Part of the ascent at Hua Shan
Outside of Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China
June 25, 2007
at flickr
From left, options 1, 2, and 3. I chose option 1 and Eric chose option 3. I was too terrified to try either of the other two - it just felt unnecessarily risky to me. Plus, it almost seemed as though the top section of option 3 would actually cause you to fall off backwards. I just envisioned myself dangling there, unable to climb any further. Option 1 wrapped around the left side of the cliff, with more gradual sections of steps. There are women walking around outside the park selling gloves for the equivalent of US$.20 or so, because there are a few areas like this where you really need to hold on to the chain to be safe.
I wish I hadn’t cut off his feet, but I shot this with the point and shoot, as I had the DSLR packed and I was too exhausted to get it out. This is pretty much straight of of the camera - no Photoshop trickery involved - the path up really IS that insane.
COOLPIX P5000 1/300 sec at f/5.4 7.5mm ISO:200