Climbing Snow Mountain

[color=darkred]Mod’s Note: On page three there is a summary of a hike up to Snow Mountain in November, 2005. [/color]

The hiking club wants to go and we have a few questions. Anyone?

I’ve been up Snow Mountain twice. Once spring, once winter. Dunno if I can help…

I went up in November a few years ago with a Taipei hiking club. Ask away (can’t guarantee i can remember all the details though).

Thanks guys. Here are the questions:

  1. You no longer need a mountain permit, but just register with the police in Wuling farm? Correct?

  2. How clear are the trail? Are signs in English or Chinese? From what I

I climbed it last December. Absolutely beautiful (we had great weather).

[quote=“Muzha Man”]Thanks guys. Here are the questions:

  1. You no longer need a mountain permit, but just register with the police in Wuling farm? Correct?
    [/quote]

No. We needed permits fron the Xueba Park. The form is online. They control the number of people who go up there every day by controlling access to the cabins.
]

[quote]2. How clear are the trail? Are signs in English or Chinese? From what I

Fantastic info Feiren. Thanks so much. Regarding the permit, if I can bother you a little more, you said you downloaded it from the park’s website. Great, but do you still need to have a guide go with you, or do you just need to register your group? You mention a guide at the end. Is this essental in your opinion?

You don’t really need a guide. But the application requires an emergency plan and a ton of information (ARCs etc). It’s much more than just registering that you are going into the park. My understanding is that it is real tough to get permits for Friday and Saturday nights in the fall, and that almost all of them go to guides who seem to know how to get them.

Thanks again.

Can’t really add much to what Feiren has said.

We actually did the opposite to you: started early day 1, and climbed to the higher hostel, then on the 2nd day climbed to the peak then back down to the lower hostel.

Water wasn’t a problem for us: there seemed to be plenty at both sites (plus a refill in the forest). The trail was pretty clear (can’t remember seeing any signs in English though); we went through the forest in daylight, and the path was OK (but I can remember thinking that if you got lost there it’d be a problem finding the path again).

As for temperature: chilly at night, but I didn’t miss not having any thermals. I probably wore my fleece for an hour after dawn and an hour before sunset, the rest of the time it was pretty pleasant. Snow mountain didn’t really live up to its name: On the final climb I found a couple of small icy patches which hadn’t been touched by the sun yet, but precious little evidence of snow :slight_smile:

A few photos here: yule.homeip.net/gallery2/v/Taiwan/SnowMountain/

What was the cost going up with a club?

I went with Jean-marc. It was $$$. But a very small group.

I know some good Taiwanese guides who are reliable, can make things like the cooking much easier, and are really good to have around if anything goes wrong. The price depends on how many people go. I can put you in touch if you like, but I may need to dig for a day or two to get the number. These are professional guides, not clubs.

A few more questions please:

  1. David mentioned drinking water in the forest. More info please?

  2. Any advantages or disadvantages to doing the hike in reverse, the way David did it (go to top on first day, then work your way back down slowly)?

  3. What is the optimum amount of time for the total hike (days and nights) to have a relaxing trip, but make reasonable progress considering what there is to see and do?

  4. Can someone give some details about the number of people we might expect to encounter along the trail and at the shelters? Does the hike seem crowded, wait in line to move along the trail due to many hiking groups, etc?

  5. Would there be any danger or reason to avoid setting up camp at Wuling Farm the night before the hike, and then returning to that camp (when the schedule permitted) for the last night before returning home? Security concerns about leaving tents unattended, etc.

Thanks.

[quote=“seeker4”]A few more questions please:

  1. David mentioned drinking water in the forest. More info please?.[/quote]
    There was a tiny spring along the path which the guide said was ok to use. It was tiny though (took several minutes to fill up my water bottle), so nothing you could rely on.

A lot of it depends on timing (when you plan to arrive/leave). We took an overnight coach from Taipei, so arrived just before dawn, giving us a full day to hike - which you’ll need to get to the higher hut. On the 3rd day, there was (in theory) not much hiking - so you’ve got plenty of time to get back to Taipei (or whereever). [As it turned out, we walked down past the trailhead to the coach park because they were having minibus problems, and we had the time]

We were able to do the whole trip in 3 days (leave taipei friday night, return monday evening) like this.

Well, 2 full days (+nights on the mountain) plus a lazy/travel day worked well for us. We weren’t going fast (the overall group was ~50 people, and of course you only go as fast as the slowest members).

It wasn’t crowded, but you were never far from people. If the figure of 150 beds in the huts is right (sounds about right), then that’ll give you a good idea of the number of people on the mountain (both huts were pretty much full when we went). All the normal rest stops had people there - and of course you’re likely to be sharing the peak with several people.

I guess you could do this and so only spend 1 night in the higher cabin - it’s two pretty full days of hiking, but nothing that requires you to be super-fit. As to security: your guess is as good as mine. I assume there’d be someone there who would agree to keep an eye on them, and it’s hardly a high crime-rate area.

p.s. about the price - i’ll see if i can dig out some info this evening. It was 4 years ago, so my memory is a bit hazy …

Definitely appreciate the replies. Any others would be great as well. I added Question 5 to the list after the original post.

Also, does all cooking need to be done on hiking gas stoves or can campfires be built with found wood?

Somewhere between NT$2000-3000 (4 years ago - i doubt it has changed much since then). That included the transport from Taipei and back, cost of license, reservation of space at the huts, food and guides. [You have to be a member of the club though - which is ~500NT for a year though]

Here’s their website thma.org.tw/

[quote=“david”]

Here’s their website thma.org.tw/[/quote]

No English. :slight_smile: Well, that’s what the wife’s for.

[quote=“Muzha Man”][quote=“david”]

Here’s their website thma.org.tw/[/quote]

No English. :slight_smile: Well, that’s what the wife’s for.[/quote]
Yeah - that also applies to the club as well as the website. Some of the members of the club had some basic English, but you’ll need someone who speaks Chinese to help translate …

[quote=“david”][quote=“Muzha Man”][quote=“david”]

Here’s their website thma.org.tw/[/quote]

No English. :slight_smile: Well, that’s what the wife’s for.[/quote]
Yeah - that also applies to the club as well as the website. Some of the members of the club had some basic English, but you’ll need someone who speaks Chinese to help translate …[/quote]

No problem, we have two translators in our group, as well as one more or less bilingual Taiwanese.

I went with Jean-Marc too. He was charging NT$5500 then (Dec 03), but the food was excellent, the group was small, and JM himself was an excellent guide - he ensures everyon’s safety without being too mothering.

Thanks for the tips. It seems that if you go with Jean Marc you pay twice as much as you would with a regular guide but get a considerably smaller group. Makes sense. If regular guides are charging $2-3000 for 40 people then a smaller group would need to pay more.

One question: when you went with a guide, doesn’t matter who, did the guides provide all the food? I expect that you would have to help carry it, but is all cooking, meal planning etc, done by the guide?