Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
So, I decided to climb Hua Shan again. Climbed it with different people and at a different time of year, and it was totally different. This is going to be quite the update, so I will split it into multiple parts. Lot’s of pics, so, here we go…!

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
One of the many huge panoramas I took. This one at the base of the mountain. Click the image for a huge, huge version!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
One of my friends got a padlock engraved which he’d take to the top of the mountain. It had his girlfriend’s name on it. Awwwh.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Holding the padlock and pointing to it’s destination.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
The “gate” to the mountain.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Started our climb just after 1pm.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Took a photo of this map in case I wanted to refer to it later. As you can see, an 8600m walk to the south peak. And lots of that is 8600m of walking up a lot of steps!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
So, they put these milestones (kilometrestones?) every kilometre. I’m not sure if it’s to depress or motivate. But it was a good way to keep track.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
It was coooooooooold!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Already getting quite high up.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
More signs of the cold!

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The relentless climb and the 2km mark.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Alice walking on.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
One of many signs.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Sunshine taking a photo of Alice.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Random hermit homes set into the walls of the mountain.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Getting higher…

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Big brother was watching.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Woop, 3km!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Stick to the path!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
An old abandoned building.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
A single spark may lead to it’s destroy!


Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Another hermit home.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
The front door step is a bit steep.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
One of the steeper sections. Calf…muscles….tingling.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Did I mention it was COLD?

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
I like the snaking path here.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
The characteristic silhouette of Hua Shan’s West Peak.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
My friends lagging behind.

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Ice, ice, baby!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Cat!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
…so there!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山 Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山 Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Brrrrrrrrrrr!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Price list. I can recognise…Red Bull… a 250ml can is 10yuan = £1.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
The roof of this little shop.

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Stairs, stairs, stairs. Don’t worry. I didn’t have to climb the ones on the right. Feel sorry for whoever did though!

Climbing Hua Shan
More stairs.

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
Another panorama. This one with a story. So, the first time we climbed Hua Shan, with my good friend Dan. Well… he didn’t have the steam to make it all the way. So he stayed at a hotel for the night. This is said hotel. The “Hairy woman’s cave.” Mmmm. I took lot’s of photos, and I smiled inside. Miss you, Dan!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Not exactly what you expect to find on the brochure.


Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
and the room where Dan stayed. There’s always been debate between me and Dan about how far he made it up the mountain. Dan claimed an optimistic 50%… I claimed an unfair and cruel 10%. Ya’ll can judge for yourself at the end of this post, and leave your guess in the comments. 😛 You too, Dan! (Photo taken at 15:17hrs… 2hrs after beginning.)

Climbing Hua Shan
Looking very dramatic.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
You spend a lot of time looking at the backs of people’s shoes.

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
Another Panorama. Click for the biiiiiiiiig version.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Getting higher now.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
I wasn’t aware that I was a passenger.

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Padlocks!

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
A padlock panorama!

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
Padlocks EVERYWHERE!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Looking back down at the hairy woman cave.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Big brother still watching.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Walking across a small bridge and this is the view down into the valley.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Suddenly Frank, one of my friends, lets out a bellowing shout. Roughly translated into “Goooooooo!” The echo was immense.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Powered by Red Bull!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
More steps!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
and rest!

Climbing Hua Shan
I like this photo. Using my bag how it’s meant to be used. At least according to the logo.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
I have no idea what the ecotope is! Luckily, Wikipedia does: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecotope

Climbing Hua Shan
So… as I’m climbing the mountain, I’m taking photos of all signs looking for bad English to entertain myself. Then, my awesome girlfriend sent me this message. 🙂 Snacks…Snakes…Snacks…Snakes. Awwh! Cute. (and yes, thats full cell phone signal on a mountain side. China rules.)

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
This map just depresses you after three hours of climbing or so.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Supposed to say “North” peak. However, Noth made me think of Hoth. Unfortunately nobody I was with had ever seen Star Wars, so I had to geek-out on my own.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Squirrel!

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
Another panorama! 🙂 Still a loooong way to go. 🙁

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
More stairs!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Woo hoo! 5km! Not sure what happened to 4km. Well, the first 5.5km are pretty flat, then next 3-4 are steeeeeeeep!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Red Bull to prepare for the steepness!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Very cinematic looking roof tops.

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Great detailing.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
It’s true!

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Here’s the evidence!

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
Quite a view.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Yes. More.

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
We stopped here for a snack.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Looking down on the path we’d travelled.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Enjoying some snacks sent out by my parents. Thanks mum! It was delicious!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
More bellowing into the valley below.

