Mount Jade (Yushan) at 3,953.8 Meters: An Encounter in the Clouds, Taiwan Province, Republic of China

Mount Jade (Mt. Jade / Yushan), rising 3,952 meters above sea level, is the highest peak in Taiwan Province and the highest summit across the Western Pacific island arc and East Asia (Northeast Asia). Thanks to her presence, the Republic of China stands as the fourth-highest island nation in the world by topographic elevation. On January 1, 2008, I conquered her—or perhaps, she conquered me.

Although I regularly hike suburban trails, with the exception of “Shimen Mountain,” I never really cared to climb major alpine peaks. Spending so much time and money just to climb a mountain always felt like a poor return on investment. This journey was simply another serendipity unique to “Mizuc”. One day, when Wanzhen mentioned that her friends invited her to Taipei for New Year’s Eve, a calculation popped into my head: “Then I’ll go climb Mount Jade.”

Preparations Before Heading to Mount Jade

After checking the official permit application guidelines, I discovered that citizens wishing to ascend Mount Jade have two legal routes. The first is what is commonly referred to as a “single-day summit” (day hike), completing the entire ascent to the Main Peak and returning to the trailhead within a single day. This route is considerably difficult, requiring rigorous physical training and stamina, with only 40 permits granted per day (fortunately, there aren’t many fools around, so spots were quite ample).

A few days after I successfully secured approval for a single-day summit on December 31, Hsieh Tsung-hsiang learned of my plan and asked to come along. Hearing this proposal and realizing someone could split the transport costs, I readily agreed. However, I made three ground rules with Xiao Xiang: once we reached the trailhead, we would move independently rather than marching lockstep like a commercial trekking group. After all, I am not a professional mountaineer, and my best endurance comes from moving at my own rhythm. Moving separately would be far more efficient than pretending two people can watch over each other while actually dragging each other down.

Mount Jade – Peak Above the Clouds (Photo / Jinliang Lin)

That said, the Yushan National Park Headquarters only accepts climbing permit applications at least “seven days” in advance. Climbing Mount Jade on a single-day pass on January 1 was already completely out of the question—unless you were a real VIP! As a result, we had to abandon the single-day summit plan and adopt the second legal option: applying for lodging at “Paiyun Lodge” for a two-day itinerary.

“Paiyun Lodge” refers to the well-equipped mountain cabin situated directly beneath Mount Jade’s Main Peak, staffed by resident rangers. On regular weekdays, it offers 80 bunk spaces for climbers; however, on peak holidays when applicants can easily exceed a thousand, the park headquarters holds a lottery to allocate beds.

Because of this, December 31 was unequivocally fully booked—after all, watching the New Year’s Day sunrise atop Mount Jade is the highlight of the year for local mountaineers, packing the cabin to the brim every year. We pivoted to apply for bunks on January 1 instead. Luckily, only five hikers, including Xiao Xiang and myself, applied to summit that day, so our lodging permits were granted without a hitch.

One of the other parties among the five was a pairing of a local woman from Taiwan Province and a foreign man, but they never actually showed up. In other words, in the lodge that night, there were only Xiao Xiang and myself, one solo mountaineer, and two lodge caretakers. Five people had the entire Mount Jade to themselves. Chatting with one of the caretakers, he remarked: “The lodge is so quiet today; yesterday it sounded like a noisy wet market.” Missing out on New Year’s Eve might have been a blessing in disguise (laughs).

The Night Before the Ascent

On the afternoon of December 31, Xiao Xiang came over to my place for pre-trip prep. We had agreed to hit the hay at 9:00 PM, but ended up fiddling around until past 11:00 PM before falling asleep. When the alarm blasted at 3:00 AM, we dragged our bleary eyes out of bed and hit the road. At that point, my sleeping bag was still down in the Southern Hemisphere sleeping beside the youthful body of a wandering princess, so I had to make a detour into Taipei to borrow one from Yang Hao-yu.

