Wugong Shan
  • Wugong Shan
  • 1918 m
  • Primary factor 1720 m
  • Location North 27.45453, East 114.17294 (GPS on the summit)
  • The highest peak is called The Golden Summit and also Baihe Peak.
  • China
  • Difficulty: YDS class 1
  • Climbed November 19. 2019.

Information:


How to get there:
The closest city is Pingxiang. The best way to arrive is by high speed train serving the North Pingxiang Station. There is a shuttle bus service between this railroad station and the Park Village, cost in 2019 was 27 yuan. There is a similar service at the city train station at a slightly lower fare. The high speed north station is located at N27.6873, E113.8423.
Route description:
From the Park Village (right hand side of the road), one easily recognizes the large Visitor Center building. You may buy tickets here, in 2019, the cost for hiking was 70 yuan, if you include a round trip ticket on the lower gondola, the price came to 185 yuan. Exit the Visitor center (follow sign for Transfer Station) and locate the free shuttle bus that will take you closer to the base of the lower lift. This bus stops at the lower end of a pretty large temple area. Walk up steps, keep left and arrive at the top end of the buildings where you find the entrance to the lower lift. The lift consists of 6 person cabins and runs from early morning.
One exits the lower lift and turn immediately right at about 1350 meter of elevation. There is a nice trail, mostly steps leading off to the right hand side slope of the hill. This trail leads to a fork where left is trail all the way to the summit while right is the trail to the next, short lift. I would recommend a round trip, since the trail connecting to the second lift is more interesting than the uphill trail. It starts with a nice suspension bridge across a ravine, then runs across the face of a pretty vertical cliff. Some nice work to make this route feasible. The second lift starts about 150 meter higher than where you exited from the first lift. A round trip ticket here was (2019) 60 yuan. (I only used the uphill part.)
The second lift ends at around 1765 meter of elevation, continue directly up the steps. Quite high up, there is a fork with a small map explaining the routes. The most direct way to the summit is to go left here. Soon, you will enter the very highest, rounded ridge, quite short. There are two high points connected with a very shallow saddle. You will first arrive at a viewing area with a solid, elevated marker. Good views. Continue across the shallow saddle to find the official highest point. The marker is enclosed in glass and reads 1918.3 meter.
Comments:
I left Hong Kong on November 17th. in order to explore a part of China entirely on my own. My previous viaits had always been related to invitations to conferences with local support and help. The situation in Hong Kong was dominated by unrest, unfortunately, it seemed that the unique status of Hong Kong was about to end. The Chinese appearently have given up on the "one country two systems" paradigm that was supposed to last at least until 2047.
I took a taxi to the pretty new high speed railway station connecting Hong Kong to China. I spent the last 15 minutes before departure looking for a place where I could buy Chinese yuan, thinking that local currency would be good to have when leaving the train. However, no such office or ATM, when asking, I was told to get yuans after arrival in China.
I bought a ticket to the city of Shaoguan. I had never heard of the place, but quickly got to know that it is a city with more than a million people. My first goal was to visit Nanling National Forest Park, the highest point there, named Shikengkong, being an ultra. From Shaoguan, I planned to travel by bus to Nanling.
I left the train in Shaoguan, enormous train station. It even had a small tourist office with English speaking staff. When asking about a bus to Nanling, they informed me that the park would be closed for one year and that the bus service was also discontinued in that period. Bad news, I should not have exited the train with this info. Next, where could I find an ATM? More bad news, there are none in this

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