Mount Hua is one of the five sacred peaks of China — and by common consent the most dangerous. A single mass of granite rises sheer from the Guanzhong plain, linked to its five summits by staircases cut into cliff faces, chains bolted to rock, and one walkway — the famous plank walk — where you clip your harness to a cable and edge along boards pinned above a drop of hundreds of meters. It sits in Huayin, between Xi'an and the Yellow River, close enough to the old capital for a long day or a dawn-summit overnight.
