Its not quite often I write one here counting a trek accomplished. Especially this year, I wanted to ensure to finish a trek and a dive this year. Luckily YMCA (sg) announced Xueshan hiking in Taiwan. It wasnt hard to make my mind for the trip but later started worrying about the limits to what I would be pushing myself.

My last one MacLehose trail left me with no-never-hiking mood but am known for throwing myself into boundary bending thrills. I started preparing myself by using stairs for 30 floors. Just before the trip, I ensured I did it with my rugged timerland shoes and that promptly gave me sore thighs until the end of first day of the trek.

Planned it in such a way to have little bit of city tour following the hike. All fell in place and scoot airlines carried me promptly to Taipei on the too-early morning of 2nd March. Taoyuan Airport looked deserted and the cold by all means tried to reach my bones. My denim jacket did help a bit. As per the plan we, the ymca hikers group to meet at airport by noon and I had whole morning to wonder what to do.

Tried to check if that has got airport hotel but that was undergoing some renovation. Tried my level best to explain taxi stand guys that I need a hotel for few hours to rest and refresh. Finally a guy nodded and got my stuff in to the taxi and suggested it would be around S$60~70 for 5~6 hours.

Rain forecast for the entire week was way to alarming especially considering the peaks of Xueshan. After 10 kms of drive in drizzling cold weather, taxi driver pulled the car to an exit and got me into a motel. I paid and got my stuff into that godown looking place. But rooms were pretty neat and the bath was huge. Place was kind of making me uneasy with the never felt weather. I tried to get some sleep with the self-warning that I wont have proper energy for the hike.

After refreshing, got a cab to the airport and the weather still looked eerie and cold. Taoyuan Airport was looking bit better with passengers and tried to communicate that indeed it worked. I went in and explored both the airports. Kind of disappointing with very less number of shops. I didnt find anything proper to eat to be honest.

After long wait, rest of the hikers and YMCA guides joined us. Bit of relief in the land where English is a rarity even in airport.

In the nangang district we stopped at a rt-mart (a retail chain and a mall) and tried my first time with teppanyakki and pleasanty surprised I liked it. Got some huge apples and fruits and stuff for the hike as there wont be a place to get anything.

Generally people keep Wuling farm at Xuěbà(Shei-pa) National Park in Dahu Township as the place for night cap before the hike. Our guides have different plans (guess – we didnt get enough rooms out there for us – it requires very advanced planning). As we had plenty of day ahead of us before reaching the place to sleep, it was decided to visit a Whishky distillery . It pronounced like ka-va-lan and learned they are one of the finest whisky makers. My knowledge is limited to beer and wines. It was bit of fun looking at those huge boiler looking fermantation units for a while. A much needed coffee shop was in site and that also acted as the place to taste the free whisky of the distillery . I was bit reluctant to the idea but looking at that some 10ml content, I decided to give it a try. It was not bad but anything more than that quantity would have made my thought the otherway. Overall, “King Car Kavalan Whisky Distillery” at yuanshan (Yilan) was a quite beautiful trip.

As expected weather got worse in the late evening. We finally got into a small roadside town apartment which acted as a shop and shelter at first floor. Few of us were in serious dillemma to take bath or not and luckily I had mine in the morning.

On 3rd March, we started around 4 in the morning after a bone numbing bath. When we woke up in the car again, the beautiful valley of Shie-pa national park feasted our eyes with the drizzles and mist. Visibility was quite less.

A small but beautiful office with a spectacular view (clear weather when I returned). We had our permits ready by that time. We have been advised to watch a safety video which would scare anyone who suspect about the fitness. I have tested my physical strength and stretching it in MacLehose trail in HK but this one would test my physical strength to face cold and the height of 3886 meters (close to 4km vertically).

Luckily I spent enough time for shopping for this weather. Below is the quick list for this peak.

Beanie/Buff/Windproof Cap
Fleece or POLARTEC 200-1000
Gloves
Thermals
Mid Layer
Wind proof Layer
Rain Jacket
Good Hiking boots
+ Head Torch, water bottle (Nalgene), wet wipes (important), medications.

Skipping or adding any items based on the persons comfort. To be honest, I underestitmated and skipped the mid layer which made me to wonder whether I would be alive or not in the morning on the second day!.

Qika hut (Cika Hut)

I had a ear cover and covered it with a beanie as well before the start. My pack was just quite neat and didnt dump with too much of load like I did with MacLehose trail. With the visibility of less than 10 feet, we started our hike. After numerous hairpin bends, during midday we reached qika hut. As it was quite misty, there were no views.

The Chika hut is situated at the traditional atayal hunting ground called as Kikuru. The old hunting trail used during Japanese occupation has long been deserted and current climbing trail was built in 1969 by the Taiwan Forestry Bureau for holding China Youth Corps Syue Mountain activitities.

