The Plank Walk in the Sky

Now it might not be everyones cup of tea going to China from the Uk for four days, but thats exactly what we did. I had previously visited Mt Huashan by chance a few years earlier and heard about the plank walk in the sky, but the friend I was travelling with was terrified of heights so we never even got close, so I vowed to go back one day!

For this trip Tracey stayed at home so I enlisted a couple of friends, Steve Gater and Greg Fallows to accompany me on my adventure. We started out booking our flights through Finn air at an incredibly competitive £450pp. The travelling time was around ten hours with a short break in Helsinki to ease the pain and we landed early in the morning at Xi’an Xianyang International Airport.

I had already booked a triple room for our stay at the Ancient City Youth Hostel, a nice clean YHA China youth hostel offering private rooms and shared dorms, our private room came in at £15 per room per night. Rooms were basic but had what you needed with a private bathroom and the hostel had its own bar, pool table and outside seating area, it was close to the underground, shops and main sights, it also served food and the reception staff spoke some English, for the money it was perfect.

The following morning we set out early, catching the Xian Underground north to Xi`Anbei railway station where we purchased tickets on the Bullet train east to Huashan, unfortunately we could only get one way tickets so took the gamble paying around £6pp . The train journey was incredibly well choreographed, an orderly queue was formed off the platform until the train was ready to board, when the gates were open, China railway staff guided you to the super modern looking bullet train and as you took your seats and the train pulled away all the staff lined up on the platform and stood in a military style formation until fully departed. The journey itself was equally as impressive covering the 120 or so kilometres in just under 40 minutes reaching speeds that just topped 300KMH!

On arrival at Huayin railway station you then have to get either the tourist bus or a private taxi to take you to the mountain visitors centre, its around 5KM through the middle of town and the taxi sets you back another £6 (or whatever you can barter them down to).

When you get to the visitors centre you have to pay an entry fee to Mt Huashan itself, this fee varies between summer and winter and as we were in the summer season we paid around £20pp for the two day ticket. you also have a few choices, you can walk up the mountain, take the west peak cable car or the north peak cable car, but you are still several kilometres from the cable car stations or base of the mountain so it is advisable that you pay for the shuttle bus to take you to the place you choose to start, its cheap enough at around £2 or £3 depending on your route. We chose the west peak cable car (as I had been on the north peak one before), the longest and highest of the two takes you over some jaw dropping heights as the 20 minute ride defies gravity to haul you up to the west peak cable station situated in a man made cave carved out of the rock just below the summit.

When you reach the cable car station its just a short walk up to the summit where you get to experience the majesty of Mt Huashan for the first time. At this point its easy to understand why the Chinese have always considered this as one of the five great mountains of China.

From the west peak you have various options along trails and the opportunity to visit all five peaks. We were here for the night, so after soaking up the view and taking the mandatory selfie near the edge we decided to head up to the south peak, the highest of the five at 2154m, the trails can be quite strenuous in places and some incorporate steep steps carved into the rock, but an average amount of fitness will get you around.

We climbed up to the summit of the south peak and then on towards the east peak, it is along this trail you encounter the plank walk in the sky (or as some signs call it, the cliff side path). Then is the time to gather your thoughts, take a look at the path (or what you can see of it as much of is is out of sight on the cliffs below) and share a little bravado with your friends. When we arrived the walk was very busy so we decided to ascend the east peak first and then come back when it was a little quieter, its surprising how many people, mainly Chinese want to step out over oblivion to walk this path!

We returned an hour or so later, getting towards the end of the afternoon and the walk was much quieter. People don’t realise at first, but this pathway, as narrow as it is, is a two way path and people not only have to navigate the thin planks and stepping holes but also clamber around other walkers coming in the opposite direction.

After queuing to hire our essential £3 shoulder harness (we all agreed we were not sure if this would help much if we fell) we stood at a very imposing 30m descent down square steel rungs that had been driven into the rock face between a fissure in the cliff, this lead down to a small platform carved into the rock, with barely enough room to stand. The route then levelled off and headed out along the sheer cliff with only small foot ledges or toe holes chiselled out to support you, all this while the 1000m drop below was daring you to look.

Our first day was spent acclimatising, seeing a few of the local sites in the city, the drum tower, city wall, city pagoda and a few shopping areas, but the main task was to find out where to get the bullet train from to take us to Mt Huashan. We were intent on getting the Bullet train and that left from Xi`Anbei Railway Station, a short underground ride from our hostel.

