fault zone

0 4 Complex climate and changing weather

The geographical environment of Ailao Mountain has a profound impact on its climate, forming a unique vertical distribution of climate, making the weather here like a child's face, changing at any time.

From the foot of the mountain to the top, the climate characteristics of Ailao Mountain seem to make people travel through the subtropical, temperate, cold temperate, and frigid zones. The wonderful scene of the changing seasons is vividly displayed in this mountain.

Although these climate features themselves do not directly pose a major threat, they increase the complexity and unpredictability of the climate. During the climbing process, it is often difficult to accurately judge the boundaries of each climate zone, which undoubtedly brings greater challenges to prevention work.

Schematic diagram of the vertical climate characteristics of Ailao Mountain

The vertical distribution of climate is just the tip of the iceberg of the unpredictable weather in Ailao Mountain. More importantly, the northeast direction of Ailao Mountain intersects with the southwest monsoon almost vertically, and this special geographical location provides an excellent upward channel for warm and humid air currents.

On the southwest side of the mountain, warm and humid air currents rise along the terrain, which not only easily forms orographic rain, but also further aggravates the variability of the weather.

The most direct consequence of this variability is that the summer may experience low temperatures like those in winter, which is hard to guard against and may even lead to hypothermia. In November 2021, four professional geological surveyors died in Ailao Mountain. Subsequent investigations revealed that the culprit was the sudden hypothermia.

References

1. "Some Thoughts on the Search and Rescue Operation for Missing Persons in Ailao Mountain, Yunnan", Zhao Fang, Zhang Yuan, Gao Bowei, et al., China Emergency Rescue, No. 12, 2022

2. "Magmatism and metamorphism in the Ailaoshan tectonic belt since the Cretaceous and its geotectonic implications", Guo Xiaofei, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2017

3. “Where is the Ailao Mountain that has become a hot topic, and what is there in the mountain?” Guangming Online, October 7, 2024

4. "Ten thousand words long article! People's Daily reporter visited the core area of ​​Ailao Mountain twice to give you an in-depth understanding", Global Times

Author: Wei Deyong

Member of Guangdong Shenzhen Writers Association

Reviewer: Liu Kun and Li Peiyuan