Leaping Tiger Rock

Tiger Leaping Rock is a large boulder in the churning rapids of the Jinsha River at the narrowest point of Tiger Leaping Gorge, approximately 25 metres across at this section. According to local legend, a tiger being hunted leaped from the eastern bank, landed on this mid-river rock, and then leaped again to the western bank — the gorge's defining myth and the origin of its name. A viewing platform and staircase descend from the lower gorge road to the riverbank, where the rock is visible in the midst of powerful white-water rapids. Even in summer the water is icy cold, fed by glacial melt from Jade Dragon and Haba Snow Mountains above. The sheer scale of the gorge — the canyon walls rise nearly 2,000 metres on each side from this point — is most dramatically felt at river level, where the roar of the water is overwhelming.