We were up with the larks at 5 to try and watch the sunrise and headed back to the peak along with about 30 others. Sadly, mist enveloped the peak and we struggled to see 10 feet away, let alone the the sunrise! We headed to the restaurant and chugged back some noodles to power us on our way and set off to reach the other peaks. The exertions of the previous day left our legs pretty heavy but we reached the highest point of the mountain, the 2,196m South peak, be...

We were up bright and early to pack for our ascent of Hua Shan, a 2,000 metre mountain considered holy by Taoists. I was armed with a new 6 quid rucksack and a 4 quid purple plastic poncho to help me on my way. After a couple of hours of constant rain on the bus to the base we weren't sure how safe the ascent would be but we overheard some Germans preparing for the ascent and goddammit we weren't going to be outdone by the Hun! The beginning of the climb was a ...