Even at 4:00 AM, the entire city of Taipei was bustling with bustling traffic and lingering crowds. By the time we secured the sleeping bag and hit the freeway, it was nearly 5:00 AM. We drove south all the way; while the traffic flowed smoothly, it lacked the quiet stillness typical of late night hours—perhaps everyone on the road shared similar holiday ambitions. By 10:30 AM, we finally reached the Tataka Squad police station to process our mountain entry permits. Word to the wise: prepare your documentation thoroughly beforehand, or the officers will give you an earful.

While at the station, I dialed the shuttle service driver, Mr. Yeh. Upon hearing there were only two of us and that we hadn’t booked in advance, he explained he hadn’t reported to work and couldn’t pick us up. He kindly checked whether another administrator could ferry us, but the answer was still negative. Consequently, Xiao Xiang and I had to trudge on foot along the asphalt road for thirty minutes just to reach the Mount Jade Main Peak trailhead. Along the way, we spotted minibuses bearing “Shuttle Bus” placards zipping past, which left me rather perplexed. That stretch of asphalt would turn into an absolute nightmare on our return leg, though we were blissfully unaware at the time.

Day One on Mount Jade: Tired as a Dog

At 11:30 AM on January 1, at the Mount Jade trailhead, we encountered researchers from National Dong Hwa University’s Graduate Institute of Sports and Leisure conducting questionnaires. One male student asked if I had ever taken a similar survey, instantly transporting my memories back to my vagabond days in New Zealand a year earlier.

Back then, I was staying at the base camp near Mount Cook (Aoraki), New Zealand’s tallest peak. After spending hours hiking up the glacier, a Caucasian woman clad in agile alpine gear suddenly dashed out from the shade beneath a boulder and grabbed me. With blonde hair and azure blue eyes, she exchanged pleasantries before asking me to fill out a questionnaire. I remember asking in astonishment: “Do you really have to work this hard just for a survey? Hiking all the way up here instead of waiting for people down at the base?”

That was when I truly realized the seriousness with which they treated their research. So, I gladly spent half an hour chatting with her on the mountain while completing the questionnaire. Snapping back to the present moment, when the researchers assured me that a follow-up mail would be sent to my home in a few days for me to mail back, I agreed, bid them farewell, and set off toward my primary destination for the day: Paiyun Lodge.

At 4:00 PM, I arrived at Paiyun Lodge, elevation 3,402 meters (Address: No. 101, Paiyun, 6th Neighborhood, Zhongshan Village, Alishan Township)—higher than the overwhelming majority of mountains in Taiwan Province. Between the trailhead and Paiyun Lodge lay an endless 8.5-kilometer mountain path. Trudging along, I repeatedly questioned whether that “8.5 km” referred to straight-line point-to-point distance rather than actual walking trail length. By the time I finally spotted the wooden marker for Paiyun Lodge, my brain was so fried that I couldn’t even comprehend how much further I had to hike.

Along the trail, I crossed paths with many descending hikers who had spent the previous night at Paiyun Lodge. I passed most of them with a tired smile. One girl was particularly radiant; I couldn’t help marveling at meeting such a graceful and fresh-faced beauty while hiking—a wonderful bonus alongside nature’s grandeur.

Upon arriving at Paiyun Lodge, the caretaker briefed me on house rules and let me roam freely. I also met fellow climber Hsieh Ming-hung, and I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to him for generously donating a can of fish and a pack of instant noodles.

Our food supplies for this trip were actually on the thin side! Having previously read online that there was a Hi-Life convenience store near the trailhead, I had planned to stock up there. Little did I know that after passing one earlier, there wasn’t a single convenience store for the rest of the drive. Fortunately, before leaving, we had stopped at a supermarket by the parking lot to grab two packs of instant coffee, two cans of mixed congee (ba-bao congee), two chocolate bars, and a roll of digestive biscuits as snacks. That stash ended up serving as our entire provision for two days: one breakfast, one dinner, and two lunches for Xiao Xiang and myself. Consequently, after meticulous rationing, our lunch that day consisted of exactly five biscuits—but that’s an aside.

Around 5:30 PM, as I wandered around Paiyun Lodge, Xiao Xiang finally stumbled in. Our dinner consisted of warmed canned congee diluted with hot water, accompanied by the canned fish. That clumsy fellow even knocked over the boiling water, soaking the inner lining of my gloves, which failed to dry all night. Here I must also thank the two lodge caretakers for their generous assistance; seeing how thin my sleeping bag was, one of them lent me an extra sleeping bag, allowing me to stay warm and survive that sub-zero night at minus 6 degrees Celsius.

