Today I'm trying to recall every memory I had when I did my first mountain climbing/hiking.
FYI, I never climbed any mountain before, and the first mountain I climbed was Huashan, located in Xi'An, China. (And later I knew that this mountain was one of the 5 GREATEST MOUNTAINS IN CHINA. 5000+ ft. Wow cool.)
From Xi'An, we had to take a train to Huashan station for about 1 and half hour.
I didn't have any knowledge about mountain climbing, so I was just going with the flow.
And in the end, the river flows to.... night climbing.
On our way to Huashan!
Huashan gate. We had to pay about 120 yuan to get in.
First trail. Not so hard, yes? Just straight road.
Mountain map. Not too big, yes?
My climbing team. And the city landscape we saw along the way.
The hiking trail. I feel like we climbed 10000+ stairs already.
When we were resting, we always saw these fresh cucumbers
washed by fresh mountain water!
Higher and higher, we reached 5 km already?
Can't complain about the view tho.
It was around 12 or 1 A.M already, we were starting to feel tired and keep guessing when we will reach the mountain peak to see sunrise. We started climbing at 8 P.M and it's been 4+ hours.
After rest, we were going to climb a super tall stairs, 45 degree slope.
The stairs were behind those pretty lights.
I WAS SO DAMN SCARED!?!?
NEVER LOOK DOWN.
But my friends were pros. Taking pics of the scaredy cats behind them.
HELLS.
Okay, after going through those ugly stairs, I felt like a superwoman. But we were just halfway and so we had to go on. We walked and walked and rest and rest and walked again for 2~3 more hours and REST.
This rest was special. Because, suddenly I looked at the night sky above my head, and I found these.
Our beautiful universe.
What a beautiful sight.
I felt so small in this huge world.
Suddenly, all of the complains and fatigue I had in my head and body were gone instantly.
Stargazing time goes about an hour. But It never felt enough.
The hike/climb continued. People in front of me said, "WE ARRIVED!"
I was like, OH MY DEAREST ALMIGHTY GOD FINALLY WE ARRIVED BUT WHY IS IT STILL SO EARLY MAN I WANTED TO REST YEAAAAAH!
This is the North peak.
Wait, what? North?
But the sun rise from the east, right?
........
SO WE'RE NOT ARRIVED YET.
We still had a looong way to go. Okay. *Cries deep within*
Might as well took some pics. And more rest.
Because we had to walk for 2 more hours after ths to reach to east peak.
Walk.
Walk.
Walk.
Walk.
Near the east peak! This is the last resting place.
At approx. 5 A.M, finally we arrived at the east peak.
WHAT A CLIMB.
We tried to sleep on the ground for a moment, until the sun rise. But we couldn't because the ground was too cold!
It was 4 degrees celcius at dawn.
The peak at dawn
6 A.M. The sun is peeking.
HELLO SUNRISE! FINALLY YOU'RE HERE.
I made it. We made it. To the peak. To see sunrise!
All of the hard work pays off! After a tiring 9 hours climb, we finally reached the goal!
Stunning views of the mountain.
Not from google.
Taken by phone only.
No edit.
The weather was starting to cool down.
It was semi autumn, so this kind of leaves are everywhere.
Mountain climbers/hikers finally reached the east peak!
YAY.
These are the views we saw when we were going down to the cable car station.
(Yes, we used cable car to go down. No more climbing.)
From cable car window. Red autumn leaves started to grow.
So, my thoughts on climbing Huashan:
- Memorable.
- Go with friends who can stand your complains.
- Very stunning views.
- Don't climb alone if you're not a pro.
- Bring Red Bull.
- WEAR MORE CLOTHES. I wore one jogging pants and 3 layers of clothes. My butt was freezing.
- STARGAZING WAS AWESOME.
Cheers,
Daniela
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