The altitude exceeds 4,300 meters ( 14,100 feet) for most of the journey, and one mountain pass is around 5,200 meters ( over 17,000 feet), so warm clothes are essential. A windproof and waterproof outer garment and gloves are advisable. The weather is subject to abrupt, unpredictable changes, and it is not uncommon to encounter a snowstorm on the pass between Damxung and Lake Namtso even in midsummer. Bring food and soft drinks from Lhasa. Beer is available in Damxung.

Damxung is a bleak little settlement of low, barrack-like buildings. It is also the administrative centre of Damxung County, founded in the 1960s. Its altitude is 4,400 meters ( 14,430 feet). Unlike town in the southern farming areas, Damxung has no old Tibetan village at its heart. Its main street has the raw look of an American Wild West frontier town, with stocky nomads' horses hitched to the posts of open-front stores. A small ghost-town stands near an abandoned airstrip. The wind never ceases and the treeless plain stretches unbroken to the distant mountains. The nearest towns are Yangbajing, 85 kilometers ( 53 miles ) to the south, and Nagqu, 160 kilometers ( 100 miles) north.

Damxung is an important spot in this region for government functions and general supplies. It has a barn-like department store where basic necessities and sturdy clothes can be bought. Open-front stores by the road sell items nomads like to buy-such as plastic flowers and plaster Buddha statues! Truckers stop here for gasoline and food. A major festival called Dajyur draws nomads to Damxung from all directions at the beginning of the lunar calendar's eighth month ( solar September) for ten days of festivity: horseracing, bicycle-riding contests, rock-carrying competitions and other forms of merriment.