A Scrambling Adventure in Taiwan by Nia Weinzweig
In September 2023 I spent a month exploring Taiwan with a good friend who was willing to commit to a bonkers venture to explore the foodie delights and wilderness it has to offer.
Apart from the incredible food and the friendly welcome we received, the highlight of the trip was five days scrambling the Shengleng Ridge in Shei Pa National Park. It’s also known as the “Holy Ridge” and local lore has it that only after traversing the ridge is a young man fit for marriage! A giggling fellow hiker took great pleasure in informing two foreign ladies of this via Google translate….
We started and ended our route at Wuling Farm campground, where we packed five days’ worth of gear and food in a tiny cabin while avoiding the attentions of curious macaques.
Day one was a slow hot climb out of the valley, through a forest teeming with screaming cicadas, and a pause for water and encouragement at Qika Cabin. Beyond the cabin the forest thinned, and the infamous “Slope of tears” took us very slowly up to the 3000m mark. The trail then followed a wide ridge up and over the East peak of Xueshan and on to the Sanliujiu campground. We set up our tent as the afternoon clouds rising from the tropical lowlands brought some drizzle and settled in to the tent for an early night.
Our second day started up through the ancient “Black Forest” in the early morning light. And into the glacier carved cirque below Xueshan (Snow Mountain). This part of the route was strangely reminiscent of climbing Cadair Idris from Minffordd if that’s familiar…
Looking ahead along the Shengleng ridge from the summit of Xueshan (Photo credit: Emma Harvey)
We traded snacks with some local hikers on the summit and celebrated reaching Taiwan’s second highest peak at 3886m. Our route continued to a col below the intimidating Beilingjiao. On closer inspection, it was achievable when we found the right route, scrambling up a gully and over some rocks on fixed ropes to the summit. The ups and downs along the ridge to Xuebei cabin seemed to stretch forever, so it’s appearance in a grove of gnarled old fir and juniper trees was a welcome sight.
Emma approaching the magical Xuebei Cabin on day 2
The cabin was abuzz with the chapter of a retirees’ hiking club, who greeted us warmly and swept us along with their sunrise mission to summit Xueshan’s north peak at 3am…. As the club turned back for breakfast at the cabin, we headed on towards the most technical sections of the ridge and enjoyed some time to ourselves. The initially mellow trail dropped below the summits to traverse through the forest, up and down and around some steep rocky ribs and round to Sumida cabin. After a surprisingly technical “short day” we arrived at the trip’s second anime-movie-worthy colourful A-frame hut early in the afternoon. To our delight, we had this cabin to ourselves, our only visitor a Taiwanese serow (a wild goat/antelope native to Taiwan).
We woke on day four a bit sluggish from a third night above 3000m and a little nervous ahead of some of the more infamous sections of the Shengleng ridge. The first challenge was Sumida shan, soon after leaving the cabin. We climbed the ladder bolted to the lower section of the “Sumida cliffs” and picked a way up the steeper upper section (20m, grade 3 scramble), hauling our packs up behind us. We laughed in relief and joy in the sunshine atop Sumida shan (3517m) and cracked into the bravery chocolates…
Looking back at Sumida shan, Xueshan in the far distance (left), One of many laughs along the route (right)
We picked our way down a steep slope of loose rocks to a narrow ridge wind bent fir and juniper trees. The route then took us up and down along some pleasant grade one scrambling for a few hours as we approached the infamous Pintian shan cliffs.
The lack of information in English available for hiking in Taiwan did make our planning quite challenging and knowing that steep sections were coming but not knowing much more than that added to the sense of adventure and the nerves! There turned out to be three sections to climb, and we got a boost of confidence from the first being a litlle easier than expected. The second and third cliff sections were definitely “packs off” climbing at 15m and 10m each and around a V Diff trad grade. We hauled our packs up after us and devoured our bravery chocolates in a sweaty faintly hysterical heap at the top.
Between the cliF bands on Pintian shan (Photo credit: Emma Harvey)
The rest of our traverse involved some grade 1-2 scrambling and a stay at Xinda cabin, where another local hiking club were so impressed by our adventure that they shared the meal they’d had portered up and cooked for them. The descent down into the forest and the humidity of the valley on our last day was a long one but the return to a lower altitude, oolong tea ice cream, and marauding macaques was very welcome!
Some practical info:
• Taiwan has free tourist visas on arrival for many countries including the UK and the US and is super safe to travel around
• There is a permit system for hiking in Taiwan and staying in the cabins in the National Parks, which you can do yourself (I managed it with some trial and error and intense Google translating!) or there are some companies that will do it for you. Many of the permits and huts are free.
Some useful resources here:
https://npm.cpami.gov.tw/en/apply_1.aspx
https://www.taiwanhikes.com/apply-hiking-permits.html
• Maps: I printed maps with some English translation from the National parks website and laminated them for this trip (1:50,000) and we had Gaia GPS maps downloaded onto our phones. It is probably possible to buy paper maps in Taiwan but they’re likely to be only in Mandarin.
• Supplies: there is a good outdoor shop in Taipei near the central train station selling everything you’d expect in a UK outdoor shop.
• Public transport between big cities and larger towns in Taiwan is excellent and does reach the rural areas too but we found having a rental car more convenient for reaching the trailhead.