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Mountain Leader

Mount Kailash is a great adventure in history, in landscape and in the faiths of Asia. In the heart of the highest mountains on earth, Mount Kailash rises to an altitude of 6,714 meters, and is one of the most elegant and entrancing peaks in Tibet.
For the traveler, this is a dream destination, almost inaccessible until just a few decades ago because of bad roads, political prohibitions, and the presence of bandits. But no Westerner has ever felt lonely in the area around it. In Sanskrit it is called "Mount Meru" or "Sumeru", in Hindu "Kailash" or the "Crystal Shining" & in Tibet it is called "Gang Ringpoche" or the "jewel of snow".
It is a mountain sacred to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Bongos, the adherents of ancient animistic beliefs. Traditional Buddhist cosmology has often connected Kailash with Mount Meru, the great mythological mountain that forms the axis of this world system. It is also referred as the source of four of the great rivers of Asia, the Indus, Bramhaputra (Tsangpo), Karnali (Ganges) and Sutlej, are all fed by the waters of the nearby sacred Lake Manasarovar. It is home to the shores of sacred Manasarovar Lake (4600m) soaring to 6723m.

Sacred Lake Manasarovar (4588m) is located in Western Tibet between Mt. Kailash (6714 m) and the Gurla Mandhata Range (Memo Nani, 7694m). For Hindus, it floats beneath the shadow of holy Kailash and was created to show the omnipotence of Brahma's mind (manas). Tibetans know it as Maphan Tso, 'the Unconquerable Lake'. For many, this is holiest lake in Asia. "When the earth of Manasarovar touches anyone's body or when anyone bathes therein, he shall go to the paradise of Brahma, and he who drinks its water shall go to the heaven of Shiva and shall be released from the sins of 100 births. Even the beast that bears the name of Manasarovar shall go to the paradise of Brahma. Its water is like pearls".
The ideal time to circle Manasarovar is in late autumn and early spring when the streams and rivers flowing into the lake are low. Some Tibetans prefer to circumambulate the lake in winter when everything is frozen. It is then possible to walk very near to the shoreline. During most of the year, a pilgrim should be prepared to wade across small and large streams.