Mountain·China

Kawagarbo

6,740m

Meili Xue Shan

瑞丽江的河水 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Elevation: 6,740m
Prominence: 2,232m
Relief: 3,220mabove the lowest point within 5 km
Steepest slope: 67°within 1 km of the summit
Snow at the summit: All yearSee month by month ↓
Summit: 28.4383°N, 98.6825°E

Mountain in Tibet, China

Kawagarbo is a mountain in the Meili Xue Shan (China). Its summit stands 6,740 m above sea level. Its prominence — how far it rises above the highest saddle linking it to a taller summit — is 2,232 m.

From the lowest point within 5 km (3,520 m), it rises 3,220 m. The steepest side is the south face: 49° on average over the first kilometre. In places the ground near the top reaches 67° — terrain for climbers, not walkers.

The nearest town is Shengping, 23 km away at 3,362 m: 3,378 m below the summit.

Kawagarbo for skiers and climbers

Two scores out of 10, built only from open data — every part is shown. They describe what the mountain offers, not how safe it is.

Hiking & mountaineering

5.5/10

Difficulty to the top

Expedition

Above 6,500 m: an expedition peak (altitude, logistics, often permits). Glaciers around the top.

Indicative only — never a safety assessment. Conditions change: ask local guides and check the forecast.

0.5/2.51 waymarked routes and 0 path sections nearby
0.2/1.51 huts and shelters
2.0/23,378 m of ascent from the valley
1.4/1.52,232 m of prominence
1.0/1.54 months with summit afternoons above −5 °C
0.3/1via ferratas, climbing and glaciers

Ski score

—

No ski runs within 12 km in OpenStreetMap.

How these scores are made

Ski (where OpenStreetMap has skiing within 12 km): up to 4 points for the length of downhill runs (300 km or more = 4), 1.5 for the number of lifts (40+), 1.5 for the vertical between lift stations (1,500 m) and 3 for the snow season — a month counts when the estimated mean temperature at the height of the ski area is −1 °C or lower and snow falls or lies there (NASA POWER, 2001–2020). Hiking & mountaineering: up to 2.5 for waymarked routes and paths, 1.5 for huts, 2 for the ascent from the valley (2,000 m), 1.5 for prominence (3,000 m), 1.5 for the season (months with summit afternoons above −5 °C) and 1 for via ferratas, climbing and glaciers. OpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: where few things are mapped, a score can be lower than reality.

Plan your visit

Stay, climb and get there

Car hire in ChinaDiscover CarsSee

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

Snow

When there is snow on Kawagarbo

At the summit, snow all year round. Month by month below, at different heights on the way up.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Summit6,740 msnow all year round	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month
Halfway up5,051 msnow from March to June (some years from September to June)	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	No snow	No snow	Snow some of the time	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow some of the time
Shengping3,362 moccasional snow in February	No snow	Snow some of the time	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow

Snow on the ground all month
Snow some of the time
No snow
This month

Estimate for a normal year: average temperature and precipitation from NASA POWER, carried to each height, in a simple model of snow building up and melting. In a given year snow can come earlier or stay longer. It does not replace the local snow and avalanche bulletin.

Summit weather

Kawagarbo, month by month

Not a forecast: long-term averages (1991–2020), carried up to the summit. The orange line is where an average afternoon reaches 0 °C; above the dashed blue line it freezes even at dawn.

On an average July afternoon the summit reaches about -2 °C; on January nights it falls to about -29 °C. Even in the warmest month the summit stays below freezing all day: ice and snow all year round. Even at its highest, in July, the 0 °C line reaches only about 6,450 m: 290 m below the summit. Across the region, December is the driest month (4 mm) and July the wettest (150 mm).