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
Another panorama.

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
Frank making his ascent. He’s not hunch-back’d… his bag is under there!

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
One of the steepest parts!

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
I waited a few moments to give my friends a headstart. In fact, I didn’t want them falling down on me.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Half way up – always time to take photos.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Frank on my 6.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Hands and knees!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
These are some STEEP steps.

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
Another HUGE image. Click for bigger!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
I love these gloves.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Almost at the top of this section.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
A lone pair of padlocks.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Getting higher.

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
Another small steep section.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山

Climbing Hua Shan
This seemed like some cheesy film intro voice over.

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One of the workers coming down unloaded, to load up and take some stuff back up to the top. He was very jolly, and started singing when he saw us.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
More big brother.

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
Another panorama.

Climbing Hua Shan
Quite a view.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
No climbing?! I came here to climb a mountain!

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Still cold!

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Tree!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Still have phone signal. Frank take cares of business.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Cat! This one followed us for about half a click.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Stalking us!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
We have a patio heater and barbecue back in England that are both powered by these small calor gas bottles, so I know how heavy just one is. However, hulking two of them up/down a mountain!? No thanks!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Smoking a cigarette while carrying gas…

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
…next to a ‘no smoking’ sign. Classy.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Immortals gathering platform. Starting to think I’m in a superhero movie.

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
steps steps steps steps.

Climbing Hua Shan
My DCs were doing an okay job. Not as good as my last pair though. May have to change my brand allegiance.

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Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Sunshine starting to get tired.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Sounds like a safe place.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Too much brown and grey in winter. 🙁

Hua Shan Panorama 华山

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I like this shot.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Hehehehe… “Tossing.”

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
Starting to get dark.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
No smoking!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Getting high now! Standing on the North peak, with the east peak to the left, and the west peak to the right.

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Of course, lots of padlocks on the north peak.

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
Another photo-stitched panorama.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
No Tossing, No Striding. Such kill joys.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Altitude sickness making Sunshine a little crazy.(thats his name, Sunshine.)

Hua Shan Panorama 华山
Click for bigger version. You can see all the little steps and lights. It almost looks like a model.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Stating the obvious!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Climbing down from the north peak to head on over to the eastern peak.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
No watching when walking, when walking no watching! This to me is basically saying “Walk with your eyes closed.” Doesn’t seem like very good advice.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Looking back towards the north peak.

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One of the steeper bits. I tackled it with gladiator-like speed. “Gladiators, READDYYYY? Contendors, READDYYYYY?” and WOOSH I was up. 😛

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
Quite high!

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A cool shaped rock!

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
and a rock-building.

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The last few photos before the night descended and the camera was useless. With it being the off season, all of the big lights were turned off, it made for some tricky sections. My trusty torch led the way. We climbed for about 2 hours more. Going to the central peak, and then making our way to the eastern peak.

Climbing Hua Shan Mountain 华山
My bed for the night. A hostel on the eastern peak. Arrived at about 10 or 11pm. I don’t really remember. The four of us had the room to ourselves. This meant we could steal extra bedsheets, which were needed as it was COLD!! If you remember my summer climb, that was the middle of June, and the mountain top was freezing at night…so, in winter; you can imagine!

Hope you’ve enjoyed part 1. Part 2 coming soon! 🙂 It’ll include the beautiful sunrise, the South and West peaks and the descent. Stay tuned.

Part two is up: http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2010/03/i-climbed-hua-shan-again-part-2/

🙂

Leave a comment


4 Comments to “I Climbed Hua Shan, again! (Part 1)”  

  1. 1 gillian whittingham

    Well that was worth the wait!! Mom X

  2. 2 prem

    hey bro you did awesome man, keep it up i love your photography skill, that was great hope you will show more photos take care pass my regards to b
    see you soon……

  3. 3 Carolann

    Congratulations. My husband and I climbed Huashan in 2006 and stayed overnight there in order to see the sunrise. it was a fantastic experience. Your pictures bring the memory to life again and I also think they are very artistic. Huashan is a worthy subject for your talent. I hope you will do the same thing for Huangshan. We had very bad weather in Tunxi and could not climb Huangshan as we wanted to do. Good luck with your career, I assume, will be in photo-journalism if not already.

  4. 4 Mike

    Fantastic pictures. I climbed HuaShan back in 2007 – it was a fantastic experience. Wish I could go and do it again. Maybe try the soldiers path route. Thanks for publishing these

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