Miao Feng Shan: Fantastic Climb West of Beijing
Dear all,
Following my publicly declared love of the climb starting at the foot of the Huang Hua Great Wall on this site, I will now officially withdraw that love.
After 20 ascensions of Huang Hua, moaning about the delapidated road surface (has it been re-done??), I’ve fallen head over heels for a new mountain, called “Miao Feng Shan” ( 妙峰山).
Miao Feng Shan (MFS) is about 50/70km West of Beijing, behind Xiang Shan. The most time-efficient way to travel there over the weekend is by following the 6th ring all the way West until it literally stops. Get off and turn left into the valley to the town of Jun Zhuang Zhen. You drive about 10km through small villages and then arrive at a big T junction. Turn right on the main road called “G109″ towards the West and go 5km until the pretty entrance archway of MFS.
There is ample parking next to the fruit stalls at the foot of the climb. From there you have one main road leading straight to the top of the mountain.
You have all in all 3 main climbs on this mountain. Route 1 to the traditional summit at 1070m altitude, the West peak, takes 20km from the archway. Only 13km out of these are climbing, but they are strenuous.
Route 2 takes you to the newly opened and much higher East peak to a height of 1180m. From the archway you will ride 22.5km to the top, hence a full blooded climb of 15.5km.
Route 3 follows 3/4 of route 1 but at the last major 180degree switchback, you go up a near impossibly steep 3km to the East peak over a rough surface.
The first 7km are (false) flat, perfect for an easy warm-up. At km7, you will pass a major junction in the village where the roads branches, with one road going down and one up to MFS. A big blue sign stating “MiaoFengShan 13km” is a good place to press the stop watch to time your ascend. From that point onwards you’re in for a great climb.
The first 8kms of the climb, over near-perfect asfalt, are the toughest part of route 1. It will only level of as soon as you hit a main touristic village. From this village you get a delicious choice of poisons. If you turn left, following the main road, you will get a 5km stretch of balanced steepness to the top of the lower West peak (route 1). A large earth-trodden parking is the finish. You could go on for a few hundred meters to the main entrance of the temple area but that is very much a spectacle of Chinese tourists and souvenir peddlers.
If you turned left at the village, through a small archway, you take route 2. Here you will negotiate a steep 2km before you reach the first of many switchbacks to the top. The 7km from the village to the top will surely take your breath away literally and figuratively. This route has some very steep sections and magnificent switchbacks. So far, this route is the most impressive climb that I know off around BJ.
After a very steep 2km you reach a the forest plateau where you grind your way to the top of the ridge. Great 180degrees switchbacks over the place!
On windy days you will be very exposed to the wind on this narrow ridge. At this point you are well over 1000m. The height rewards you, though, with great views of ChangPing and the plains or northern Beijing. The final few kilometers of the higher East peak are very beautiful and remind me a lot of the Maritime Alps. You are riding towards a peak of 1180meters and it’s a stunning scenery. The road has a few quicks descents towards the end but, beware, the final 2km are very steep once again. The endpoint is a viewpoint a few meters before (and higher than) the parking on top.
Steven “Floyd Landis” Ose and myself have done the two routes back to back a couple of times, totaling 85km in total. That’s a great day out in the mountains!
But there is one last challenge to be done on MFS. I encourage everyone to look up the mountain route on Google Earth where the whole ride is visible to the meter.
You will see that halfway up route 1, 3km past the tourist village, there is a very steep side road that goes up towards the East peak. This is route 3. It seems only a few km in length but it is incredibly steep. Notice all the switchbacks on GEarth.
To incorporate this climb, I propose to do route 1 and then route 2. Upon descending route 2 to the tourist village, turn back up towards the West peak (route 1) and after 3km turn into the side road going straight up to the East peak again.
For the absolute die-hard amongst us: go up and down the mountain 3 times (route 1 = 40km, route 2 = 45km, and route 3 = 44km).
This last triple ascension i will call (poetically) the “Great Crown” and the shorter version the “Small Crown”. Doing either deserves a big “chapeau”!!!
FYI:
From the Archway to the top of the West Peak (route 1) my current PB is 58′ 48”. Steven Ose PB for this route in 51′ ; set during a race in ‘06.
My PB up route 1 from the blue sign after 7km where the climbing really starts is 42′ 14”.
From the Archway to the East Peak (route 2) my current PB is 1h 13”. Steven Ose PB for this route is 1h 12′.
My PB up route 2 from the blue sign after 7km where the climbing really starts is 55′ 00”.
by Tom Lanhove