Mountain climbing and it's a 6am wake up and we start the ascent at 7.30 when they reopen the gates. It's not raining too heavily anymore, but the drizzle is persistent. Some parts of the path are literally like waterfalls and the steps have water cascading over them that means I have to totally immerse my shoes to move on.
The climb is very hard work in places and quite steep, with small steps and foot holes cut into the rock with just chains bolted into the rock to hold onto.My companions are all wearing disposable ponchos which keep them dry from the rain, but inside they are soaking as the sweat has no way to escape and every time we stop they get freezing cold. I on the other hand am embracing the west's finest in waterproof breathable rain jacket, flexible trekking shoes with a proper grip and a water proof dry bag fitted into my rucksack. I wondered for a while if spending a lot of money on good equipment was needed, but it has consistently made life so much easier on the journey.
We reach the first summit around midday and unfortunately so does the mist. At the brief times when the mist does clear, the mountain looks marvelous and the scenery is breath taking, unfortunately, it doesn't clear all that often. We hike around the summit area and visit the main peak areas, some of the old routes are actually just stupid and you can see why it has a bad reputation, luckily most of them have newer safe alternatives. As it nears the afternoon I realise I need to make it down the mountain fast to catch my bus home and so say good bye to my friends who are staying in the village another night and speed on ahead. I take the shorter route back down, which is also a lot more extreme with what can only be described as ladders carved out of the rock in sections of 40m or so, you can easily see why it has been called the 'soldiers path'. I make the descent from the peak in lightning fast speed an hit the bottom in about 45 mins as opposed to the 4 hours on the way up.
A 3 hour bus journey back to Xi'an a brilliant hot shower and some needed sleep.
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