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Jade Mountain is the highest mountain in Taiwan. It is taller than Japan's Mount Fuji, and is more dangerous, too. But don't think that its too dangerous for you. If you have good nerves, patience, and the will to succeed, you will see the most spectacular view in Taiwan, and have memories to last for the rest of your life. About the climb Climbing Jade Mountain is basically summed up as:
But don't let my dry assessment lead you on to beleive that its not fun. Its a lot of fun! Anybody and everybody should do it, because its cool.
Climbing Jade Mountain consists of 4 major points (see map on right):
Basically, you have two options:
Also remember: two people have to stop twice as often as one, or, you get the idea. If you are in a group, expect it to take a longer time. You probably don't want to hike up and down in the same day if you are in a group.
Don't forget:
Distances:
Elevations:
One confusing thing is what to do when you first get there. Its a little bit hard to find the road to go to Jade Mountain, honestly. There is a bathroom right accross the street from it. Basically, you just have to keep asking where to go. Then you can go up to the After walking up the road, there is a police station and a Jade Mountain Park station. You got to do a little dance to get the right papers signed, and them take them back and forth, but if you follow the instructions from Jade Mountain National Park, you should be ok.
Like I mentioned, the paths on Jade Mountain are normally only wide enough for one or two people. And sometimes, they get only wide enough, for say, half a person! The photo on the right is of the path at the entrace to the mountain. Its not as scary as it looks. After this enchanting narrow place, the path goes into some woods and it is not scary at all. Going down might be a little different on account of the hurry. But all in all, the narrow part of the path here is one of the hardest parts of the entire climb.
After the restroom, the path basically maintains its direction. Sometimes going into the trees, sometimes going near the edge of a cliff, but not so serious as at the entrance.
The pictures above are pretty much how the path goes, before getting to the Paiyun Lodge. At the Paiyun Lodge, you can take a break, and if you reserved a bed, you can sleep there. After making it to Paiyun Lodge, you can take well-deserved rest. At the top there, they have full-time staff, who can help you if you need it. They are friendly and helpful people. If you are staying at the Paiyun Lodge overnight, most likely, you will be waking up VERY early to go see the sunrise. If you are making a one day trip to the summit and back, you better hurry and leave the Paiyun Lodge by 1:00 PM or before. There is yet a long hike ahead.
After the Paiyun Lodge, the trail quickly becomes rockier - bigger rocks, less dirt (see picture on right). Out first there are trees that manage to grow through the rocks. And some of the plants here are famouse, apparently some blossoming flowers, though I did not have a chance to do any research at the time. Another thing, you may notice, after the rest, is that at this altitude, you start becoming noticeably shorter in breath. They say everybody is different regarding altitude aclaimation, but, if you know that you have issues with high altitudes, you definitely want to take it slowly from here on up. I don't think there's anything else in particular if you should be informed of at this stage, at least not about the actual path. Its pretty straightforward, just bigger rocks, and less oxygen. However, one serious thing to consider, is that some of the signs on Jade Mountain are not maintained properly.
After a while, you start breaking through the wooded area, onto bare rock. The rocks here are larger (for the most part), you must use your hands in several places to climb. This picture (to the right) is just the beginning of when the rocks start getting bigger. I forgot to take pictures of the bigger rocks, where you have to use your hands, because, I was otherwise occupied. Head lamp required for night - because you have to use your hands to climb in some places, you have to use a head-lamp flashlight. It would not be safe to use a regular flashlight and climb on the rocks there at night-time (or early morning). Continue climbing, chains are frequently provided for climbers to grab onto. However, many of these chains are other too high or too low to be very useful. Another thing to point out is that they have built ramparts to protect the path from the Boulders of the mountain. These inside are a little bit slippery, so you got to be very careful here too. And then, after climbing on a big clump of boulders, maybe the biggest ones in the climb, you realize, you are there, on the peak of the mountain, the very top of Taiwan.
Climbing down is by the same path, but, you will remember that you must be more careful when going down, on account of the added speed, and the downward angle, it makes it far easier to slip.
Getting to Jade Mountain
Please see the map on the right:
Of course, the other consideration is, where are you going to sleep at before going to Jade Mountain. I suggest A Li Shan. They have some decent hotels there, some with wireless Internet. And they have a nice shopping/eating area in which you can walk around in.
For further reference To get started, you should go to Jade Mountain (Yushan) National Park, and prepare an entry permit.
About me
My name is Joshua Shuller, and the photos on this website were all taken on May 20, 2009. That is the day that I climbed Jade Mountain. I was 30 years old at the time. I'm a freelance software engineer - you can hire me! If you have some cool projects in mind, please contact me via my website, or directly email me at . My preparation for the climb was, simply hiking some in the new hiking boots that I had bought. I had also been riding the bicycle every day, and had just finished a bicycle trip around the island of Taiwan, before I climbed Jade Mountain. I started at 7:00 AM. Continued hiking up. Taking a breaks, whenever starting to get tired or stiff, at the side of the path. I made it to the Paiyun Lodge at around 1:00 PM. I rested there for about one hour, ate some food, drank some water, and chatted with the hosts and other hikers. When I left the Paiyun Lodge, to continue on to the summit, the hosts told me, that I had enough time, and that I could leave my heavy stuff there with them. And that all I needed was water and chocolate. So off I went. About 3/4 way up to the summit, there was a sign which informs visitors about slate and shale rocks. And next to that sign, was a red arrow, pointing up. I didn't think about the path going the other way, for some reason, so I just started climbing on the loose slate and shale rock. It was only later, that I found out that it was the snow path, and should not be used in the summer. After climbing up a few feet, I realized, that, maybe I was in trouble. The slope there is about 45° degrees, and, if you start sliding off, it would be nearly impossible to stop, and would probably have killed me. Fortunately, I did not slide off, but my hands were quite cut up from clawing up through the looose shale and slate. At this point, was was rather in a state of shock, and was afraid of going back down. So I continued up to the summit. Once I reached the summit, it was a different experience: after being in a state of shock, being afraid of going back down the path that I almost died on, being all alone and rather helpless, I saw the giant mountains around me, and felt them. I came up with a plan, that, I would keep walking down the path, until I reached the shale and slate rock again, and then, If I could not continue, I would call Jade Mountain National Park to have them come rescue me. Fortunately, it did not come to that, because on the way down, the path was quite clear, and I did not go the wrong way. My hike back down to the bottom of the mountain, was a rather quick one. It was about to start raining, so I was half jogging, half walking. The paths are narrow, and even on the edges where there is grass, it does fall straight off. At one point, as I was passing some other hikers, my left foot slipped through some grass on the edge of the path, and went straight down! Fortunately, I caught myself on my right knee, and grabbed a bush of grass with my hands, and then managed to move my weight back over the path and push myself up. Ok... almost died once by sliding down loose shale and slate, and then almost fall over the path and get stuck in some bushes 10 feet below. After that, I was more careful. And, made my way down. Just as I was nearly back to the Tataka Hiking Trail Entrance, it started raining. Fortunately, I passed over the dangerous part of the path without slipping off. It was about 5:15 PM. There was nobody there, and no taxis, so I had to walk back to the Tataka Squad Parking lot. When I finally got back to the parking lot, I decided to take a break, and some other local hikers offered me some tea, which I was grateful for - I was very dehydrated. My rental car was still there, so I said "Thank you for the tea" and "Good bye"!
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