Hua Shan (Flower Mountain)

On Saturday we climbed the stunning Hua Shan (Flower Mountain), about 2 hours east of Xi'an. Hua Shan is one of the 5 sacred mountains in China. It is also the steepest out of them all (see photos below)! Hua Shan is named for its West Peak, the Lotus Peak, said to resemble a lotus flower. It was a little sketchy finding our way to this mountain, involving a lot of vehicle-changing and random people taking us to random places, but we made it in the end and were rewarded with this breathtaking (literally) climb. I think it was my favourite part of visiting Xi'an.
Jen climbing the Stairway to Heaven. This part of the pass was actually called "The Heavenly Ladder." We get it, we get it.












Hua Shan was as fun to go down as it was to go up! There are tons of rest stops and roadhouses along the way, and although the mountain is steep, there are stone stairs and chains the entire way. I'm glad we were here in the off-season though, since it's supposed to get quite crowded during summer months.





View on the way to the West Peak.











Taking a break - these guys haul their wares all the way up the mountain. How many times a week do they do this?
A guesthouse, or the remains of one. If you actually climb the entire way up Hua Shan, you would most likely stop off to rest along the way. Since we only had a day, we took the cable car part way up (I know, we're cheaters) and hiked the rest. The cable car was fun, but at the bottom of the sign with the safety instructions there was this statement: "The building of the cable car has ended the history of 'there is only one way up Hua Shan'". I found that a little sad.


Sketchy. . . killing time in the ghost town at the bottom of Hua Shan. Like I said, it's off-season. . .

Evening glow behind Hua Shan. Hey are those Canadian maple leafs on that blanket??