Hua Shan(809 views)

Release date:2009-08-25 16:09:16

Hua Shan, One of China’s five sacred Daoist Mountains, a couple of hours east of Xi’an lies one of Shaanxi’s greatest attractions, especially for those travellers with a taste for adventure. At the highest of its five peaks, Hua Shan is around 2000 meters in height, allowing hikers to literally walk amongst the clouds.

For hundreds of years this was a destination only for a few devoted followers of Daoism, though that began to change a couple of decades ago when the first visitors came to climb the mountain simply for the sport of conquering all five peaks. This is now made all the more easy by the construction of a cable car that carries coach-loads of day-trippers to the halfway point, immediately cutting out the four hour hike previously required to reach that stage.

Climbing Hua Shan is not strictly “mountain climbing” since no special equipment is required. Just like many other famous mountains in China, Hua Shan has been made more tourist-friendly by the addition of thousands of steps, plus heavy metal chains for you to hold on to. These steps range from the almost-horizontal to the almost-vertical, with climbers needing to haul themselves up using the chains.

To really experience Hua Shan, you should climb it like the local students do – at night, with only a torch and the moonlight to guide you. Some say that they climb at night to escape from the daytime crowds; some say that it’s so they can’t see how far down it is over the side of the trail… As you see signposts for sections called ‘the Sky Ladder’ and ‘Black Dragon’s Ridge’ it is easy for nerves to become unsettled as your brain tries to imagine where those names came from… but the real fear doesn’t set in until you have to climb back down the next day, in the daylight that lets you see exactly how high you are, how deadly a fall would be, and exactly how crazy you were to attempt the hike in the first place.

There are places that provide a real white-knuckle experience, where thrill seekers can walk out onto narrow wooden planks, nailed onto the side of a sheer cliff face. Another perilous part lets you scramble down to an ancient chess pavilion, and a beautiful view of the surrounding scenery (safety harness essential!).

Climbing thousands of steps while holding onto rusty chains, you would be forgiven for wondering why you would put yourself through this, as you stare upwards, and steal a glance downwards, aware that you can no longer see either the top or the bottom of the steep mountain trail you are scrambling on. But upon reaching the summit, climbers are deservedly rewarded, with some truly dramatic and breathtaking scenery. Watching the sun silently rise from the east peak, you will know why Hua Shan has long been considered a sacred place.

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