Huashan

The world's most dangerous hike. I hiked up Huashan last year but ran out of time once I reached North Peak. So this year, I took the cable car up and spent all the time on the 5 peaks on top.

It rained every day in Huashan except the day I went. The benefit of wet weather is the misty mountaun scenery. That special effect is very elusive. BTW I recommend going up by cable car to the West Peak. It is an 18 minutes cable car ride. It is more money but definitely worth the experience.

West peak. I was right there but wanted to do the plank walk as soon as possible so that I did not go up there. By the time I was done with everything else, I did not have time to come back here to do this. Shame on me.

This the start of what I came back to Huashan to do--namely the plank walk. First you climb down this ladder made of steel bars cemented into the rocks. Sooner than later, the bottom completely opens up below your feet so that you are hanging on the steel bars over 6000 feet. And the fun thing is that we have to see how far up you are as you climb down because you must look down to see the ladder.

Before you can start on the plank, you need to walk over the narrow steps carved out of the cliff.

There is a little hole at the start of the plank walk. I have seen a video of a Chinese guy taking a nap here as a young woman nervously tried to move along the plank while shaking her knees.

Walking on air---literally. It looks like the planks are pieces of scrap wood stapled together haphazardly. In reality, it actually feels very solid once you stand on it.

Amazingly there were not many people on the plank when I started. There are usually a lot of people going both ways on the plank. You have to figure out a way to swap position--usually in Chinese no matter you speak Chinese or not. If you don't speak Chinese, you better learn fast for the love of your life.

The plank walk ends at some point, and you have to walk on narrow steps carved on the cliff again. If you want to walk forward with your head held up high and not skipping along sideway with your face fastened on the rock like a coward, you will find that the steps are barely big enough for your feet as long as you do not have super size feet.

At the end of the plank walk, you see a shrine carved into the rock. People in the old days must have built the plank walk so that they could visit this shrine because the plank walk is a deadend. You have to turn back at this point.

It is what you see inside the shrine. All idolatry is inspired by demons. Ironically you see a drawing on the wall behind this idol that looks like the idol's spirit and it is kinda demonic looking.

There were a bunch of people going the other way when I walked back. The advantage of having a lot of traffic on the plank is that I had a better selection of photographers.

It is the Chess Pavilion. You may wonder why not more people are down there. Answer: You have to work hard to get down there by climbing down a cliff.

This climb down to the Chess Pavilion is called the Hawk Flipping Over. It is straight down and a quite a bit more technical than the plank walk---a bit more like rock climbing. Sometimes you do not see the holes and need to use your foot to feel your way around to find the holes while you hang on to your life.

There is a price for having your own space. I was happy to pay it.

You cannot really play chess in the Chess Pavilion. Here is why. The game is set for immortality.

I climbed down the cliff to come here to the Chess Pavilion from the highest point behind this rock on the back. The back side of this rock is straight down 4000-5000 feet or so. It does not seem like it in the picture but it will be a long way down the back side if I fell.

Too bad that I did not have more time to sit here to enjoy the scenery and solitude. I was on a clock.

You have to maneuver between holes carved into the cliff and steel bars sticking straight out up and down the rock. If you fall, it will be 4000-5000 feet before you hit anything. The knots on my ropes were coming loose on this climb because the material of the ropes was too stiff. I had to tighten the ropes while I climbed. It was a good thing that I did not need to use the lifelines to save my life. You can say that I was climbing without a reliably working harness the whole time.

East Peak is the best place to watch the famous Huashan sunrise.

The only reason why I did not stand closer to the edge was because the man holding my camera was more nervous than I was. I was afraid that he would drop my camera if I stepped any closer to the edge. I also was not sure why he aimed the shot at so much sky. But the picture turned out OK. I guess you cannot explain art. LOL.

Coming down to the North Peak (the lowest peak of Huashan) to take the cable car home. The rocks remind me of Yosemite.