At around 4,500 metres in Sichuan’s Shiqu County, the steep slope is washed in the muted purple of alpine ferns, plants adapted to the harsh winds and thin air above the tree line. Rising through this textured foreground are the scattered yellow blooms of Meconopsis integrifolia, one of the signature species of the high alpine zone on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. In this environment shaped by frost, low oxygen and a growing season that lasts only weeks, the contrasting colours reveal two specialised plant communities coexisting at the very limits of altitude. As warming temperatures accelerate permafrost retreat and shift the timing of snowmelt, the fragile alpine habitats that sustain these species face increasing pressure. This image captures both their resilience and the vulnerability of the landscape they inhabit. The image was photographed just as the sun was slipping behind the mountain ridge.