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"i don't dare to go into the mountains for the second time. i'm very scared around here." on october 6, mr. wang told a reporter from jimu news. the day before, he and his friends had just gone to explore the depths of ailao mountain in yunnan, but turned back early because of fear.

because of the unexpected popularity of a video, ailao mountain became the country’s biggest tourism “dark horse” during this national day holiday. many scenic spots have been developed in the outer areas of this mysterious mountain, but tourists who come here after hearing the news can't help but want to go deeper into the mountain to find out. there are charming scenery there, as well as venomous snakes and bears, and there may even be miasma, magnetic field disturbances, and communication failures...

many local cities, counties and departments have repeatedly issued reminders that "it is strictly prohibited to enter the depths of ailao mountain", but it has been difficult to stop tourists from exploring the dangerous edge. some locals have even developed a hiking route through ailao mountain. the longest route is it is more than 100 kilometers and takes 9 days to complete on foot. perhaps this sense of danger and fear is itself the core competitiveness of ailao mountain as an attraction.

scenery of ailao mountain (video screenshot)

“no one dares to go in a second time after going in once.”

ailao mountain suddenly became popular during this national day holiday, stemming from a video posted on september 28 by the video account "santori painting materials" (now renamed "santori"). when a paint artist from shantori painting materials company went alone to the depths of ailao mountain in search of crushed ore, he took a video to record his journey.

in the video, ailao mountain has towering trees, vines everywhere, white mist everywhere, and ghost movie-like background music, which made many netizens who watched it feel numb. the video also showed a warning sign "be careful if there is a bear." the painter said that there were wild bears in the area and he hoped he would not encounter them. in the second half of the video, the painter suddenly encountered fog while rowing a rubber boat in a pool. there seemed to be something giant lurking under the water. some netizens even suggested that there was a "ferocious beast" lurking in the bushes on the shore, and they also made the video watch. it looks even more terrifying. to this end, the blogger also responded specifically, "don't guess, it's all tree roots."

the video quickly became popular, with more than 400,000 comments and more than 6 million likes on a single platform. during the national day holiday, many tourists choose to come to this mysterious ailao mountain to see its true appearance.

on october 3, the official account of "yunnan ailao mountain wonderland" posted a video proudly teasing itself: "100 million people traveled to ailao mountain during the national day holiday." on the 5th, the account posted another video about ailao mountain. video of lane congestion and asked: "how many 'armies' are still on the way to ailao mountain?"

data show that ailao mountain is distributed in 16 counties and cities in five states and cities in yunnan: dali, chuxiong, yuxi, pu'er, and honghe. it is named after the ancient ailao tribe that thrived here. the mountain is tall and majestic, with an altitude of generally 2,000 meters. meters and above.

mr. zhang, a tourist from beijing, saw a video of "shantori" while traveling in dali on september 30, so on october 1, he drove to the ailao mountain scenic area near jiasha town, xinping county, yuxi city. "there are many people in the scenic spot, especially at noon and afternoon, and the scenery is quite beautiful. there are branches and leaves above the head, moss on the ground, and heavy fog. it's like a fairyland." he told jimu news reporter.

on the 3rd and 4th, mr. zhang followed the popular video of "santori" and went to the waterhole in the video alone. this place is not within the scenic area. he drove from the outskirts of ailao mountain to the inside of the mountain. he walked about 3 kilometers of cement roads and then 2 kilometers of poor paths. on the way, he saw a sign prohibiting movement, but he still ventured forward and finally found the waterhole and met some local fishermen who came to fish.

mr. zhang found the water pool in the "santori" video (video screenshot)

mr. zhang told the jimu news reporter that there was no mobile phone signal at the waterhole, and the temperature was very low, so he had to wear cotton clothes. the fog was very heavy and came suddenly. "it was fine one minute, and suddenly it was enveloped in heavy fog the next minute." he heard fishing friends said that this is already deep in the ailao mountains and cannot go further because there are bears inside. mr. zhang originally wanted to take a look at the other side of the pool, but he didn't know how to go around it. he was worried that he would get lost, so he finally returned the same way.

