CHINA 5A TRAVEL
The precipice fortress of the Five Sacred Mountains - five granite peaks over a sheer cliff bowl, threaded by chains, the plank walk bolted to nothing, and 'the one road up Hua' that pilgrims have climbed for a thousand years.
Mount Hua's five summits - East, South, West, North and Central - rise like petals from a granite flower 120 km east of Xi'an, the West Peak's cliff dropping a clean 500 meters to the valley. Of China's Five Sacred Mountains it is the steepest, the 'Number One Precipitous Mountain Under Heaven', and historically the boundary marker between north and south China.
The Taoist mountain's 210-odd named sights stack along its chains: the Thousand-Foot Crevice and Hundred-Foot Gorge stairways chiseled into rock, the Blue Dragon Ridge's knife-back climb, and the two adrenaline legends - the Changkong plank walk, a timber catwalk bolted over the South Peak's void, and Yaozi Fanshen, the chained descent to the chess pavilion below East Peak. The Immortal's Palm cliff face ranks first among the eight views of the Guanzhong plain.
The classic full traverse starts from Yuquan Temple on 'the one road up Hua' (24-hour walking entrance), sweeps all five peaks, and returns by West Peak cable car. Sunrise from East Peak's Chaoyang Terrace is one of China's nine classic dawn views - hence the overnight climbers with headlamps who pass you at midnight, grinning.
Highlights
Changkong plank walk
The South Peak's bolted timber catwalk over a bottomless cliff - harnessed, single-file, and reversible only by mutual agreement; the world's most famous 30 meters of fear.
East Peak sunrise
Chaoyang Terrace at first light - a sea of cloud below, the Central Plain unrolling westward; the overnighters' reward.
The one road up (Zi Gu Hua Shan Yi Tiao Lu)
The ancient pilgrim ascent from Yuquan Temple through the Thousand-Foot Crevice - chains, cut steps and 400 years of carved graffiti.
Blue Dragon Ridge (Canglong Ling)
The knife-back ridge between North and the upper peaks - 500 meters of stone spine with fall on both sides, now chained both flanks.
West Peak cliff
The most photogenic summit - a sheer granite sail with the cable station tucked below and lotus-petal rock fluting.
Yaozi Fanshen
'The sparrowhawk flips' - a chained down-climb off East Peak's cliff to the Chess Pavilion, done facing the rock, rope behind.
Photo Gallery
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