The real adventure comes where we made a journey to Huashan, 120km away from Xi’an city. With an altitude of 2,160 meters (7,087 feet), Huashan is famous for natural vista of steep, narrow paths, and a high mountain range.
The entire journey, including trekking on world’s most deadliest hiking trail, can be done in a day. There are 4-6 hours of hiking, so unless you want to hike 12-18 hours back and forth, cable car is likely the best opt. We took the cable car back and forth between East Gate to the North Peak over the mountains with the breathtaking view.
Walking across a narrow plank walkway nearly 5,000 ft in the air is absolutely surreal. The deadly infamous Plank Walk In The Sky path itself is two-way of traffic, where we literally sharing the same treacherous path with other hikers. Sometimes only having room for one foot to stabilise.
Total Damage
Park entrance fee: mandatory for all visitors
- Busy season (1 March to 30 November): 180 RMB, or 90 RMB with student card.
- Off season (1 December to 28 February): 100 RMB, or 50 RMB with student card.
Cable cars: alternative to walking to the summit
- North peak cable car: 80 RMB one way.
- West peak cable car: 140 RMB one way (lasts 20 minutes). With a student ID card it is 10% cheaper.
Access to the cable cars: mandatory for all visitors using a cable car
- North cable car station: shuttle bus from East Gate visitors center, 20 RMB one way.
- West cable car station: shuttle bus from East Gate visitors center, 40 RMB one way.