Mount Kailash

Mount Kailash rises 6,638 metres in a remote corner of western Tibet, its near-perfect pyramidal form and four sheer faces roughly aligned to the cardinal directions giving it an appearance unlike any neighbouring peak. It is sacred to four religions: Hindus revere it as the abode of Shiva; Buddhists identify it with Mount Meru, the axis of the universe; the Jain tradition holds it as the site where their first leader attained liberation; and practitioners of the indigenous Bon religion consider it the seat of the sky goddess Sipaimen. Four of Asia's major rivers — the Indus, Sutlej, Brahmaputra, and Karnali (a tributary of the Ganges) — all rise within 100 kilometres of the mountain.

Despite its modest height by Himalayan standards, Mount Kailash has never been climbed, and an attempt by a Spanish team in 2001 was abandoned after a public outcry and a subsequent ban on climbing by the Chinese authorities, in deference to the mountain's religious significance across all four traditions. Pilgrims instead undertake the kora, a 52-kilometre circumambulation of the mountain's base at altitudes up to 5,630 metres, which devout Hindus and Buddhists believe can erase the sins of a lifetime; some pilgrims perform the circuit through full-body prostrations, a journey that can take several weeks.