Mount Kailash is a 6,638 m peak in western Tibet. Its almost perfectly pyramidal summit rises close to the sources of four of Asia's great rivers: the Indus, the Brahmaputra, the Sutlej and the Karnali, a major tributary of the Ganges.
Kailash at a glance
- Other names: Kang Rinpoche (“Precious Jewel of Snow” in Tibetan), Kailas
- Altitude: 6,638 m
- Location: Ngari Prefecture, Tibet (China)
- Pilgrimage route: a 52 km loop around the mountain
- First ascent: never climbed
The most sacred mountain in Asia
No other mountain is revered by so many faiths. To Hindus, Kailash is the eternal home of Lord Shiva. Tantric Buddhists believe it is the home of the Buddha Demchok. It is also sacred to the followers of Jainism and of Bön, the ancient religion of Tibet.
The pilgrimage around Kailash
Every year, thousands of pilgrims travel to Kailash, following a tradition that goes back thousands of years. For several religions, walking around the mountain on foot is a holy ritual that brings good fortune. Hindus and Buddhists walk the circuit clockwise, while followers of Jainism and Bön go anticlockwise.
The path around the mountain, called the kora, is 52 km long. Its highest point, the Dolma La pass, sits at over 5,600 m, which makes it a serious high-altitude trek, not just a walk.
After a five-year break, the official pilgrimage for Indian pilgrims, the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, resumed in the summer of 2025.
A mountain nobody has climbed
Kailash has never been climbed. According to local belief, anyone who tries will be cursed and start to age very quickly.
In 1926, the British mountaineer Hugh Ruttledge studied the mountain and judged its north face impossible to climb. Ten years later, in 1936, the Austrian Herbert Tichy was in the area to attempt nearby Gurla Mandhata. He asked one of the Garpons, the governors of the Ngari region, whether Kailash could be climbed. The answer has become famous:
“Only a man entirely free of sin could climb Kailas. And he wouldn't have to actually scale the sheer walls of ice to do it, he'd just turn himself into a bird and fly to the summit.”
In the 1980s, the Chinese government offered Reinhold Messner the chance to climb Kailash. He declined. In 2001, China granted a permit to a Spanish team led by Jesús Martínez Novas, but the project caused an international outcry, and the authorities decided to ban all attempts on the mountain. The ban is still in force today. Speaking about the Spanish plans, Messner said:
“If we conquer this mountain, then we conquer something in people's souls. I would suggest they go and climb something a little harder. Kailas is not so high and not so hard.”
You are right, Reinhold. Better stay away from this one!