mr. wang is a native of yuxi, but he has never been to the depths of ailao mountain before. during the national day holiday this year, i saw how hot ailao mountain was. it happened that some of his colleagues lived near ailao mountain, so they organized a small team and went to the mountain on october 5. the shade of trees in the mountain blocked the sun, making it difficult to walk on the ground. they also encountered footprints and excrement of unknown animals on the way, which made them even more frightened. later, they returned early. "no one dares to go in a second time after going in once. they are very scared around here." mr. wang told a reporter from jimu news.

a local boy lived for 22 years and never went into the mountains

in fact, it is very dangerous for "santori" painters or tourists mr. zhang and mr. wang to break into the undeveloped ailao mountain.

xiao li lives in yaonan village, gasa town, next to the ailao mountain scenic area, which is the outskirts of the ailao mountain. the 22-year-old was born and raised here. he told jimu news reporters that some elderly people in the village would go deep into ailao mountain when picking up fungi or medicinal materials. they have rich experience and will not get lost, and they can also deal with possible emergencies. and xiao li himself has never been into the mountains. "the trees and vegetation are very dense, and it's easy to get lost. i heard that there are also bears and other large wild animals."

reminder on ailao mountain (video screenshot)

a well-known tragic incident also occurred in ailao mountain. on november 13, 2021, four staff members of the kunming natural resources comprehensive survey center of the china geological survey entered ailao mountain from zedong town, yuan county, pu'er city to conduct field operations and lost contact. they were found 9 days later. unfortunately, they were all distressed. when they were found, their bodies showed symptoms of hypothermia.

tan zhang, captain of the yuelu blue sky rescue team from changsha, entered the depths of ailao mountain in november 2021 and participated in the search and rescue of the above four missing people. on october 6, tan zhang told jimu news reporters that at that time, they were a group of professionals who brought all equipment such as jackets, down jackets, satellite phones, tents, and enough food for four days. they were led by local guides. dare to go into the mountains.

"these equipments are indispensable. the temperature is low in the mountains, so warm clothes are essential; there is no signal for mobile phones, so you must have a satellite phone; the possibility of finding food in the mountains is very small, so you can only eat what you bring." tan zhang said , even so, they paid great attention to marking the route along the way so that they could return the same way.

tan zhang said that the depths of ailao mountain are not suitable for hiking. "i have been to many hiking routes, such as the aotai line in the qinling mountains, which are ready-made roads. but there are no roads at all in ailao mountain, and many places are inaccessible." and in his opinion, ailao mountain is very dangerous. it’s a big place, the weather is changeable, and there’s no cell phone signal at all. their rescue team had a large number of people at that time, so they would stay away from wild animals such as bears, but it was hard to tell when individual travelers entered the mountains.

there are rumors that the magnetic field disorder deep in ailao mountain will interfere with people's sense of direction and the use of communication equipment. in this regard, tan zhang said that when they went into the mountains, the compass that came with the mobile phone worked normally. the signal of the satellite phone sometimes was not good under the trees, but it was fine in the open area. therefore, he didn't have much feeling about whether the magnetic field of ailao mountain was disordered.

however, some people disagree with the statement that "ailao mountain is not suitable for hiking." in yuan county, pu'er city, which is adjacent to xinping county, there is a hiking mountaineers association. it developed a hiking route through ailao mountain many years ago and often organizes hiking enthusiasts to participate. mr. shi, the head of the association, told jimu news reporters that the shortest hiking route is 6 kilometers or 16 kilometers, which can be completed in one day and is suitable for ordinary players; the longest is 138 kilometers, which takes 9 days to traverse and is suitable for experienced people with relatively strong physical strength. outdoor enthusiast. participants only need to prepare a pair of sturdy shoes. the association will help prepare other professional equipment, food, tents, etc.

