Daocheng Yading, in western Sichuan's Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, is the high-altitude pilgrimage of Chinese travel: three sacred snow peaks — Chenrezig, Jampelyang and Chanadorje, the bodhisattva mountains of Tibetan Buddhism — ringed by glacial lakes, monastery grasslands and Tibetan villages that earned the region its nickname, "the last Shangri-La". It is genuinely, demandingly high: most of what you will walk sits above 4,000 meters, and honesty about that is the first piece of advice this guide can give.
