Mount Hua (Huashan)

Huashan is one of China’s five great Taoist mountains. Her five granite peaks were formed by huge granite intrusions (volcanic activity) about 100 to 220 million years ago, with the tallest peak reaching over 2000m.

We spent the day summitting all of the peaks and exploring the temples, which incredibly were built on precipitous and inaccessible cliffs by Taoist monks thousands of years ago.

The tallest peak, at 2160m, can be seen in the background

Huashan is considered one of the most sacred Taoist mountains. The first known Taoist temple, the Shrine of the Western Peak, was established here in the 2nd century BC.

To access the mountain, we booked a transport package which involved getting picked up by a bus at 7am, driving 1.5 hours east from Xi’An into the mountains, before taking a series of shuttle buses and cable cars.

Mount Huashan is in the background on the left-hand side

The bus was packed with Chinese tourists who were all taking different routes up and down the mountain. After taking our seats, there was a one-hour safety and logistics briefing in Chinese. Although we missed the gist, Jem managed to translate a fraction of it on ChatGPT, so we at least got on the right shuttle bus.

Luckily, the Chinese tourists took pity on us and kept us on track, with Jem making many new friends along the way.

The adventure on top was awesome, going from peak to peak and passing temples and catching views through the clouds. The steps had been carved by the monks many centuries ago, and there was a real sense of history and legend on the journey.

We were in awe of the Chinese octogenarians sure-footedly reaching the summit like spritely mountain goats. The same attraction in the UK would surely be littered with red-faced portly units spluttering their way up the peaks. It was no give-away, even for youthful middle agers like us! 😉