Mount Kailash is "a place considered sacred by hundreds of millions of Buddhists, Hindus and Bon-pos (followers of the pre-Buddhist Tibetan shamanistic faith). ... No one has climbed Kailash, although legend has it that the Tibetan mystic Milarepa's ascent during the 11th century marked the victory of Buddhism in Tibet. [Legend has it he leapt to the summit in a single bound - LMC] China reportedly permitted some Spanish mountaineers to climb in 2001, but this was resisted by the Tibetans and the report was later denied by the Chinese government. German [errata: he was born in the Tyrol region of Italy to an Austrian father- LMC] climber Reinhold Messner, who declined a Chinese offer to attempt an ascent of Mount Kailash in the mid-1980s, criticised the aborted Spanish attempt with the words, 'If we conquer this mountain, then we conquer something in people's souls.'"
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