Da Feng is one of the four sister mountains of Mount Siguniang itself. It is 5025-meter above sea level.
Dafeng is the 1st sister of the 4 sisters and a easy mountain to summit. Dafeng has become one of the most popular entry mountains to climb in China.
From trailhead to the summit it is total 24km with an elevation gain of around 1900 meters. Dafeng is one of the mountains you can walk to the summit.
Dafeng is located between Changping Valley and Haizi Valley. A trek to Dafeng starts from Haizi Valley. Usually it is one day’s walk to the base camp of Dafeng at the elevation of 4300 meters and then proceed to the summit the second day and come back to either base camp of even back to Rilong. For a rushing plan you can go to the summit and come back it in two days from Rilong. But a more reasonable plan is to have time for acclimatization first.
A Non-techinical Mountain
Dafeng Summit Trek provides opportunity to make a summit to a 5000 meters’ mountain by trekking within a few days. The base of the mountains here is at around 3000 meters above sea level. There are dozens of mountains that are over 5000 meters near Dafeng. Dafeng is one of these mountains and it is for beginners. A trek to Dafeng Summit from Chengdu is within a week. For people with different experiences, it can be as short as 3 days or as long as 7 days from Chengdu. It is one of the most classic mountain experiences in China.
Climbing Season
Dafen g is a 4-season mountain to make summit.
Mount Siguniang locates between sub-tropical zone and continental highland zone. Due to its high elevation, summer is cool and winter is cold. It is generally considered dry at Mount Siguniang. Raining season come from April to September with the most rain in July and August normally. In spring there are usually snows and strong wind. In winter the weather calms down to low temperature and less windy days. Also, due to its high elevation, temperature in a day changes a lot sometimes over 20C. Mount Siguniang has a less distinct four-season change with an average temperature throughout the year at 12.2C. Generally October to the next April, the weather is good, often with sunny days but cold. From June to September come the raining season and the raining days usually take almost half of the time according to former statistics. As any other place at such elevation, in a day it is cool in the morning, hot at noon and usually blue sky, at evening it is cool and windy.
Best seasons to travel to Mt. Siguniang are August, September, October and November. August is the summer and has lower possibility of rains than July. Summer is not cold as autumn. October and November are dry and have better chance of good weather. November is colder though October will see more travelers. Second half of April, May, June July, September, December, January are also good travel time to Mount Siguniang. April may be cold as well. May, June and July will have higher possibility of raining days; among which July is the warmest though. September is like June and a possible of consecutive cloudy or drizzling days. December and January are also good time to travel to Mount Siguniang but it is cold. Higher places of snow-covered seasons are March to May generally.
March to April are the snow-accumulating time and also the snow-melting of the year. Normally it will have lots of snow accumulated on the mountains, making the walking difficult or even impossible to access. October and November are the snow accumulating time of the year but it’s normally dry season. But all of these are not definite as in the mountains one is difficult to tell how the weather is going to be like. These are the sums made from former experiences we traveled there.
Climbing Trip Planning
Classic Plan
From the beginning when people started to go to Dafeng, they did it in 5 days with proper acclimating and the chance to make the summit is very high. It takes longer time and costs more money but provides a much higher chance of summiting. Please see below details of the plan of 4/5 days dafeng trekking. This plan involves camping for several nights. If you are used to camping this should be no problem. Each day’s walking is at a reasonable distance and pace. The altitude gain and loss are more equally distributed to each day before summiting. All you need to do is to stay warm and healthy. The time provided before the hiking is long enough for proper acclimating for most people.
Dafeng Summit Classic Itinerary
Day 01 Mount Siguniang Town – Laoniu Yuanzi (Laoniu Hut)
Start your Dafeng Expedition from the base of Mt. Siguniang at Rilong to Laoniu Yuanzi, which is the yak ranch in Haizi Valley. Total walking for about 11km from 3000 meters to 3700 meters. This is your first acclimatization day walking before making summit to Dafeng. You will be walking on horse trails in the forest and camp at Laoniu Yuanzi. Overnight at 3700m.
Day 02 Laoniu Yuanzi – Huahaizi Lake – Laoniu Yuanzi
Today is your second day of acclimatization walking. You will start from your campsite and walk to Huahaizi Lake which is about 4 km away from Laoniu Yuanzi. Walk around the lake and depends on your fitness and your acclimatization, you can choose to walk further into the valley to go higher and to see more views. After worth walk back to Laoniu Yuanzi to your campsite and stay there for overnight. Overnight at 3700m.
