Tiānmén Mountain, where I walked through heaven’s gate
ZHIANGJIAJIE, China – On a mist-draped morning, I found myself riding up Tiānmén Mountain in what felt like a mythical ascent into the heavens themselves.
Earlier, at the base of the mountain, surrounded by the hum of impatient travelers and the snaking lines of the cable car station, I forgot just how far I was about to climb. But then, I stepped into the gondola — a 7,455-meter marvel of engineering and one of the longest cableways in the world — and I was swept into the sky.
The journey is not for the faint of heart. For all of 25 minutes, the cable car crept up, rocking slightly and offering almost painterly glimpses of jagged cliffs and greenery through the fog.
Even at the summit, Tiānmén Mountain was in no rush to reveal itself, as if teasing those who dared reach its heights. The stone paths we followed hugged the mountain’s edge, clinging precariously to the cliffs. At over 1,500 meters above sea level, the view was dizzying: rolling valleys and peaks that stretched into the distance, blurring in the soft blue hues of the morning fog.
Then came the Coiling Dragon Cliff skywalk, a walkway with glass floors that wraps itself around the mountainside. If you dare look down, you’d see an abysmal plunge waiting right underfoot. And far, far below was Tōngtiān Avenue.
For years, this “Avenue to the Sky,” with its 99 hairpin turns, was the only way to reach the mountaintop. The stories are infamous: tourists growing green from the bending roads, gripping their seats as drivers made the serpentine climb. Eventually, the journey became so notorious for causing nausea that a cableway was built to provide a more stomach-friendly alternative — that is, if you don’t mind heights.
Besides the steep ridges and lush vegetation that dominate the landscape, Tiānmén’s most famed attraction actually lies deeper in its core. To see it, I descended into the bowels of the mountain itself, where a series of 12 long escalators ferried visitors through glowing tunnels carved through the rock.
This opened up dramatically at Tiānmén Cave, the natural archway often called Heaven’s Gate. Rising 131.5-meters high, it looks like a window cut by some divine hand, straight through the mountain and into the clouds.
To reach the base of this heavenly gate, visitors can choose to brave the Stairway to Heaven, a 999-step descent into a grand plaza below. Descending these narrow steps is enough to humble any visitor. Along the way, a small waterfall trickles down the side of the mountain. At the bottom of the staircase is a large altar, inviting visitors to pause and light incense.
To get to the plaza, I embarked on the decidedly less romantic way — more escalators.
It wasn’t until I reached there and looked back at where I had come from that the true scale of Tiānmén Mountain became impossible to ignore.
For those who linger into the evening, Tiānmén also offers the Fox Fairy Show, a performance in an amphitheater set against the mountainside itself. Drawing on folklore, it tells the tale of a fox fairy who falls for a mortal man.
The show, locals say, is equal parts awe-inspiring, mythical, and magical — much like the mountain that cradles it. – Rappler.com
Disclosure: The author was part of a media delegation to the Envision 2024 Global Partners Conference hosted by Trip.com Group.