Mount Lao Than

Lảo Thẩn is a mountain for trekking and cloud hunting in the highlands of Lào Cai. It lies in the Y Tý area of Bát Xát. On this mountain the climb is already part of the place. The peak stands about 2,860 meters above sea level, and people often call it the roof of Y Tý. At the end of 2024, the People's Committee of Lào Cai province officially ranked the peak a provincial scenic site. It was a new step for a mountain region whose name only climbers had long known.

The most popular route starts from Phìn Hồ village, in Y Tý commune. From the foot of the mountain, the path begins at an entrance arch and then follows a trail around the slopes. A 2023 report in the Lào Cai newspaper says a survey team reached the summit after more than two hours on foot.

Along the way, walkers pass stretches of green bamboo forest, patches of reed grass white in the wind, scattered wild flowers, and rock outcrops rising out of the mist. With every stretch of climbing, the view opens a little wider and the mountain clouds come a layer closer. Many groups choose two days and one night. On the first afternoon they reach a rest hut kept by local people on the mountain, and early on the second morning they climb on to the summit for sunrise. Local porters have been part of this route for many years. They give climbers more confidence, and they bring extra income to the people of Phìn Hồ.

The best season runs from October to March of the following year, when cold air from the north pushes low cloud down onto the slopes. On bitterly cold mornings the whole summit sinks into a white sea of cloud, with only a few rocks showing like islands floating in the sky. In the coldest spells, frost can cover the blades of grass and the cat-ear rock. Cloud is a gift of the weather and cannot be booked ahead. Yet that very uncertainty makes meeting the sea of cloud on Lảo Thẩn a moment people never forget.

Lảo Thẩn has famous rock outcrops that jut out into the clouds, among them one the Lào Cai newspaper calls the devil's rock. Seen from far away, these outcrops look as if they hang between cloud and earth.

There is one story the climbing community still regrets. A famous photo-spot tree on Lảo Thẩn was once cut down, and it caused a great stir. That story shows how the finest things here are natural and cannot be made again. For that reason, Y Tý commune set up a self-managed team for mountain-climbing tourism, and the local community now looks after the mountain as shared property.

From the summit, the Y Tý valley comes and goes in the mist far below. This is why people call Lảo Thẩn the meeting place of sky, cloud and the great forests of the Northwest.