Day 03 Laoniu Yuanzi – Dafeng Base Camp
Today you will walk from Laoniu Yuanzi at 3700 meters to Dafeng Base Camp at 4300 meters above sea level. The walking is very strenuous. It is all the way going up wards but it is about 6km in total. The elevation at Dafeng Base Camp is about 4300 meters. Be careful of warm keeping and dehydration as this is the critical day before your summit. Overnight camping at base camp at 4300m.
Day 04 Dafeng Base Camp – Dafeng Summit – Laoniu Yuanzi
Today you can either start early in the morning before 4 am to try catching the sunrise by the summit of Dafeng, or you can start at a normal time and walk to the summit of Dafeng. It normally takes about 4-5 hours to reach the summit. If the weather is good, you will have wonderful views of the peaks of Mount Siguniang. Dafeng is measured as 5000 meters’ tall and it is one of the four sisters of Siguniang. Walk back to your base camp and continue to Laoniu Yuanzi and overnight camping at 3700m. Total walking 12km and 7 to 8 hours.
Day 05 Laoniu Yuanzi – Rilong
Today you will walk back to the town of Rilong from Laoniu Yuanzi. It is a leisure and easy day after your summit. This part of walking is around 10km and if you don’t wish to spend another night in the mountain and want to have some nice shower, etc, you can start early the former day and go back to Rilong directly from the summit instead of having one more night at Laoniu Yuanzi.
Dafeng Summit Short Plan
This 2/3 Day Dafeng Summit Trek is by far the most popular way. It takes shorter time and costs less money but everyday’s walking is longer and more stressful. Its chance to make a summit is lower than the 4/5 day Dafeng Trek Plan in general. Please see below details of the 2/3-days plan of Dafeng Summit. This is rather a quick way to do Dafeng Summit although some people do put a day or two prior to this for some acclimating walking somewhere else just to get used to the altitude. Please note even though this is a very popular way of doing Dafeng Summit Trek it is still very hard: ascending 2000 meters and descending 2000 meters and covering a total of 38km in 2 days’ time.
Day 01 Mount Siguniang Town – Dafeng Base Camp Hiking
First day’s trekking to Dafeng base camp. Start by 8.30 in the morning and register at local office first. After worth start walking by a small ascent to the entrance. The trail is total horse trail all the way to Base Camp. The walking is on sometimes gradual and sometime a little steep trails. By the first hour you will be able to see the full view of Mount Siguniang and her sister mountains at its south ridge. After this you will be walking further into the Haizi Valley. Lunch at around Dajianbao and then continue walk to Base Camp. It can get quite windy and elevation rises quickly to around 4300 meters.
Overnight in hut or camping
Trekking: 12km/7-8 hours
Day 02 Dafeng Base Camp – Dafeng Summit – Mount Siguniang Town
Wake up in early morning and have breakfast, start on a rugged yet good trail, walk for 3.5km to reach the summit and come back to Dafeng Base camp. The trail is steep at some sections but it has a simple handrail for the final approach that you can hold on to. The summit has the most stunning views of Mount Siguniang probably. It can be very windy by the summit of Dafeng so you need to be careful while taking photos there. It is not a very big place by the summit. After photo time go back to base camp. Walking down may be also stressful. After arrive at Dafeng Base Camp, take a short rest, then trek back to Rilong. Trekking 20km/ 10 hours
Approaching and Terrain
From entrance of Haizi Valley to base camp of Dafeng, the first half of walking is easier as it is not steep. After the ranger’s post at Dajianbao the trail becomes steep all the way to base camp. Entrance of Haizi Valley is at 3200 meters and base camp is at 4300 meters. Summit of Dafeng is at 5025 meters. After base camp and before summit, the trail is basically very rocky but a simple handrail is set up, making the walking much safer. At the summit of Dafeng, the view is spectacular!
There are basically two kinds of trails you will experience during a Mount Siguniang Dafeng Trekking. First one is the trail at lower elevation where you may see bushes and grass. These trails are recognizable but muddy after rain. The second kind of trail is at high elevation generally after the base camp or at places with elevation over 4000 meters. These trails are made out on the rocks. Although many hikers use these trails very often but you are suggested to have a local guide with you for this part because the snow may cover the trail and at such elevation the snow stays for a long time. The trail to the summit is not difficult in terms of trail conditions. There are shortcuts made by former hikers but it is better to walk the usual trail for safety reasons. For the days of hiking at Mount Siguniang, you will see stunning views of beautiful peaks for most of the time whilst hiking.
