Hiking matters #247: Behold this Holy Ridge (雪山聖稜線)! Six days and nine mountains on Taiwan’s great traverse

April 5, 2012September 6, 2015 Gideon Lasco 0 Comment holy ridge, snow mountain, taiwan

TAIPEI, TAIWAN – This is going to be a short post, since I am already very tired; “physically and mentally exhausted” as I described it yesterday in my Facebook page. We had just completed the six-day Holy Ridge hike, considered to be the most physically challenging climb in Taiwan, on my third hiking trip in this beautiful land of mountains.

What made the climb even more personally difficult for me was the fact that I had fever for the latter half of the trip, practically when much of the action was. I can only thank God for sustaining me, and for my teammates for their support. This physical impediment did not stop me from surviving, finishing, and yes, enjoying this climb.

Our itinerary was as follows: Day 1: Trailhead to Cika Hut; Day 2 Cika Hut to 369 Hut; Day 3 369 Hut to Sumida Shelter via Snow Mountain North Peak; Day 4 Sumida Shelter to Bannan Hut (or its replacement hut); Day 5 Bannan Hut to Jiujiu Hut via Dabajianshan); and today, Day 6, Jiujiu Hut to the exit point.

Congratulations to my Kilimanjaro teammates Farah and Ran, my American friend Chris, and Javi, the youth who joined me in Talomo-Apo last year, for all making it in this unbelievably exciting adventure! I think that we are the first Filipinos to do the Holy Ridge, but it certainly doesn’t matter too much to me either way. The first ascent applies to the person, not the mountain.