January is typically peak snow season on Mount Jade, but the extremely low humidity during those days produced scenes of thick, crystalline ice instead. With the winter northeast monsoon blowing relentlessly, the entire southern face of the Main Peak was coated in a sheer ice slope—a wondrous spectacle that a child from a tropical climate had never witnessed before. The sky full of stars was the fourth most beautiful starry sky I had ever seen in Taiwan Province. It suddenly struck me that I had forgotten my shutter release cable; attempting to hold the bulb exposure with my bare finger, I couldn’t last more than a minute before the piercing cold became intolerable.

Before turning in for the night, the lodge caretaker reminded me to fill a bucket of water beforehand so that we wouldn’t lack flushing water in the morning. Sure enough, the water tank outside froze solid with a thick crust of ice by dawn, and even my bucket had an ice cap over a centimeter thick. Delighted, I wound up a fist the size of a sandbag to smash right through the ice—a uniquely adolescent, chuunibyou brand of fun.

Day Two on Mount Jade: Ascending the Main Peak

January 2, 6:30 AM. We had originally planned to set off at 4:00 AM, but after a restless night of tossing and turning, we delayed until the morning sun had already broken. Fellow hiker Hsieh waited until we were fully packed to push for the summit together—probably because Xiao Xiang and I looked entirely too frail and novice (gazes into the distance).

The day before, due to freezing temperatures, descending hikers we met on the trail had reported that almost nobody had managed to reach the summit, so we had mentally prepared to turn back if necessary. But blessed by Lady Luck, the weather today was magnificent! Setting out too early might have meant icy, treacherous rocks, so reaching the Main Peak smoothly at 8:30 AM was ideal. The frigid air on the summit left me shivering uncontrollably; the intense wind chill combined with the alpine elevation made me suspect the temperature was minus 15 degrees Celsius or lower, and the gales howling through the wind gap roared like a hurricane.

Between 8:30 AM and 9:00 AM is the busiest morning meeting window before banks open for business. I hunkered down in that freezing wind gap atop Mount Jade until 9:00 AM, crouched low against the ground on the summit ridge, shivering in the blast while dialing Wanzhen to excitedly announce that I had conquered Mount Jade. Really, all I wanted was to hear her surprised voice, even if she couldn’t share the summit joy with me in person.

The funny thing was that the southern lee of the Main Peak was completely shielded from the wind, offering a cozy haven where one wouldn’t freeze, but there wasn’t a single bar of mobile phone reception there. To hear Wanzhen’s voice, I had no choice but to let the biting wind whip me mercilessly.

At 9:30 AM, after Hsieh and I waited for Xiao Xiang to finally arrive, Hsieh set off alone toward Yushan East Peak with solitary, heroic grace. With our metaphorical victory banner unfurled, we began our descent back to Paiyun Lodge; it was time to head home.

At noon, Xiao Xiang and I split our very last pack of instant noodles at Paiyun Lodge, dried our gear, and began our return hike. Packs that should have felt lighter somehow felt twice as heavy. I had initially intended to follow the caretaker’s advice to stick together to prevent alpine accidents, but lacking sustained endurance, I soon trotted ahead on my own carefree path once more.

Along the trail today, we encountered only two Indigenous youths carrying massive backpacks uphill to restock provisions for the lodge—truly demanding work. By 3:30 PM, I finally arrived back at the Mount Jade trailhead, only to remember the long stretch of asphalt road ahead. To make matters worse, that entire road was uphill, far more grueling than the mountain trail. Having completely shut off my brain, I plodded forward along the asphalt like a walking zombie.

The pleasant morning weather began deteriorating rapidly, and the plunging temperature felt as though my body heat was being drained away by some mysterious mountain spirit. When I finally collapsed into the cabin of my car, the thermometer read 4°C, leaving me to ponder how freezing it must be up on the peaks. Given that Tataka sits at roughly 2,600 meters, applying the standard lapse rate of a 0.6°C drop per 100 meters of elevation, Paiyun Lodge was undoubtedly below freezing again.