Overnight & Food, Supplies
Try to eat healthy and do not drink from the streams directly. If you are using packhorses and hire cook you can have food prepared for you for dinner and breakfast. The meals are basically Chinese food in a Sichuan flavor. It is good to eat something hot and fresh while hiking although you can always use your own mountain food that you are used to. At Rilong, you can buy fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, etc. You can also find many groceries selling snacks like chocolate and other food. There is also Tibetan bread you can consider. As of drinking, you can buy bottled water from Rilong or you can always cook water by yourself at campsite. Water purifier is also a solution but it is better to cook the water and always drink boiled water here.
If you plan to cook by yourself, make sure the water source you use are safe. It is recommended to use the side streams coming down from the side valleys and not the water from the main river in the valley. Although if you have water purifier it should be okay. The fuel for cooking you can find gas canisters in Rilong. There are plenty of shops in Rilong where you can find instant noodles and snack.
Sleeping in a Hut
There involves sleeping overnight in the mountain for a Dafeng summit trip. There are huts at Dafeng Base Camp and at Dajianbao Ranger Post. The Dafeng base camp is generally a very good campsite. It is quite flat. The elevation of the base camp is at about 4300 meters. At the campsite is where the hut is. They have basic bunks for hikers to sleep overnight. There are no dangerous animals around the campsite. And campfire is not allowed here as this is a national park although you wouldn’t be able to find any firewood easily at such elevation. At Dafeng Base Camp for most of the time of the year, you won’t be the only hikers there. Dafeng Trek is getting more and more popular that many people come to do it and will occupy the huts often.
Dafeng Base Camp
At the huts, you will be able to get hot water from the kitchen and there is also a basic toilet. But there is no electricity nor internet. The bunk has sleeping mattresses already and each room can accommodate around 6-8 people. Often you need to share a room with some other hikers you don’t know of. These rooms are very basic. A
Dafeng is one of the “four sisters” of Mt. Siguniang. Dafeng is the lowest mountain of the four sisters and a perfect mountain for amateur climber. It is basically considered to be a hard trek to the summit of Dafeng of Mt. Siguniang that takes 2 to 5 days.
Dafeng Base Camp is the stopover place for anyone who plans to make to the summit of Dafeng. It is located at 6km lower than the summit and at the altitude of 4300 meters above sea level.
Inevitable night or nights are usually spent here for trekkers. Dafeng Base Camp is an open pasture that you can either stay at the basic huts or doing camping. Dafeng Base Camp is located 14km from the town of Rilong (base of Mt. Siguniang). From Dafeng Base Camp one can not see the summit of Dafeng nor any of the four sister mountains.
About the huts. The huts are run by local people that if anyone wishes to stay there, one needs to pay CNY200 (2019 price) for 1 night. Hot water is available but food you need to prepare by yourself or pre-arrange by yourself. Please note that hot water is not always available. There is basically no phone nor internet reception at Dafeng Base. At somedays locals can make phone calls at certain spots near the base camp. There is no electricity at Dafeng Base Camp. There is no hot water for washing at Dafeng Base, there is a basic toilet at Dafeng Base Camp. The hut for sleeping is also very basic. Bunks with a simple sleeping mat and the rooms are often shared by other hikers. The room shelters you from wind and rain/snow but all other necessary warm-keeping you need to prepare by yourself. There are no wood that you can find firewood, making fire in the wild is not allowed here at Siguniang. Traveling in summer and autumun seasons you are likely to be sharing the huts with other hikers. If you prefer privacy you are recommended to use a tent.
From Dafeng base camp to the summit it is another 3-4km and ascending from 4300m to 5000m. From Dafeng Base Camp back to Rilong is 12km and descending from 4300m to 3100m. From Dafeng Base Camp to Erfeng Base Camp is 3km and from 4300m to 4200m.
About Camping PLease note that the base camp is by general where the huts are but the base camp is by large the whole area including camping places outside of the huts area as long as where you can find running water. Camping inside the hut area is not very comfortable as it is also shared by pack horses and muddy in rainy/snowy days.