0 °C on an average afternoon 0 °C at dawn the summit

Month	Summit high °C	Summit low °C	Shengping high °C	0 °C line (m)	Rain & snow (mm)	Wet days	Sun h/day
January	-17	-29	5	4,160	7	2	7.7
February	-15	-27	7	4,370	18	4	6.9
March	-13	-25	9	4,740	45	10	5.8
April	-9	-22	13	5,310	63	11	5.1
May	-5	-18	17	5,960	63	10	5.4
June	-2	-14	20	6,430	80	15	5.6
July	-2	-12	20	6,450	150	22	4.7
August	-2	-13	20	6,370	112	21	5.4
September	-4	-14	18	6,090	65	13	5.2
October	-8	-20	14	5,510	46	7	6.4
November	-13	-24	9	4,800	11	2	8.0
December	-15	-28	7	4,370	4	1	8.6

Estimate: the NASA POWER climate of a ~55 km cell (average height 3,880 m), adjusted to the summit by −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Rain, wet days and sunshine are those of the region. Mountain weather changes fast — always check a local forecast. ★ = mildest months at the top.

Relief

The mountain in profile

Two cuts through the summit, 16 km long, from the 30 m Copernicus elevation model. True scale: no vertical exaggeration.

West – east

South – north

Steepness by direction

Average slope of the first kilometre from the summit. The orange petal is the steepest side.

Around the mountain

Huts, lifts and trails around Kawagarbo

Counted around the summit in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. The satellite plate shows 14 × 14 km.

N 5 km

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 14 × 14 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

1mountain huts and shelters
—cable cars, gondolas, chairlifts and rack railways
—ski areas
1waymarked hiking routes
雨崩尼色线
—via ferratas
—climbing crags and routes
2named glaciers
斯农冰川, 明永冰川
8viewpoints
冰湖观景, 卡瓦格博观景台, 神瀑线终点 and 5 more
2campsites
荣宗牧场
—hotels, B&Bs and chalets
2restaurants and cafés

Towns at the foot

Shengping23 km · 3,362 m

OpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: a low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. Places © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Photos

Seen by climbers and visitors

Kawagebo 卡瓦格博, Meili Snow Mountains 梅里雪山, Yunnan, 2009 (51993091583) — JL Cogburn · CC BY-SA 2.0

Kawagebo 卡瓦格博, Meili Snow Mountains 梅里雪山, Yunnan, 2009 (51993307404) — JL Cogburn · CC BY-SA 2.0

Recent years

How each month compared at the summit

Afternoon high at the summit (estimate). The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years show only the difference.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1991–2020 average	-17	-15	-13	-9	-5	-2	-2	-2	-4	-8	-13	-15
2020	−1.8	−0.9	+0.5	−1.0	−1.2	−1.0	−0.8	+0.8	+0.6	+1.4	+0.7	−0.1
2021	+1.3	+1.1	+1.6	+1.6	+1.9	+1.7	+0.4	−0.2	+0.2	+2.1	−0.1	±0.0
2022	−1.7	−4.4	+3.9	−1.2	−1.1	−1.2	+0.8	+1.4	+0.3	+1.5	+1.2	+0.4
2023	+1.6	+0.6	+0.7	+1.4	+0.6	+0.8	+1.4	+0.4	+1.9	+0.8	+0.7	+0.1
2024	−1.0	−1.4	+0.9	+0.3	−0.6	+0.6	−0.4	+0.6	+1.5	+0.3	+0.5	+0.5
2025	+2.2	−0.4	±0.0	+1.0	±0.0	+0.3	+0.5	−0.1	+0.5	+1.1	+1.2	+2.1

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Nearby

More mountains nearby

5,596 mJade Dragon Snow Mountain

China209 km away

6,882 mBairiga

China207 km away

About these numbers

Names, elevation, prominence	Wikidata (Q621247) · CC0
Relief, 3D view, profiles	Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Climate	NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · CC BY 4.0
Around the mountain	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Images	EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beaches

Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit

lakes

Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit

mountains

Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.You are here

waterfalls Cascadyas

Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit

islands

Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit

rivers

Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Coming soonVisit

canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit