Huangshan (Yellow Mountains)

PeaksAnhui,China

Seventy-two granite peaks in eastern China that flood with cloud two hundred days a year, climbed on stepped paths, and the cradle of landscape painting.

September·Peaking now

Sep–Nov

Autumn brings the clearest air of the year: the sea of clouds returns and the sky turns crisp and blue after summer's haze. But National Day (1–7 October) packs every terrace and fills every bed on the summit.

Year-round The granite spires, wind-bent pines and famous sea of clouds are here year-round; autumn brings the colour, winter the snow-dusted peaks above the clouds.

Huangshan taught China how to paint. For centuries the granite spires, wind-bent pines and cloud-drowned valleys of this range in southern Anhui were the model for shan shui ink landscapes, and painters still climb it for the same reason. The massif is granite, pushed up from beneath an ancient sea about 100 million years ago and later carved by glaciers and running water into 72 sharp, separate peaks. The tallest, Lotus Peak, reaches 1,864 metres. Huangshan is known for four sights: pines that root in bare cracks and grow bent over centuries, strangely shaped boulders, warm springs, and the sea of clouds. That last one, the yúnhǎi, floods the valleys on more than two hundred days a year. Its name has nothing to do with the colour yellow. The magic lies in how light and mist rebuild the view minute by minute. Climb one of the viewing terraces in the dark — Bright Summit, say, or the Refreshing Terrace — and wait. At first light the peaks turn violet, then copper-gold, while a white sea rises out of the valleys until only the highest summits break through it like islands. The cloud is likeliest on a morning that clears after rain, and it can shift and part within minutes. Walk the stairways cut straight into the rock, more than sixty thousand stone steps in all, and the resin smell of the pines and the cloud drifting under your feet set you down inside a landscape painting. Reaching the ridge is no longer the ordeal it was: three cableways lift visitors up the slopes, and porters still carry supplies up the same steps. Close to five million people come each year, most of them squeezed into the crowded October and May holiday weeks.

Worth knowing

Good to know

Sunrise is the moment to plan around — cable cars do not run before dawn, so spend the night at a summit hotel and walk to a viewing terrace in the dark.
Avoid the National Day (1–7 October) and May Day holidays, when paths and cable cars are jammed and hotels sell out; weekdays outside those weeks are far quieter.
Three cableways climb the mountain — Yungu, Yuping and Taiping — but queues build fast; ride up early and keep the descent for late afternoon, when the terraces empty.
Dress for cold and steep stone — the summits top 1,800 metres and mornings are chilly, so bring warm layers and firm, non-slip shoes for the thousands of steps.

Things to do

1
Keep a dawn vigil above the sea of clouds
Well before first light, climb by headlamp to a lookout such as Bright Summit or the Refreshing Terrace and wait in the cold. As the sun clears the horizon it catches the sea of clouds below and turns it copper-gold, and the peaks kindle one by one. The yúnhǎi is likeliest on a morning that clears after a wet spell: white cloud pours into the valleys until only the summits stand out like islands, then shifts and parts within minutes. Come after snow instead, with the holiday crowds gone, and the white-laden granite catches that first light as deep crimson.
2
Frame the spires beside the Welcome Pine
Make your way to the Jade Screen, where the emblematic Welcome Pine holds its branches out over the drop, and stand where the wind-bent boughs frame the granite spires beyond. Composing the peaks between the twisted branches is the classic Huangshan picture, and this pine is the most famous of them all.
3
Climb the stepped paths among granite peaks
Stone steps carved into the rock run along sheer granite walls. At every turn a new sharp peak and precipice opens up; if your strength allows, climb to Lotus or Heavenly Capital Peak.
4
Descend into the Xihai (West Sea) Grand Canyon
Drop off the ridge into the West Sea Grand Canyon, where narrow stairways and plank walkways cling to sheer granite walls and pinnacles rise on every side. A small monorail carries you back up from the canyon floor, saving the long climb out.