travelers hike through ailao mountain (video screenshot)

how dangerous is hiking in ailao mountain? in this regard, mr. shi said, "we cannot say that there is no danger 100%, but we have been walking for many years and have rich experience. the dangers are controllable. even if you really encounter a bear, if you don't take the initiative to provoke it, it will not attack you." he also said that the hiking route is within the buffer zone of ailao mountain national nature reserve and is not within the core area.

staff from the xinping county culture and tourism bureau told jimu news reporters that they were not aware of the zhenyuan county hikers association’s behavior of crossing ailao mountain because it was outside their jurisdiction. however, xinping county is also exploring hiking routes in safe areas outside ailao mountain to attract more tourists.

relevant departments warn about the dangers of entering ailao mountain

in response to the sudden popularity of ailao mountain during the national day holiday, the local government has also added reminders in addition to welcoming tourists, hoping that tourists will pay attention to their own safety and not enter the mountain.

on october 5, the "yunnan ailao mountain wonderland" account issued a safety notice saying, "the depths of ailao mountain are dangerous. do not rush to unknown areas and do not go deep into undeveloped areas."

on the 6th, the public account of the ministry of emergency management also issued a special reminder, "the geographical environment of ailao mountain is extremely complex, and the mountains are filled with fog. especially in rainy and foggy weather and dense fog, a large amount of carbon dioxide will be released at night. once people stay for a long time walking in the mountains and forests, you may lose consciousness due to lack of oxygen, and then become hypothermic.” the public account article stated that ailao mountain is “a place that poses a fatal danger to humans.”

on the 6th, the ailao mountain nature reserve chuxiong management and protection bureau and shuangbai county management and protection branch issued three messages in succession to remind the public that it is prohibited to enter the nature reserve to carry out various unapproved man-made activities.

congestion on the road into ailao mountain scenic area (video screenshot)

on the 6th, staff from the xinping county culture and tourism bureau told jimu news that the number of tourists who bought tickets to enter the ailao mountain scenic area in the past few days has reached more than 10,000, which is much more than usual, especially the out-of-town tourists who came after the 3rd. many, "most of them came from watching the video of 'yantori'."

according to the above-mentioned staff, ailao mountain scenic area, jinshan primeval forest, shimen gorge scenic area, etc. have been developed outside ailao mountain. these scenic spots have beautiful scenery, safety measures are in place, and complete supporting facilities can meet the needs of tourists to see the style of ailao mountain. other undeveloped areas cannot be entered without authorization as there will be various dangers. the water pool in the "santori" video is a local drinking water source. tourists are not allowed to enter, but because of the huge size of ailao mountain, they don't know where the other party entered from. next, inspectors will step up inspections and if they find anyone entering the mountain without permission, they will advise them to return.

government staff of gasa town also told jimu news reporters that deep in the ailao mountains there are steep mountains and steep slopes, deep ravines and dangerous valleys, large temperature fluctuations, and frequent extreme weather such as heavy rain and heavy fog, as well as the presence of poisonous insects and snakes. as a result, they erected warning signs at intersections and set up additional guards to remind tourists not to venture into the mountains. at the same time, relevant local departments have strictly monitored hotel prices, food hygiene, etc. to ensure that tourists have a good travel experience.

xiao li from yaonan village in gasa town told reporters that the situation presented in the "santori" video is true, but the reactions and associations of netizens are somewhat exaggerated. "i have only heard about the miasma in ailao mountain, but i have never felt it, at least not in the surrounding villages. it is just a legend that the magnetic field affects the compass. some people say that there are pythons in the mountains. this is even more impossible. pythons live in in relatively hot and humid places, the temperature in our mountains is very low at night, and pythons cannot survive, so there are only some small green snakes." xiao li said that he was very happy about the fire in ailao mountain and hoped that more people would come to visit his hometown. but don’t make it too scary. “as long as you play in developed areas, it will be absolutely safe.”