About 90km southwest of Jiāyùguān, this glacier sits high in the Qílián Shān range at 4300m. Hikers can walk a 5km trail alongside the glacier. Icy winter weather grinds transport to a halt from November to March. In summer it's a great place to come to escape the heat of the desert below, but if you come in the spring or autumn it can be a cold and forbidding place – the glacier fills the rocky valley and there is little life up here. Global warming is having an effect on the glacier, which has retreated 50m in recent years.
It is reached via the train to the iron-ore town of Jìngtiěshān (镜铁山; Y10), departing from Jiāyùguān's Luhua train station at 8am. It's a scenic three-hour train trip to Jìngtiěshān, where you can hire a taxi to the glacier (return Y120, 20km).
You could theoretically do this in one day, but it's better to stay the night in Jìngtiěshān , where there is a cheap and basic hostel (zhāodàisuǒ ). This will leave you with enough time the next morning to hire a taxi up to Tiān'é Hú (return Y50) and the Tibetan village of Qíqīng . Return trains depart around 1.46pm from Jìngtiěshān. A return taxi to the glacier from Jiāyùguān costs around Y400 (nine hours).