The path continues along the cliff for about 20m with only the toe holes or the small chiselled ledges, but then becomes the plank path that it is so famous for, Steel supports have been fixed into the rock face and the planks are attached to these, and when I say planks, what I actually mean is old 4″ to 6″ wide lengths of timber that overlap at the ends to support the next run. This goes on for around another 80m, around a small outcrop and the returns again to toe holes on a slightly sloped section leading you up to your goal, the plateau where you will find a small room containing a temple carved out of the rock.

The hole length of the walk way is accompanied by a steel chain for you to hold onto and two plastic coated steel cables to clip your harness on, one for out and one to return. The harness has two safety straps on it with carribenas on the end, the idea is that when you come to a passing place or fixing in the line you can move one and then the other so you are never unattached from the steel cable.

Walking the path itself is not that hard as long as you have a head for heights or you don’t look down. It may sound strange but I’m not that great with heights, but I do have confidence in my own ability and was sure I could hang on for long enough. The most challenging part of the walk was when you have to pass people coming the other way. Once you get to the end of the path you reach the small area that contains a well dressed but tiny temple, just big enough to have a look inside (one at a time) and give yourself enough time to chat to your friends about how the height didn’t bother you (ha ha!). Then there is the realisation that now you are at the end, its time to go back, and by back I mean along the only path there is, the one you came on!

On our way back we encountered a lot more traffic, and as we were on the return journey a local etiquette seemed to make it your job to go around the people coming the other way, which meant you were the ones hanging out into the wind! It also gave me the opportunity to take the cover photo, possibly the best selfie ever.

When reaching the steel rungs to ascend them you have to be careful with your fingers, as people on their way down don’t look where they are putting their feet. The climb back up the rungs is just like climbing a ladder (only a 1000m up!) and when reaching the top you can finally allow yourself time to breathe and relex as you have just survived the Mt Huashan Plank Walk In The Sky!

As we were now already on the top of the mountain we planned to spend the night up there to watch the sun rise in the morning (A bit of a Chinese custom) and strangely there are quite a few choices of hotel for you dotted around the mountain. These hotels were not pre-bookable at the time so we took our chance and tried to find a room at the end of the day, it was surprisingly easy as they were charging around £25pp in a room with three single beds and this . The room was tiny, cold and not very clean, however it did have clean bedding to accompany the sleeping bags that we had taken.

As it was getting late we decided to head off back up to the west peak to watch the sun set before getting our heads down as we had an early start in the morning. There was quite a gathering of people that all had the same idea, being so high up we were expecting quite a spectacle. We weren’t let down, the sun set was great and set us up for high expectations for the sun rise.

As the sun went down the mountain changed its appearance dramatically, the main pathways were illuminated by candle like lamps and the view disappeared into darkness.

We retired to our room which was a single story building divided into three separate rooms, no toilet and a badly fitting window (not unlike, but not as big as an average prison cell) ready to get our heads down, however after a few hours it started to become quite noisy with people reaching the summit ready for the sun rise and looking for a place to shelter. As the night went on quite a congregation gathered outside and people had pitched tents on the flatter ground a little further away. In need of our sleep we quite selfishly went outside and shooed the people away, this went on for most of the night and we even had people urinating outside the door! After a few hours of this we eventually gave up and decided to walk up to the east peak and pick our spot for the sun rise.

After a few hours of darkness the morning gradually came, unfortunately this was not with the great sunrise we expected. As with large parts of China the sunrise was hidden by a mix of cloud and smog and the rest of the mountain chain that was to close to allow that dramatic sun breaking the horizon.

We then decided, as we had the day to get back to Xian, to walk through the central peak and on to the north peak completing all five of Mt Huashan’s summits. The walk takes you through some dramatic scenery, the Blue Dragon Ridge being the most spectacular. From the north peak we decided to split up as Greg was complaining about a bad knee, so he took the cable car down and myself and Steve decided to walk.

On the way down you encounter some incredible scenery, and some quite remarkable feats of craftsmanship as most of the route down consists of steps carved into the rock face at quite severe angles, some places would be completely impassible without them. I was led to believe that since the Beijing Olympics many of the older more dangerous paths had been closed and newer safer routes had been introduced to cope with potential tourists that the games may bring, however some of the paths still take a lot of concentration as one slip would definitely result in serious injury.

I compiled a short video and added it to YouTube if you would like to get a better feel our adventure, please feel free to open the link and add comment.