Wuling Shan

  • Wuling Shan
  • 2118 m
  • Prominence 1527 m
  • China,
  • Location: North 40.59804, East 117.48133
  • Difficulty: YDS 1
  • Climbed September 5. 2024.

Information:


How to get there:
There is a ticket office and gate at location N40.55088, E117.49186 (south entrance), the admission is CNY 108, but people above 60 years of age are free, thus only my driver had to pay.
Route description:
From the parking near the top, a pretty long staircase heads uphill on the left side of the buildings. Take this, you will get to a small viewing area where the staircase turns right in order to access the highest point. The walk way ends directly in front of two nice looking rocks. The top of these rocks is the highest point, perhaps about 2 meter higher than the flat area just before. The Chinese authorities have put up some signs (in Chinese) and a red plastic "fence" indicating that the cliffs are off limits. They also have a few cameras directed at this area. It is highly likely that this mountain had higher ground before the construction was done.
An information sign at the top explains that the elevation of the mountain is 2118 m. This sign also explains several more facts about wildlife, plants and the eco-system in the park.
Comments:
After a very successful month in Mongolia, I decided to take advantage of the new system in China that allows up to 6 days of transit time between flights. I left my hotel in Ulaan Baatar Wednesday morning (Septemeber 4th.) and took a 2 hour flight to Beijing. The immigration was reasonably smooth, such people always ask questions about hotels, so I was happy that I had already reserved a first night in the town of Xinglong.
With the help of my Chinese friend Steven, a car with driver had been booked up front. Thus, I quickly connected with Mr. Li, he would provide transport for my entire 5 day visit. We next drove to Xinglong, this took a few hours, arriving there shortly after 1800.
Arriving at the hotel, they say I cannot stay here? They already charged CNY 270 for the room to my credit card. What a bad way to run a hotel! My driver started looking for an alternative. My reservation (confirmed) said: Xana - Deluxe Bed Room. free WIFI, free parking. Hmmm. It turned out that this (and most other hotels) did not have a permit to receive non-Chinese guests. It is hard to understand how professional hotel booking agencies, like Agoda, can fail to follow these regulations. Anyway, we needed to look elsewhere but the next hotel, one level up in price/standard had the same story.
The solution ended up being a room, actually a small single room apartment, in a big high rise building. Mr. li would pay (someone?) directly, we just took the elevator to floor 7, found the agreed room number and retrieved a door key under the door mat. The room was ok, however the bed one of the "stiffest" I have ever slept in. It felt like concrete just covered with a sheet.
Mr. Li showed up as agreed, precisely at 0700 and we drove to the Wuling Gate. It turned out that they opened at 0830, so about 40 minutes to wait. Tickets were needed, Yuan 108 for Mr. Li, while I was free due to my "advanced age". (The age limit is 60 years.) We next drove the paved road with several switch back turns to the parking area on top. I was worried that the highest point would be inaccessible, when observing a lot of antennas and buildings, however, fortunately, a walk way had been established that by-passed the buildings and actually led to the high point.
Arriving there less than 10 minutes after leaving the car, it still turned out that the very highest cliff had been closed off by the Chinese. This, most likely just as a safety precaution. I looked around, noticed the surveillance camera pointing directly at me, but still decided to quickly cross the closed off area, make 2 steps onto the rocks, then touch the top "head over" by my hand, before quickly returning to the "legal side" of the closure.
I had calibrated my Garmin GPS back down at the parking lot. The elevation measured at the top was 2117m, in close agreement with the official elevation of 2118 meter, most likely recorded at the top of the cliffs. Mr. Li also arrived and we both took some pictures of the views before returning back down to our car.
Our next plan for the rest of the day, would be to drive across to the small village at the foot of Xiaowutai Shan, my next ultra goal, with a planned ascent ther following day.

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