A Guide to Hiking Mount Emei in Winter

The New Year's holiday has come to an end. How did you spend yours? For New Year's Day 2026, I wanted to get out the door, so I decided to go hiking on Mount Emei. It's January 3 now, and I've only just gotten back home. Along the way I did some research and ran into a few things, so here's a guide to hiking Mount Emei in winter. If it helps you at all, that would be great.

Before the Hike

About Mount Emei

What is Mount Emei? It's in Emeishan City, under Leshan in Sichuan Province, and easy to get to. From Chengdu, the high-speed train gets you to the foot of the mountain in just an hour. It's steeped in culture. Buddhism, Taoism, martial arts and mountain tea culture have all flourished here. For people in Sichuan, apart from the snowy plateau peaks of western Sichuan, Mount Emei is without a doubt one of the province's best-known calling cards.

Train Tickets

One thing to remember: if you're going to Mount Emei, make sure you buy a ticket to the high-speed rail station called [Emeishan], not [Emei].

Scenic Area Tickets

Where to buy: the [Emeishan Tourism Official Platform] WeChat official account Ticket types: Mount Emei's official tickets are split into lots of types, but they fall roughly into these three groups

1. Entry ticket
   • The ticket into the scenic area
2. Shuttle bus ticket
   • The bus between Baoguo Temple and Leidongping, sold separately for up and down.
3. Cable car ticket
   • The cable car between Leidongping and the Golden Summit, sold separately for up and down. Taking my own trip as an example: I hiked up on the afternoon of day one, and took the cable car and shuttle bus down on the morning of day two. The tickets I bought were:
4. 1 entry ticket
5. 1 downhill cable car ticket, Golden Summit to Leidongping
6. 1 downhill shuttle bus ticket, Leidongping to Baoguo Temple

As long as you understand what each ticket is for and what you need, buying them isn't hard.

Choosing a Hiking Route

The hiking routes here mean the routes from Baoguo Temple all the way to the Golden Summit. So far I've worked out roughly 2 routes. Both start from Baoguo Temple and split at Qingyin Pavilion into two different routes.

1. Baoguo Temple - Qingyin Pavilion - Wannian Temple - Huayan Summit - Zuantian Slope - Xixiang Pool - Leidongping - Golden Summit
2. Baoguo Temple - Qingyin Pavilion - Ecological Monkey Area - Ninety-Nine Bends - Xianfeng Temple - Zuantian Slope - Xixiang Pool - Leidongping - Golden Summit Route 1 is a bit easier than Route 2. The main difference is that Route 1 avoids the Ninety-Nine Bends climb on Route 2. This time I took Route 1.

Gear I Brought

1. Equipment
   • 2 trekking poles (essential, mainly to save energy)
   • 1 hiking backpack (storage)
   • 12 energy gels (fuel)
   • 4 electrolyte powder sachets (electrolytes)
   • 1 headlamp (for climbing in the dark, very important)
   • 1 power bank (very important)
   • 2 charging cables (phone and headlamp)
2. Clothing
   • 1 emergency blanket (fairly important. If your clothes are warm enough you might not need it, but they mostly cost a few yuan each and make a clear difference, so I'd suggest everyone carry one as a backup.)
   • 1 quick-dry top (base layer)
   • 1 pair of quick-dry pants
   • 1 fleece (insulating layer, can also be worn on the outside)
   • 1 hardshell jacket (windproof layer)
   • 1 lightweight down jacket (backup insulating layer)
   • 1 pair of water-repellent insulated pants
   • 1 pair of waterproof hiking shoes
   • CoolMax quick-dry socks
   • 1 pair of sunglasses (for looking cool at the summit)
   • Insulated gloves (very useful)
3. Other
   • 1 Fujifilm disposable film camera (photos)
   • Apple Watch S10 (to track the hike)

During the Hike

Using the Equipment

Mainly fuel and the headlamp. On food: Mount Emei is very well developed, and there are small shops and supply stops not far apart along the whole climb. Even if you don't bring your own supplies, as long as you don't mind the prices, these stops can easily keep you going all the way to the Golden Summit. The headlamp is a crucial tool when you're climbing at night. Watch its battery life. Ideally, buy a headlamp with replaceable batteries, or a rechargeable one you can run off a power bank when it dies.

Using the Clothing

When hiking, you usually need to adjust your layers based on conditions and how you feel. Here's how my clothing changed during the hike, for reference only:

1. Before dark, and before the altitude gets above a thousand-something meters, a quick-dry top ➕ fleece is enough. No need to wear much at this stage.
2. After dark, as you gain altitude, you'll clearly see the steps go from frosted to showing patches of snow, and then to snow piling up. Along the way, decide whether you need your hardshell based on how you feel and how hard you're working. On my hike, a light rain started after nightfall, and I slowed down in the middle and later stretches, so I put on my hardshell.
3. My hike ended at Leidongping because my feet were hurting. While I rested at the Leidongping bus station, the down liner and emergency blanket I'd brought helped enormously. I wore the emergency blanket against my body, then layered quick-dry top, fleece, down liner and hardshell in that order. Even sitting still, I didn't feel very cold. All in all, the rule for layering is: "always prepare in advance, and let the conditions and how you feel be the moving standard." There's no absolute standard.

Navigation

On Mount Emei, navigation matters. This was my first time hiking Mount Emei. Before I went, I downloaded the route track in the [2bulu] app. I didn't think I'd use it much, but even following the track, I took a wrong turn twice over the whole hike. So I'd suggest everyone download the [2bulu] app and use its route tracks to navigate. Of course, the whole of Mount Emei has mobile coverage, so you can also use whatever map app you're used to.

A Few Things to Watch Out For

These are all lessons I picked up during the hike.

1. Before you go, know your fitness level in concrete terms. The full hiking route up Mount Emei is over twenty kilometers long with close to 3,100 meters of elevation gain, and most people need around 14 hours to finish it. There are plenty of supply stops along the way, but once night falls and you're already on the trail, there's really no turning back. So before you plan anything, ask yourself: how fit am I?
2. Your fitness may be up to it, but is your body? After a dozen or so kilometers, my left leg and right foot both started acting up to different degrees. I had pain on the outer side of my left knee, and clear pain in my right Achilles tendon. At that point I still had two or three hours to go to the end, but there was nothing for it. I had to slow down and push on through the pain. Through all of this, my heart and lungs were totally fine. Once I slowed down, my heart rate stayed mostly between 110 and 120. So I didn't overestimate my cardiorespiratory fitness. I overestimated the state of my body.
3. Climb at a steady pace, with protecting your knees and feet as the priority. Don't charge up at the start and send your heart rate through the roof. It's best to keep a fairly even pace the whole way. And whether you're going up or down, find ways to protect your knees and the soles of your feet, so you don't end up like me.

After the Hike

Nearby

Mount Emei is part of Leshan and very close to the city. After Mount Emei, you can head to Leshan, home to the nationally famous Leshan Giant Buddha and a well-known food culture.

Food

After the hike, I ate a few things in Emeishan City, and I thought they were all pretty good.

1. Wangji Tofu Pudding: tofu pudding and beef kabing flatbread, very Leshan, delicious.
2. Fried potatoes: a random place I found, with a unique flavor I haven't had anywhere else.
3. Deep-fried skewers: another random place. Fresh, clean ingredients, and cheap. Beyond that, Leshan has classic dishes like qiaojiao beef and bobo chicken, so when you come to Mount Emei, you won't have to worry about finding good food after you come down.