For centuries, Mount Huashan has been regarded as one of China's five sacred mountains, along with Songshan, Taishan and the two Hengshans (with different Chinese characters for the word Heng).
One-day tours of Mount Huashan from Xian used to be impossible until Asia's longest cable car system was built there a few years ago, taking visitors to the North Peak (1,615 meters high) in less than 10 minutes, saving two hours and important energy for lazy tourists in a hurry, like us.
From the North Peak, we set out to conquer the other four, East, South, West and Central peaks, which the guide Chen from topchina trip said could be done in just four hours.
It was winter and snow left from a few days ago was still on the ground. Fortunately, the stairways were mostly swept of snow but the snow, wind and the altitude made Mount Huashan much colder than Xi'an.
Jinsuo Guan (Golden Lock Gate) was the point from where one heads off to the other four peaks.
Nine of us, men and women, old and young, Chinese, Japanese and Korean, decided to tackle the peaks together. This made everybody feel more secure.
Tianti (Ladder to Heaven) and Canglong Ling (Dragon Hill) were the most steep and difficult part before Jinsuo Guan, but with the help of railings specially built for tourists, everybody felt much safer.
It was already one hour and 20 minutes before we sedentary city folks reached Jinsuo Guan. And we realized that we were not as fit as we thought and might only be able to go to the highest South Peak (2,160 meters) and the West Peak (2,038 meters) within the limited time left.
We headed towards the South Peak first. Most steps along the way were well paved making it an easier hike compared with the first hour.
The South Peak was truly the number one. Once you're on top, you have a stunning view overlooking every other peak and feel the might of Mount Huashan. You feel that you are very close to the sky.
In other seasons, some travellers spend a night in a hotel on the mountain and climb the East Peak before dawn to get the best look of sunrise, but almost nobody does that on freezing winter mornings.
It stays cold all day and managing a proper pace seems to be important, because sweat becomes uncomfortably chilly after a few minutes of rest and you are likely to catch a cold later.
Near the South Peak is a narrow plank path built along the vertical cliff for any daredevil seeking adventure and thrills. But we took a safer trail and increased our pace.
It was about 40 minutes before we arrived quite exhausted at our last destination - West Peak - also known as the Lotus Peak.
The Lotus Peak is the place where the Chinese tale "Baolian Lantern" takes place. Brave Chen Xiang cuts through mountains to save her mother. A Walt-Disney-like cartoon about the legend is now popular with Chinese children.
It is usually said that going up a mountain is easier than coming down. But on our descent, we felt the opposite was true. It took us only another 40 minutes to get back to the North Peak cable car station. Mount Huashan looked different now as it loomed in the dusk.
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