Mountain·China

Mount Kailash

6,638m

Gangdise Shan

Jean-Marie Hullot · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Elevation: 6,638m
Prominence: 1,319m
Relief: 1,893mabove the lowest point within 5 km
Steepest slope: 65°within 1 km of the summit
Snow at the summit: All yearSee month by month ↓
Summit: 31.0664°N, 81.3108°E

Mountain in Tibet, China

Mount Kailash is a mountain in the Gangdise Shan (China). Its summit stands 6,638 m above sea level. Its prominence — how far it rises above the highest saddle linking it to a taller summit — is 1,319 m.

From the lowest point within 5 km (4,745 m), it rises 1,893 m. The steepest side is the north face: 47° on average over the first kilometre. In places the ground near the top reaches 65° — terrain for climbers, not walkers.

Mount Kailash 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

5.8/10

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.

1.0/2.52 waymarked routes and 9 path sections nearby
0.0/1.50 huts and shelters
1.9/21,893 m of ascent from the valley
1.3/1.51,319 m of prominence
1.2/1.55 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

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Snow

When there is snow on Mount Kailash

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
Summit6,638 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 up5,692 moccasional snow from January to June	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	No snow	No snow	Snow some of the time	No snow	No snow	No snow
Foot of the mountain4,745 moccasional snow from January to May	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	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

Mount Kailash, 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 4 °C; on January nights it falls to about -34 °C. In 9 months of the year it stays below freezing at the top even in the afternoon. In July the 0 °C line climbs to about 7,270 m, above the summit: the top thaws on an average afternoon. Across the region, November is the driest month (4 mm) and July the wettest (47 mm).

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

Month	Summit high °C	Summit low °C	0 °C line (m)	Rain & snow (mm)	Wet days	Sun h/day
January	-20	-34	3,530	12	2	6.8
February	-18	-33	3,800	21	3	7.5
March	-14	-28	4,430	16	3	9.0
April	-9	-21	5,210	22	3	10.1
May	-5	-17	5,900	25	4	10.9
June	1	-13	6,830	16	4	12.0
July	4	-10	7,270	47	11	9.8
August	3	-10	7,120	38	10	9.0
September	0	-14	6,560	18	4	10.9
October	-8	-20	5,430	7	1	10.8
November	-13	-27	4,690	4	1	10.0
December	-17	-32	3,960	6	1	9.1

Estimate: the NASA POWER climate of a ~55 km cell (average height 4,996 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. Heights drawn 2× taller than lengths, so the shape can be seen.

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 Mount Kailash

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

Mount Kailash seen from above (Sentinel-2)

N 5 km

ViewpointsOther summitsGlaciers

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

—mountain huts and shelters
—cable cars, gondolas, chairlifts and rack railways
—ski areas
2waymarked hiking routes
冈仁波齐外环, 冈仁波齐（内线）
—via ferratas
—climbing crags and routes
2named glaciers
Kangrinboqe Glacier, Naqu Glacier
1viewpoints
—campsites
4hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Driraphuk Gompa Guesthouse, 冈仁波齐冈加宾馆, 冈仁波齐朝圣客栈
13restaurants and cafés

How hard are the paths?

9 path sections within 5 km, by SAC hiking scale (T1 easy walk … T6 difficult alpine).

T2 mountain hiking

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

2005 Chortens and Kailash High reso — Yasunori Koide · CC BY-SA 4.0

Gaurikund at Mount Kailash in Tibet — Amitbalani · CC0

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	-20	-18	-14	-9	-5	1	4	3	0	-8	-13	-17
2020	−3.5	−2.4	−3.7	−4.9	−6.5	−3.5	−2.2	+0.1	+0.8	+1.5	−1.5	−0.9
2021	+1.8	+2.6	+1.8	−1.7	−0.6	−0.2	+0.5	+0.7	+1.7	−0.2	−2.8	−2.8
2022	−1.7	−3.9	+3.8	+2.1	+1.9	+0.6	+1.1	+0.6	+0.5	−1.3	+0.2	+0.9
2023	+0.8	+2.6	+0.5	−2.0	−2.3	−0.8	±0.0	+1.0	+1.0	±0.0	+0.8	+2.0
2024	+2.0	−0.2	+0.2	±0.0	+2.1	+0.6	+2.0	+0.1	+1.7	+2.6	+2.2	±0.0
2025	+2.4	+1.3	−1.0	+1.1	+1.9	+1.3	+0.7	−0.2	+1.5	+0.6	+0.3	+2.5

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Nearby

More mountains nearby

7,694 mGurla Mandhata

About these numbers

Names, elevation, prominence	Wikidata (Q229107) · 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.

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