Huangshan Mountain, Snow White

Huangshan Mountain aka Yellow Mountain is a beautiful place in Huangshan. It’s a favourite destination for tourists and photographers a like due to its height and its natural beauty. Our hotel is in Tunxi. I experienced this beauty first hand when we arrived at the base of the mountain on the 3rd of January. We were told to pack a night worth of clothing since we would be staying on top of the mountain overnight. This complicated matters a little for myself since I was already lugging around about 13 kilograms of gear on my back and needing my hands free to take photos. Fortunately I was able to attach a small pack to the waist clip of my backpack, which allowed me to operate the camera freely. On a China trip, Huangshan is where you must visit, because it is so beautiful. We took the cable car up the initial part of the mountain - its breathtaking! The view is amazing but unfortunately photography in the cable car is a pretty much a write off due to the tinted glass, but in the end it was
a minor hurdle since the real money shots were on the mountain itself. Before going to the ancient villages Xidi and Hongcun, we first climbed the Huanshan Mountain.
As we arrived to top of the cable car, the drop was considerable; looking over the side gave me extreme vertigo and made me realize just how small I was. The next part of the journey was the trek to the hotel, about an hours walk through numerous small pathways and staircases going both up and down, steep and gradual. Eventually we made it to the hotel, a modest building but very well equip with both cable TV and Internet. After dumping our gear in the rooms, my sister and I decided to go for a little walk through the area. We decided to take a scenic path, which would take us to a certain peak where a large hanging rock was located. We underestimated the distances as well as the steepness of the steps and we were forced to take numerous breaks on the way up to catch our breaths. Eventually we made it - the view was amazing, something I’ll never forget and the pride of actually making it up there and not giving up is something that will never leave me either.
The next morning we woke up to discover that Huangshan mountain has been snowed over, apparently a rare occurrence. The changes in scenery were stark, everything was covered in a thick blanket of snow and visibility has also deteriorated. We continued the journey back to the cable car station. Now being a complete noob myself when it comes to walking in snow I decided that it would be a good idea to walk as I normally do - fast and without thinking to much about the terrain and for the most part it served me well - that is until I slipped on a downhill flight of stairs - twice - in my defence I was still carrying a full pack and my centre of gravity was affected, but I recovered and no permanent damage was done. Eventually we made it back to the cable car, back down the mountain and got on the bus to head to Sianxian.