Journey to Southern Xinjiang (8) The Icy Peaks Finally Seen, Southern Xinjiang Dream Fulfilled

"Muztagh Ata Glacier Park" is located at the foot of the world-renowned "Father of Ice Mountains" - Muztagh Ata Peak. The perpetual snow on its summit forms glaciers, composed of several peaks with the main peak standing at 7,546 meters above sea level, straddling the border between Tashkurgan and Akto County, and is one of the three highest peaks of the Eastern Pamir Plateau. Spanning 20 kilometers, the park offers views of majestic glaciers, the beauty of ice serpents, the diversity of ice towers and frozen landscapes, as well as exotic flowers, rare plants, and peculiar rocks. However, visiting Glacier No. 4 is the ultimate goal for all tourists, who are willing to endure altitude sickness and carry oxygen tanks without hesitation. At the visitor center, everyone queues to take a shuttle bus for over 20 minutes to reach the foot of the snow-capped mountains, then chooses to walk or ride a horse for 1,000 meters to the viewing point of Glacier No. 4, where the elevation marker of 4,688 meters stands out prominently. The ice tongue of Glacier No. 4 resembles a jade belt descending from the heavens, shimmering with a faint blue glow under the sunlight. Standing before the glacier on the crunching moraine rocks and touching the millennia-old ice with fingertips feels like grasping the pulse of frozen time. On the way back to Kashgar from Muztagh Ata Glacier Park, we gazed upon one of the world's famous peaks, "Kongur Tagh," with an elevation of 7,649 meters (often cited as 7,719 meters), the highest peak of the Western Kunlun Mountains. Kongur Tagh is pyramid-shaped, almost entirely composed of rock and ice, with steep slopes averaging about 45 degrees. Conquering Kongur Tagh is no less challenging than Mount Everest, especially its perilous northern slope, which remains unclimbed to this day. Under the clear afternoon sky, Kongur Tagh appeared deep blue, with sharp ice and snow ridges like knife edges. Suddenly looking back, when the pyramid-shaped summit pierced through the clouds, the entire mountain seemed to float in a halo of light, like the lingering ellipsis of our Southern Xinjiang journey, suspended in the sky, reluctant to fade away...