When I was in college in Xi'an in northwestern China, there was an annual all-inclusive sports games held in the spring. Since there were no participating athletes in our dorm #207, we decided to take the time to climb the Hua mountain instead. 

The only guy among us who really should qualify was Shumin as he often wore a woolen green coat during the winter, and went for athletic training in the school's sports field almost every day regardless of how brutal and windy it was. Oh well, he was still unqualified for the university-wide sports event. 

The Hua mountain is located 180 km east of our home city of Xi'an, which is well known for its steep cliffs. People said there was only one path ever to the peak in Mountain Hua. 

We started our journey in an evening boarding an outbound green-color train. The reasons people did not do it during daytime were for a peace of mind without worrying about sunburn in high altitudes and also to be right there for the next morning sunrise.

There were eight of us in our dorm, but we were only able to get 6 tickets plus two platform tickets. So, it was kind of troublesome for us on the train since the patrolling officers would surely perform ticket-check. 

Naibai was a handsome guy with pretty curly hair, and he had worked in a canned fruit factory for two years before he started college in Xi'an. He certainly looked more mature than the rest of us.

We were chatting in the car while Naibai kept checking back and forth. Then he returned from another car informing that the officer was approaching. He suggested hiding in a toilet until he made sure that the police had passed this car. Luckily the trip was not too long, and we managed to arrive at the Hua mountain station "safely".

Now started our climbing action. It was a bright moon night. The several flashlights we brought with us were virtually useless. You just followed the people in front of you by tightly grabbing the iron chain along the mountain trail and made sure each step was on firm footing. 

Zhifeng was about two years younger than the rest of us, and he wore a pair of near-vision glasses with light orange color frame all four years. He looked most frail among us.

Surprisingly, he "ran" so fast. I tried to catch him, but failed to do so. The first destination was the east peak. People chose it as the first stop because they could see the sunrise from the top of its east side should the weather conditions cooperate. 

The April daybreak in the high attitude was rather cold. Heavy militay green cotton coat rental service was available out there. Guijiang was a tall and slim guy with a pair of big eyes and thick eyebrows. He could not bear with the chills so he collected some dry tree branches and built a fire, then we all felt warm huddling around.

It was cloudy after the daybreak, and we had to be somewhat disappointed with no observable sunrise to see. We simply hiked to another peak, while the day was getting brighter. Everyone got to command the first paramount view of the deep valleys and steep mountains.

All of sudden, Zhifeng was so scared and fainting that he could barely move. What a stark contrast to his brisk run earlier during the dark night. 

Well, we could not just leave him behind us. "Qianchizhuang" is the toughest part, which is a half-meter wide slope path on the cliff, only allowing a single person to pass by. For two people to get through, both must tightly pack together. Just imagine the degree of difficulty for us to advance through that sort of checkpoints while carrying him all along. 

In retrospect, I always feel gratified about our brave climbing effort.  During the process, you endured immense physical pain and exhaustion. Afterwards, you would cherish a sense of achievement for conquering the mother nature by subduing fear and danger.

That was the only time I climbed this famous mountain. Thereafter, many clients of mine from other provinces would like to go for it, but I utterly lost interest for climbing it again. 

Nowadays, there is a cable running from the ground all the way to the top, so people do not have to painstakingly climb to see the wonders of the Hua mountain, and they can wrap up the trip in the same day. What is more, climbers no longer need to climb during nighttime, but some mountain-climbing fans still prefer doing it the hard way. 

Everytime people talk about climbing the Hua mountain, I can always proudly say that I have done it with my dorm-mates from the school and it was a heck of experience.