Generally people skip this hut for the nightcap as its kind of easily reachable. Its 7.1 Kms from the trail head and not hard to climb. We stopped there for a snack break and continued to 369 hut for the night cap.

Little later on our way to Syue mountain east peak, slowly mountain slopes came into visibility. Slowly weather got better and I felt slightly relieved. I genereally preferred to walk alone and this one was no exception. I joined people or waited once in a while where they took break. I respected my momentum and hiking style and didnt want to push my body to cope up with the hiking style of those veterans.

Just before the east peak, there was a place to rest and we promptly ate our lunch. I checked the lunch was given that morning and honestly felt I could eat nothing. I ate a banana and relied on some of the cereal based snacks.

Crying Slope

Weather cleared further and the gigantic east peak shed the mist dress slowly but fully to give a cold feel to everyone of us with its height. It was named aptly for its tough hike.

Slowly the ascend started and that continued to be few steep ups and down for a while.

We reached Syue mountain’s east peak after 5KMs from Qika hut. This itself at a staggering 3201 meters high. Luckily weather was pleasant and I was able to walk without gloves for few minutes.

From here, one can expect beautiful views and most of them 360 degrees. After a snack bar break, we continued the snaky trail that slight started to show a small building in the middle of a distant hill. We were told its the 369 hut where we gonna stay for the night.

369 Hut / Sanlioujiou Cabin

The Sanlioujou got its name from being located at the foot of the 3690 meter high Bennuofu mountain. There used to be a pond and a hunters cabin nearby. The atayal people called the cabin Takajin, meaning the cabin built with dead logs. When the water water dried up mountain lake vanished.

Little after 3pm we reached the 369 hut which sits an amazing valley. Its like this, Its the mountain slope halfway and there goes a valley all of a sudden. Hut sits right at where valley starts. As the surrounding has lesser trees, view is pretty and soothing.

This place had a standard zero degree weather and I couldnt even think to remove my shoes. We were given some hot soup by the cook. Again, I pushed myself to drink so that my body can be warm. Hut is just basic of basics. Literally made of wood. Our guides have staked some sleeping bags for all of us which were sort of ice cold.

Good chinese buffet was there for dinner but my specially trained tongue refused anything other than the bould of rice with hot water. I cursed myself for my food practice. Little later, the cook shared the horror stories of what can go bad how the rescue operations work there. One of the guy hiked literally got his lung filled with water because cold and later rescued through helicopter.

I filled boiling water to my thermal flask and slowly drank it like tea. For that weather it was little soothing but I lost teeth enamal which I realized couple of days later.

Though the weather was good for that evening, following day’s weather was still in question and storm was somewhere in the terms. We have been advised to check the sky by 2am and if the moon is visible clearly we are to proceed to the peak. Also, we have been advised not to take stars as the sign about the weather.

It was a beautiful night with horrible weather that my body can sustain. Worst, I had to use the bio-restroom for nature calls and I had to use one to pee at 10pm. When I checked the thermometer, it was showing somewhere around minus 6 (-6) degrees. I was sceptical that the wipe I had might be frozen. I couldnt sleep in the hut with the sleeping bag. It was more than horrible experience. It was too cold and my efforts to keep me fully zipped wasnt working. I tried to use another opened-sleeping bag as pillow which felt it was frozen for ages often. I will be honest, I might have prayed to be alive next morning. I constantly worried that I might get frostbites. Lucky – nothing happened. May be I was too scared as it was my first experience in sub zero degree weather.

Xueshan Hike part 2 Continues here

Or Check the below Taiwan Links from my blog
Xueshan 1

Wuling Farm
Shilin Market
National Palace Museum
Taipei 101
Taipei Zoo
Maokang
Ximending
Beitou

Weather at its worse, Power cables on road, burning

Me – at my best energy!

Nan shan village

Ranger’s office, trail head, snow mountain – xueshan

Qika hut (chika hut)

Crying Slope

Syue mountain east peak

369 hut

Black Forest

Stone waterfall

Doesnt looklike a crater?

The post Xueshan 1 | Taiwan 1/10 appeared first on Travelogue of a daydreamer.

Xueshan hike part 1 is here

Around 5am, I brushed my teeth with a cup of hot water, used toilet in that weather and got my gears ready for the day. Thermo meter was showing minus 8. My worry at that time was not the hike to peak but the fear that I have to stay in that cabin again for the night.

Black Forest – not sure why that was named but actually its the forest of Taiwan Firs. Its beautiful at that morning with the little light. This portion has no clear marking on the trail and definitely a guidance required. Too complex roots of the trees would make anyone to lose the trail easily.

Stone waterfall

Might sound funny but there is a slope filled with huge stones on the trail. It is said that these stones are large due to less sunlight. The amount of sunlight determines the size of the stones. It is because the stones on the sunny side of the mountain receive more sunlight and heat during day. This causes stones to expand and later when night falls, stones cool down and contract, cracking into smaller ones.

