During the Chinese New Year period, the Yulong Snow Mountain scenic area in Lijiang, Yunnan Province, was hit by heavy snow and strong winds, leading to the suspension of cable car operations. According to reports from tourists, on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year (February 2nd), approximately a thousand visitors were stranded at the mountain top for several hours.
Tourist Ms. Zhang shared her experience. Around 2 p.m. on February 2nd, she took the cable car up to the peak of Yulong Snow Mountain when the temperature was approximately minus six degrees Celsius. Due to the sudden heavy snowfall, the cable car going down the mountain stopped operating, leaving an estimated thousand people stranded at the summit for up to three hours without any assistance. Eventually, they had to call for help through emergency services.
Ms. Zhang mentioned that due to icy road conditions, she didn’t return to the hotel until 10 p.m. that night. She questioned why tickets were still being sold if the scenic area was aware of the possibility of heavy snow and strong winds during the Lunar New Year period. She also criticized the lack of an emergency response plan in such a large scenic area.
Another tourist, Ms. Yu, had a similar experience. She started queuing to go down the mountain around 2 p.m. on the 2nd and didn’t board the cable car until around 6 p.m. She recalled that during the hours of being stranded, no staff from the scenic area came forward to address the situation, and everyone had to anxiously wait. Ms. Yu also mentioned that during this time, staff brought a box of oxygen tanks for sale, priced at 39 Chinese yuan per bottle.
Ms. Yu believed that since late January, Yulong Snow Mountain had already experienced visitors getting stranded due to heavy snow, and the scenic area should have learned from that experience to improve their management measures.
The report stated that starting from January 26th, many areas in Yunnan experienced continuous heavy snowfall, leading to almost daily closure notices for various scenic areas including Yulong Snow Mountain. Many travelers found themselves trapped within the scenic areas during their journeys due to weather conditions, enduring hours of waiting before being able to leave.
On February 4th around 3 p.m., the media managed to contact staff from the Yulong Snow Mountain scenic area. When asked about the temporary suspension of the cable car, a staff member explained that February is the windy season for Yulong Snow Mountain, with unpredictable strong winds often occurring in the afternoon. The cable car company would assess the actual situation and if the weather conditions were deemed to impact the safe operation of the cable car, they would immediately suspend operations. The staff member denied claims of no assistance being provided to the stranded visitors for several hours on February 2nd.
The staff member also mentioned that from noon that day, they had started limiting the number of visitors going up the mountain and advising them to return, so the actual number of visitors stranded on the mountain was definitely less than a thousand. Each cable car cabin could only accommodate 8 passengers, and due to the strong winds at the time, the cable car operation was slower than usual, resulting in extended waiting times. However, all visitors were safely brought down the mountain in the end.
In recent times, the high-altitude areas above 2800 meters of Yulong Snow Mountain have been hit by heavy snow and strong winds, resulting in a cumulative temperature drop of 10 to 15 degrees Celsius, with gusts reaching wind force 8 to 9.