Engineering an impossible path
The Huashan Plank Road is a feat of ancient engineering, fastened to the sheer cliff face of Mount Hua's South Peak, which stands at an elevation of 2,154.9 meters. The mountain itself is a massive block of granite, a coarse-grained igneous rock formed during a period of intense volcanic activity between 145 and 216 million years ago. This hard, crystalline rock provides a solid anchor but also was difficult for early builders armed with simple hand tools.
Construction of the known plank road is credited to He Zhizhen, a Taoist master of the Yuan Dynasty, over 700 years ago. The builders chiseled square holes into the vertical granite face. Into these sockets, they drove stone nails or wooden stakes to support the timber planks that form the walkway. In its most exposed sections, the path is only 0.3 meters (about 1 foot) wide, with a drop of hundreds of meters below. The full length of this specific attraction is roughly 100 meters. While the hook mentions a 2,000-year history, the most famous section of the path dates to the 13th century, built not for trade but for Taoist ascetics seeking isolation. Older, now-vanished paths existed on the mountain, with the first routes being developed as early as the 3rd century AD.