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The most dangerous hiking trail to Huashan Teahouse

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Posted on Thu, Nov 06 2014 18:09:05

huashan trailChinese tea is definitely good, but hardly anyone can experience insane excitement, adrenaline rush and fear of death yearning for a cup of tea. The only place to experience wild pre-tea thrills is Mount Huashan in China.  If you are an extreme tea-loving freak, you can take a dangerous mountain route through the steep cliffs of the mountain, which leads to a teahouse at an altitude of 2160 meters.

Huashan Mountain was the site of religious significance since the 2nd century BC, being the location of a Daoist temple. Since then, pilgrims, monks and nuns inhabited the mountains and their surroundings. A web of dangerous and steep mountain trails allowed them to get access to five mountain peaks, each of which had a religious object, such as the teahouse on the south summit. Due to the influx of tourists, the trails have been strengthened, but they still remain quite deadly. There are no official statistics on the fatalities in the place, but some people are talking about 100 lethal accidents a year. This doesn't stop the hikers – the desire for drinking tea is far too strong to ignore it.

If you are really craving for tea and adrenaline, you will begin your journey to the top by ascending the Heavenly Stairs – a long trail of steps carved into a steep mountain, and then go higher with a shaky gondola-skylift. After that, the scariest part of the trip begins – after getting off the skylift, you have to tiptoe through  narrow and rickety wooden bridges bound together by metal parts to get around the mountain. And no, there is no safety rope – you can hold on to big chains planted into the cliffside and pegs for your feet – hundreds of meters off the ground. In the case that you have successfully completed the first part of the way, you can easily climb the steepest stairs in the world, with a tiny fence on the side of the huge drop. Then, finally, you can have the delicious cup of tea in the teahouse to celebrate your survival. And one more, to bless your descent from the mountain.

Gallery: The most dangerous hiking trail to Huashan Teahouse

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Read more about China off the beaten path

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