卡若拉冰川

The Karola Glacier is located at the border between Langka County in Shannan Prefecture and Gyantse County in Shigatse City, Tibet. Backed by the southern slope of Mount Naqin Kang Sang—one of Tibet’s four major snow-capped peaks at an elevation of 7,191 meters—it is one of Tibet’s three major continental glaciers and the eastern source of the Nyangchu River. As the glacier in Tibet closest to a highway (just over 300 meters away), its massive ice tongue extends from the mountaintop to the roadside. The crystalline, deep-blue ice glistens in the sunlight, but due to dust kicked up by the highway, the glacier’s surface displays a unique black-and-white banded pattern. This area gained widespread fame as a filming location for the movies *Red Valley* and *Ballad of Clouds and Water*; however, the triangular gap blasted open during the filming of *Red Valley* to create an avalanche effect remains clearly visible to this day, serving as an irreparable scar on the glacier. At the glacier’s terminus, a magnificent forest of ice towers and rare glacial scour marks have formed, Meltwater nourishes the grasslands and herders’ livelihoods below the mountain, but the snowline is rising year by year due to the greenhouse effect. While one cannot help but marvel at nature’s masterful craftsmanship, one also feels deep concern for its future.