Huangshan - Yellow Mountain

In the mountains west of Shanghai, is Huangshan. An accessible mountain park with multiple cable cars and thousands of steps carved into the stone. And several unique hotels at the top of the peaks supplied only by hardy men who carry bags of supplies supported on their shoulders with bamboo boards. This place is unlike any other mountainous area I have been visited. 29-30 March 2025.

 

An illustrated map of the Huangshan mountainous region.

In the cable car, we can see the temperature dropping as we ascend. The atmosphere gets foggier.

Ice, soft rime, covers the needles of the windswept pine trees on the steep mountain sides.

Frozen branches where the ices deposits on one side of the branch due to the constant wind.

Frozen pine trees on the hike up to the hotel

Frozen pine needles draped over vast chasms between cliffs.

Tao posing with the railing which is made to look like wood but is made of sculpted concrete.

Views on the hike up toward the hotel

The hotel at the top of yellow mountain, March 29th, 2025

View from the hotel at sunrise. A thick cloud surrounded us and it snowed all morning before we hiked down.

Another view from the hotel

Unexpected spring blizzard. Hiking down in the snow storm at the last possible moment, after a lazy morning in the warm hotel watching CGTN, the only english channel on the TV. This was around when Trump was threatening tariffs but before they went into effect.

Snow covered peaks.

Posing for a selfie with the mountains

Remarkable number of people, many are old, so it was truly impressive to see so many people moving through the snowy trails. I felt it was a bit crowded but no one I saw got seriously injured.