Terracotta warriors parading do not know. They have been too buried in oblivion time and land to get to walk. Form an army of clay, each with its graceful gesture, looking ahead, recomposed with armor and alert position, but do not move, for they are only statues with which the eternal rest of Emperor Qin Shi Huang was venerated, collector wars.
Those who did were tourists parading around, making many photos, many videos with mobile, I thought I would end up seeing one of the warriors make a gesture to another to escape from the rear and defecting with discretion, sick and the artifice of flashes. But that did not happened.
We were in Xian and while the hosts dragged there terracotta travelers from around the world, there is a place near the city uplifting Chinese, a place made holy air, Vacuum, fear and stone: Hua Shan, one of the five sacred mountains of Taoism China.
They have been too buried in oblivion time and land to get to walk.
A journey of more than two hours helped us to meet other unwary who shared the same fate, but none of them intended to reach the passage through which Yeray and I had decided to cross. That it bothered us. The place where we were, some had already dubbed "the most dangerous road in the world". That bothered us even more.
As in China it is impossible to avoid the crowds, value addition, we arm ourselves with patience to wait queues giving access to the cable car. Only view from below, They disappeared the rush to get on it. It was not real. Up so high that it seems destined to raise souls to the sky. It was not a perspective designed for living, it was not possible to float like that on the crests of walls bottomless. The whitish stone mountain made it even more oneiric, almost heavenly. but we, finally, upward.
Hua Shan in more human ways and trees that hide the panic of that spell abysses. There are also monasteries and crypts that seem to rule the world from the cornices. We had already found the aerial trend of Buddhist temples and Taoist, with its bells ringing only to guide the flight of birds. The monks chose solitudes to meet their own steps and reach perhaps that the essence of their creeds. I did not imagine is that they had a point that borders sadist, yes, a source Mystic. The founder of Taoism, Kou Qianzhi received here his inspiration and has become an unusual pilgrimage route from the V century.
We had already found the aerial trend of Buddhist temples and Taoist, with its bells ringing only to guide the flight of birds.
Today, Chinese nationwide, desnortados adventurers and tourists landed in the mountain carrying their cameras adrenaline. To access the most recondite of the crypts of Hua Shan have to face a path without path. And that was what Yeray and I had gone for. They are just a 40 meters, marathon nerves.
Even there was a queue of people more hectic than usual, next to a crypt where a monk read the hand of undecided travelers, I guess, on whether to experience what hit them.
We must clarify that "the dangerous road in the world" the risk of this path is controlled. Any experienced mountaineer consider this place as a trance where to moor fear without too much trouble, but a traveler who aspires to tread the summits undoubtedly find Hua Shan a chance to run. Addition, the fastening systems was quite precarious.
A traveler who does not aspire to tread the summits undoubtedly find Hua Shan a chance to run.
A guy was putting harnesses visitors with a reluctance that made us feel even more helpless. The guy in question fit us the equipment and harness worn rings in a corridor of a meter wide, with mountain wall on one side and a metal bar separating gap across. The bar did not come up to our waists, so the feeling of insecurity came to get dizzy, even after an hour of waiting in that place.
Although we made efforts to remember, the fact is we were there to shoot a documentary and that forced us to use a lightweight camera, Yeray should hold with one hand, reducing grip half. I was wearing a mini-camera on his chest, but he had both arms free.
Thus, We began the road suddenly dropped a ladder that had nothing. Literally, the stairs ended in vacuum. With the last step, It had to climb down the wall, supporting feet and hands in crevices dug for that purpose, or metal parts fool shored some other rock someday.
The road dropped sharply by a staircase that ended in nothing.
From there we had record, pray and look down as little as possible, but to place my feet was forced to see how the mountain faded and the ground was so small, so distant, I coming me a silly giggle, own situations of uncontrolled panic. Yeray, also, used a 46 standing and I also recorded me with one hand, plus, did well.
After a bend several meters, planks appeared no more than a foot wide, hanging on a wall unforgiving. And that's when what seemed impossible also became a kind of tragicomedy: It was the way round! Only the male instinct to safeguard pride in all circumstances, We did arching the body out, with the fingertips on the tables and the ass 600 meters, to let women coming in the opposite direction, through the gap formed body. When a man crossing, at least I, I clung to the mountain with an unknown adherent ability so far and that the poor tourist on duty saw them surround the abyss.
Trembling bold step was guarded by a kind of vigilante who remained impassive in a hollow of the mountain, in which there was a cot tied to rock, for siestear their hours at the precipice. This one could be the most insane planet work.
It was his exemplary figure jutting plank and other tourists, standing there, higher than anyone.
Yeray was hanging him on that plank. Quiet, at least in appearance, He walked slowly, stop, He was focused to what I used both hands and framed, or framed the cracks between the wood beneath his feet. It was his exemplary figure jutting plank and other tourists, standing there, higher than anyone. As, I held vertigo without breathing at all. Then I had to talk to camera, dodged pedestrians, heard some nervous squeals very tiny and very brave girls. You can not fake the mettle so my interventions were actually curds and fear, But so, vertical climbing stairs, crossing hanging tables and supporting the sound of breathing itself arrived at the end of the road. Across, a crypt guarding the figure of a Taoist master who had the impression that no one attended, because we came all too exhausted to adventure. Peace of the place was so marked that charged almost sense the fact of getting there. But there was still the way back, to see the faces of astonishment, laughing or paralysis of the pilgrims height presented the "most dangerous road in the world".
The cable car back, Yeray and I celebrated our small feat with a laugh. They can not explain the experiences that are meaningless. We did not by religious devotion, nor for the sake of risk, even for the documentary. Perhaps only we did it because we felt a unique and the only places tend to seduce us with an irresistible force.
*Note: some of the pictures belong to the video frames used to record the sequence of Hua Shan. For that reason, their quality may be impaired. We apologize for this, but the truth is that we were not able to get to take pictures, We had quite over… And below.
