sore legs are our souvenir

I spent the latter half of this golden week climbing Huangshan, or Yellow Mountain as it's known in English, with three of my coworkers. Huangshan is considered one of the most beautiful mountains in China - if not the most beautiful one. It's famous for its Four Beauties: pine trees, rock formations, natural springs, and the 'sea of clouds', so called because the peaks of the mountain seem to float like islands above the clouds. Unfortunately, each of these beauties eluded us, no thanks to Mother Nature.

Thursday was spent in transit - a 6 hour bus ride from Shanghai with some stops to nearby villages (mostly tourist traps not worth the extra money) and a tea house where we tried various green teas unique to the region. That night my coworkers and I discussed whether we wanted to walk up the mountain the next day or take the cable car up, and we agreed that we would walk. Huangshan has three main peaks, Lianhua (Lotus), Guangmingding (Brightness), and Tiandu (Heavenly Capital), each of which is more than 1800 meters high. Lotus Peak, the highest of the three, was closed, so we were going to climb Tiandu Peak instead.

Friday, the weather looked fine for a hike. Our guide recommended that we spend the morning visiting some side attractions so as to avoid the morning crowd on the mountain. We therefore spent the first sunny hours visiting various waterfalls. By the time we set out to actually go up Huangshan, the sky had become deeply overcast, and just as we'd finished lunch, it started to rain.

Before we left Shanghai, we had decided that it would be silly to pack rain gear because even if it did start to rain, we could buy plastic ponchos on the mountain. So, when it started to rain at midday on Friday, we each bought ponchos and covers for our pants from the hotel before heading out. I guess for 5 kuai I shouldn't have expected quality gear, but these outfits were ridiculous. They were as thin as Saran Wrap (cling film for you Brits) and less durable, so that as soon as I pulled the ties to tighten my hood, I ripped a hole where the hood meets the jacket, and somewhere in the span of five minutes I managed to rip a hole in my pant covers that stretched from the bottom of my leg up to the middle of my thigh - not exactly waterproof anymore.

The rain was no dainty spring shower either. It fell heavily and ceaselessly and worked its way inside our raincoats as we climbed. The peaks were closed off (because three years ago, six people were killed by lightning while climbing Huangshan), so there went our plan to climb Tiandu Peak. We had to take the cable car instead. We waited in line - and in the rain - for about two hours before finally reaching the gates of the cable car station. We had just handed over our tickets when we heard the low rumbling of thunder. Perfect timing; the cable car stops running during lightning storms. Thankfully, the lightning stayed away, and about an hour later, we were on our way up the mountain.

The cable car supposedly takes a scenic path, and between the clouds and the fogged up windows, we saw the occasional waterfall or cluster of pine trees. However, we could not even see the cable car in front of or behind us. At some points, visibility was practically zero.

The cable car took us to about 1500 or 1600 meters up the mountain. Our guide then toured us around to various must-see scenic spots at the top, including the Welcome Pine Tree and the Beginning-to-Believe Peak, from whose vantage point it's said that people first began to realize how beautiful Huangshan is. It was a wasted effort, though, as we could hardly see anything at all. We were miserable: wet, cold, tired, and frustrated. Even if we could have seen more than 15 feet ahead of us to take a photo, we didn't want to bring our cameras out into the pouring rain.

Eventually we reached the Brightness Peak, the second highest peak of Huangshan. However, the wind was strong and the rain heavy, so we didn't even stay there five minutes. I hardly remember at all what it looked like. We tried to snap a quick photo, but all you can see is us looking like ghosts in our plastic rain gear. You can't see the trees or the clouds or the mountain.

When we reached our hotel, each of us was soaked through. We had left our change of clothing at the bottom of the mountain, thinking that we didn't want to climb with unnecessarily heavy bags, so we had nothing to change into when we reached the top. I had brought a sweatshirt, which managed to stay fairly dry in my backpack, but had no pants to replace my wet jeans. My coworkers and I, not wanting to catch cold at night, stripped off our pants before going to bed even though we were six to a room.

Saturday morning we were supposed to meet at 5:30 for breakfast and catch the sunrise, but it was still raining and the fog was thick. We could barely even see out the hotel door. We put on our wet clothes and soggy shoes from the day before (they were just going to get wet again anyway) and started our trek to visit still more oddly shaped rocks and pine trees. The rain was lighter, though, and when the guide told us we had the option of taking the cable car or walking down the mountain, we all said we would walk. I should have mentioned that climbing Huangshan is not like walking a steep path; rather, it's like an endless workout on the Stairmaster. So, coming down the mountain was 6.5 km of walking down a winding pathway of stairs. Our legs were like rubber by the time we reached the bottom.

The further we walked down the mountain, the clearer the weather became. We were able to take some photos whenever there was a break in the trees, but by this time we were no longer at the peak and could not get a good panoramic view of the mountain. What was worse, when we reached the bottom, a woman told us that the weather was perfect to see the sea of clouds from the peak. Just a few hours earlier or later and we could have done.

We made it back to Shanghai, exhausted, around midnight on Saturday. I would have liked to say that I enjoyed the trip, but the truth is that it was more of an experience than an enjoyment. We all agreed that the most memorable part of the trip was the rain. What's more, we have many pictures of waterfalls and a few of some pine trees, but none of the hot springs or the sea of clouds. We have no pictures to prove we witnessed the famous beauty of Huangshan - because we didn't actually witness it ourselves. And we have nothing to show for making it to the top of Huangshan, nothing, that is, but sore quads and calves and a waddle when we walk.