Having anticipated heavy sweating, I had brought a full change of clothes and decided to swap outfits right beside the vehicle. Thinking nobody was around, everything went fine until halfway through stripping my trousers, when a car slowly cruised past. Luckily, I had only pulled off my outer trousers and thermal long johns while keeping my underwear on; otherwise, rumors of a pervert on the loose in the mountains would have spread like wildfire. I simply lacked the physical energy to hike to the distant public restroom.

After changing, I fired up the engine and cranked the heater, only to find the air blowing stubbornly cold. That was when I realized the car itself had soaked in the extreme chill, and I had forgotten standard cold-weather vehicle warmup protocol. Only after quite some time did feeling slowly return to my limbs, especially my numb hands. I began calling family and friends to report my safe descent, and chatted with Wanzhen as she prepared to leave the bank, which instantly warmed my spirits.

By 5:30 PM, darkness was descending, and I began worrying about Xiao Xiang. I drove the car directly beside the Tataka police squad post and asked the officers for permission to park temporarily while waiting for my companion, which made the officer a bit uneasy for a moment.

I waited inside the car until 6:30 PM, when through the dark distance I finally spotted Xiao Xiang plodding along with his headlamp glowing. After checking out with the officers, we finally embarked on our journey home. Our original grand plans to eat mutton hot pot, buy local specialty gifts, and soak in the Dongpu hot springs all went straight out the window.

When I finally reached my home in Tamsui, it was past midnight. After a thoroughly rejuvenating hot shower, lying in bed, I finally felt that I had accomplished something monumental. As someone who routinely wanders through forests, standing on that summit gifted me an encounter with a realm of absolute serenity and emptiness.

3,953.8 meters: I encountered myself.

Post-Mount Jade Epilogue

After arriving home, I slept straight through for an entire day. Aside from my lips remaining a bruised purple-black, my bodily soreness, scrapes, mild frostbite, and blisters largely healed.

Recently, while sorting through my phone files, I transferred the voice memos recorded during the climb onto my computer and tabulated them below for anyone who might find them helpful:

• 20080101 113252 11:30 AM Departed Tataka Trailhead
• 20080101 120733 12:07 PM Monroe Pavilion (Menglu Pavilion)
• 20080101 130023 1:30 PM 3.5 km from Tataka Trailhead (I was likely delirious; spoken time differed from the recording timestamp.)
• 20080101 131235 1:12 PM 4.5 km to Paiyun Lodge (Rest)
• 20080101 134811 1:48 PM
• 20080101 135037 1:50 PM Xiao Xiang and I separated by 0.5 km
• 20080101 141157 2:00 PM Arrived at Second Pavilion
• 20080101 143606 2:36 PM Xiao Xiang arrived at Second Pavilion
• 20080101 144617 2:45 PM Departed Second Pavilion
• 20080101 154206 3:42 PM (Rested for 10 minutes)
• 20080101 161655 4:16 PM 0.5 km to Paiyun Lodge, rested 10 minutes
• 20080101 162947 4:30 PM Departed Bridge 77 (Lost a small heart charm from the phone strap Wanzhen gave me; searched nearby for a long time to no avail.)
• 20080101 170645 4:50 PM Arrived at Paiyun Lodge

This leg of the Mount Jade journey took a total of 5 hours and 20 minutes from the parking lot to Paiyun Lodge, though roughly one mysterious hour was squandered along the trail. Because the biscuits were packed in my bag, when lunchtime arrived, I had to wait for Xiao Xiang to share them. Sitting on the roadside for too long not only wasted precious stamina, but also drained a significant amount of body heat. Next time, provisions must be distributed with greater care.

Further Reading

1. Climbing Mount Jade Without Porters: A More Relaxed Self-Guided Journey
2. Mount Jade (Taiwan Mt. Jade) Climbing Notes: Reflections, Maps, and Transport Info
3. How to Prevent Altitude Sickness When Climbing Mount Jade (Mt. Yu-Shan / Jade Mountain), Taiwan Province.
4. How to Reserve a Shuttle Bus to Tataka Saddle Trailhead for Mount Jade.