Syue Mountain Peak

This is the second highest mountain in Taiwan. The atayals saw veritical gaps on the rocks and called it Sekoan.

It is roughly 4 hours one way to the peak from 369 peak. This last stretch is very beautiful and we had little frozen ice scattered everywhere near the peak which made it look even more beautiful.

This offers a lovely 360 degree views of the surroundings. Withe the blue sky, I never thought things could get better. But yes, with snow, it would look even more beautiful.

Weather was clear but cold. In photos it would never looklike a sub zero degree weather. It was really a heartfelt moment as I not only completed that challenging hike but survived that weather. My battle was half won at that time. Place had beautiful ice sculptures on short plants carved by the heavy wind. Ice particles stayed the way wind was bruising them. It was a scene to watch!

As it was just noon, as the cook suggested previous day, there was a call to visit the Cuei pond which further went away from the peak but with dangerous route. Cook said its very beautiful.

Many agreed and I personally that it was a very bad idea and my half-battle-won ego warned me to vote against that idea. I tried but people easily convinced me that when we would be coming down to taiwan and to that cuei pond. I didnt resist at all and agreed to go to that place. Thats the mistake of the whole trip!

Holy Ridge

There is another trail starts from here at the peak. The holy ridge refers to the trail (mountain ridge) between Dabajian mountain and Syue Mountain. The entire trail is above an altitude of 3000 meters and runs for 15 KMs. This was named as Holy ridge as one of the Japanese climber called it so.

Cuei pond

There were couple of cute mountain sheeps and monkeys were spotted from the peak. While I was wondering – except the route we came to the peak rest looked just like valley and how to go to that cuei pond. Our YMCA guide pointed a direction and that looked nothing like a trail. Everystep was atleast 2 feet down on a loose sand and small stones. Every step I took was shouting back at me saying you gonna have harder time when climb up the same way. Options? none!. After agonizing 2 hours of descend with smaller ascends, we reached Cuei pond cabin and I started to look for the cuei pond.

There was one with tadpoles and yucky worms at a size of some 6×6 feet. And that was it. Everyone was clearly disappointed. Somebody said, “At least, we can tell people we went to Cuei pond”. I snapped saying, “I would rather tell I didnt go there at all”.

We used that time for our noodles lunch and I took a small quick nap on a bench. After the lunch, the himalyan task of going back to the same peak was paining at all the wrong places. Weather wasnt helping any better even at that time.

We slowly started and when we reached that loose sand area, I told my people that I will climb first rather than waiting for the rest to join to maintain my own phase. I didnt judge me wrong, I took more than 30 mins just for that slope. For every step, there was some slip, hit, and cold wind entered in to head. All under the sun at your head made it too worse. I looked back at people and the looked tiny red ants. Learned walking on a slope of loose sand is the worst way to hike. My ego added – “and to visit a tadpole pond”.

When we went back just near the peak, I found a place where I can sit without sliding all the way to the other side of the hill just to hide away from the strong wind. With a snack bar, bit of my energy came back. After a while, rest of the team joined. Luckily we had a shorter route or walk-through-bush route to go back to the base of the peak.

After long walk in to the black forest, it was getting dark. And I walked the last 15 minutes in the dark but open path. One of the team member who was pretty active (jumping for the pics) was quite sick and reached after an hour. We were quite worried but he was okay after a while.

While I felt happy that the hard part was done, was the other way about the cabin stay for the night. Much hyped Drunken chicken failed to go through the throat after just a spoon. I settled with porridge as usual. When I came out of the cabin to pee, thermo meter showed minus 10 degrees. I quickly finished the job and tucked myself into the sleeping bag.

Descend, at last!

Following day, we started around 7 in the morning and the day looked very clear. I thought I should thank the weather for a clear summit and sunny descend. Views were spectacular until Qika hut. We took enough breaks to enjoy the descend.

At Qika hut, I thought almost 80% of the walking is done. But gosh!, it was never ending from Qika hut to the trailhead. I was seriously wondering how did I walk all these uphill track all the way to Qika hut. It was long and bit boring (compared to the rest of the sections).

Finally but late afternoon, we reached the trailhead and awed by the view it offered. I sat there quietly for sometime to feel the accomplishment. I did hike a 3886 meters summit and back.

I never felt better!!

Check the below Taiwan Links from my blog
Xueshan 1
Xueshan 2
Wuling Farm
Shilin Market
National Palace Museum
Taipei 101
Taipei Zoo
Maokang
Ximending
Beitou

Finally, at snow mountain Xueshan Syue mountan’s peak!!

Ice clad plants

Holy ridge, snow mountain

towards cuei pond

Near 369 hut

Thats minus 6 degree!

Syue mountain east peak

Crying slope. a clear view

Trail head

Trail head

Trail head

The post Xueshan 2 | Taiwan 2/10 appeared first on Travelogue of a daydreamer.