What’s your idea of a perfect getaway? A nice hotel and a city break with your loved one? A horrible hotel and a ski trip with all of your mates? Or how about a hiking adventure on a crowded route rumoured to kill up to 100 adventurers every year?
Yeah, the last option is probably not for everyone. But apparently it is for a lot of people.
Welcome to the “Plank Walk in the Sky”, a hiking route made up of narrow walking boards and steep staircases more than 7000ft off the ground near Mount Hua in the Shaanxi region of China.
Mount Hua is one of China’s five sacred mountains, and is home to Daoist Temples which are significant places of worship in Taoism, the religious and philosophical Chinese tradition.
The hiking route has become famously dubbed the “most dangerous in the world” and is known as the “most precipitous mountain under heaven” online due to the narrow nature of the boardwalks – and the fact that while protection and harnesses are strongly advised, it is not essential to wear safety gear on the hike.
If you’re looking at the boardwalks and thinking that the little space available would be more than enough for you, you might be right – but your opinion might also change when you learn that the boardwalks are a two-way street the whole way. You have to share the narrow space with whoever is coming back down the mountain, making the space on the boards even narrower for both users.
Of course, the hike has been around for some time – it is rumoured to have been built 700 years ago by the first master of the Mount Hua Sect of Taoism – but it recently came back into the public eye after the stunning aerial footage below was released by New China TV. It’s the kind of video that will get some hiding under the table, and others checking flights to China…
If you fancy doing the full thing virtually rather than physically, then here’s a dude on YouTube to take you through it. Enjoy!