Abstract: To quantify the relationship between trampling and vegetation damage, field simulations with standardized methodology were conducted to determine the resistance and resilience of alpine meadow in Shangri-La for two communities: dry meadow and mesophytic meadow. Vegetation parameters were measured in lanes subject to control (no trampling), 50, 100, 200, 500 and 700 passes at six sites prior to trampling, immediately after trampling, 2 weeks and 1 year after trampling. Relative vegetation cover (RVC) was calculated for each trampling treatment. RVC comparisons for each path and community were done by Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and regression models were used to calculate the coefficient of resistance. 1) RVC decreased with increasing trampling intensity, although the curves of interpolated RVC values for all possible trampling intensities between 0 and 700 were similar, while the mean RVC was significantly different only at the 700 passes. 2) The resistance indices (number of passes resulting in 50% reduction in RVC) were around 708 passes for the dry meadow and around 551 passes for the mesophytic meadow, indicating these two communities were high resistance vegetation types as compared with other mountain meadow communities tested around the world. 3) One year after trampling, the RVC recovered 66.5% in dry meadow and 86.1% in mesophytic meadow, suggesting that the latter showed stronger resilience than the former. 4) Resistance of the main species were around 390-578 passes for the dry meadow and 282-463 passes for the mesophytic meadow, showing the resistance of different component species varied greatly under different environmental conditions. This study demonstrates that high elevation vegetation communities vary in their resistance and resilience to disturbance. Results such as those obtained here can underpin management decisions, and support long term monitoring programs of trampling impacts.