#mt. hua

[tuomisheyingquanzhou-blog]

从华山北峰爬往其他几座峰的狭窄石径。

The narrow pathway up from the north peak to Huashan’s other peaks.

[tuomisheyingquanzhou-blog]

除了兵马俑之外，我到西安去旅游还有一个必定去的地方，那就是华山。华山为中国五岳之西岳，与之前登上的南岳衡山和东岳泰山，华山是我登上过的第三座“岳”。华山的南峰（海拔2155米）是五岳中最高的山峰。就我个人而言，华山山顶的风景比衡山和泰山更美，甚至于跟安徽黄山的风景能比。

华山是由险峻而出名，但实际上现在大多数客人走的路程并不危险。这是因为政府为了容纳更多游客和减少危险最近修建了各种安全设备。现在旅游线都由石砌的台阶爬到各个山顶。路既稳又宽，最陡的阶段都安装了栏杆等。

在我所去过的中国名山之中我想华山可能是我目前为止最喜欢的。可惜我没有安排好在山顶住一晚，那样给我更多时间在各个路线散步。

Apart from the Terracotta warriors, the one other place I had to visit while on holiday in Xi’an was nearby Huashan. Huashan is the Western Mountain of the five sacred Chinese mountains; along with the Southern Mountain (Hengshan) and the Eastern Mountain (Taishan), Huashan is the third of these that I have already visited. Of these mountains, the southern peak of Mt. Hua is the highest of the five at 2155m above sea level. I personally found that the views from the top of Huashan bested those of both Hengshan and Taishan, and were even comparable with the views surrounding Huangshan in Anhui (possibly even better).

Huashan is famous for its steep and dangerous ascent, but in truth the route that the majority of tourists take up the mountain is not at all dangerous. This is because of measures that the government has taken to accommodate more tourists and improve safety on the mountain, having constructed many safety features in recent times. Nowadays the route consists entirely of paved stairs (seemingly like every Chinese mountain, much to the annoyance of most foreign visitors and residents who are used to more natural ascents) all the way to the top of each peak. The stairs are both stable and wide, and on the steeper sections there are handrails.

Out of all the famous mountains I’ve been to in China I think Huashan is my favourite so far. It’s a shame I didn’t arrange to spend a night at the top, that would have given me more time to wander along the many different paths between the multiple mountain peaks.

[cutlerish]

Holy shit you hiked Mt. Huashan? Did you go the whole way?

I did, indeed, hike Mt. Hua ("shan" means mountain in Chinese) a few years ago with my now ex-wife. I managed to make it to the top of the East Peak (which is the shortest of the three).

I'm actually afraid of heights, and a lot of the paths seem really sketchy when you are looking with fear in your eyes, so I was so jittery by that point. She made it to the top of the highest summit of the South Peak while I sat down three quarters of the way up and hyperventilated.

Words, and--for that matter--pictures, do not do the place justice.


[blog-abroad-blog]

Mt. Hua - China

[cutlerish]

It still freaks the hell out of me that I once hiked this thing. A gondola took me halfway up, but still.

I mean, I am acrophobic, after all.

[illusionwanderer]

What if this was a zipline? -- Mt. Hua, China. Photo by Jose Rene Gutierrez