Mount Hua (Huashan)

Mount Hua is less a single summit than a cluster of granite towers raised steeply out of the plain of the Wei River in Shaanxi. Five peaks are named after the points of the compass and the centre: the South Peak is the highest, at about 2,155 metres, followed by the East Peak, the West Peak, the Central Peak and, much lower, the North Peak at roughly 1,615 metres. Their walls fall away in sheer, pale cliffs, and the paths between them run along knife-edge ridges and up stairways carved into the rock, often with chains for handholds. On a clear day the view is of bare stone and a sea of lower ridges; on a misty one the peaks appear and vanish in the cloud, which is how Chinese painters have long shown them.

The mountain has been sacred for more than two thousand years. It is the Western Mountain among the Five Great Mountains of China, and from the Han dynasty onwards emperors made offerings to it as the Western Marchmount; under the Tang, Emperor Xuanzong declared it holy to the imperial house. Daoist hermits and temples settled on its slopes. At the foot of the mountain stands the Cloister of the Jade Spring, dedicated to the Daoist sage Chen Tuan, and the summit of the South Peak once held a Daoist temple whose buildings now serve as a tea house.

Much of Huashan's fame today comes from how it is climbed. The traditional route from the valley ascends by thousands of steps and narrow passages, and a few simple lodgings on the peaks let walkers stay overnight on the mountain. On the South Peak hangs the Plank Walk, a line of boards bolted to a vertical cliff face that ends at a tiny shrine in a hollow of the rock; it is an optional detour rather than part of the main route, and crossing it requires a safety harness. For those who want the ridges without the long ascent, two cableways reach the mountain: one to the North Peak, about ten minutes, and a longer one of around twenty minutes to the West Peak, from which the West, South and East summits can be linked along the ridge.

Getting there

Mount Hua rises just outside Huayin, about 9 km from the town centre, and roughly 120 km east of Xi'an. High-speed trains run from Xi'an North to Huashan North station in 30 to 40 minutes, and local buses connect the station with the Huashan visitor centre, from where shuttle buses go to the cableway stations. The nearest airport by straight-line distance is Yuncheng Yanhu International Airport (YCU), about 112 km away; most travellers, though, arrive via Xi'an and continue by train.