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Climbing the 'wine bucket' of Taiwan

By Graham NOrris
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Jun 29, 2003, Page 17

Tapachien Mountain rises 3,492m above sea level. Trekkers are no longer allowed to climb the rocky peak. PHOTO COURTESY OF JEAN-MARC COMPAIN, FRESHTREKS

Tapachien Mountain (大霸尖山) may not be the tallest mountain in Taiwan (it's the third), but it might well be the strangest looking, strange enough in fact to go on the back of the NT$500 note.

The mountain, which has been given names such as "the bucket" or "the wine bucket" because of its shape, is one of 51 in Sheipa National Park that rise more than 3,000m above sea level.

It is also sacred to the local Aboriginal tribe, the Atayal, who believe, depending on who you ask, that it is a kind of Garden of Eden for the tribe, or home to the souls of noble people.

Jean-Marc Compain, who organizes treks up this mountain, and many others, in Taiwan, thinks that this Aboriginal history is just one of the many appealing aspects of Tapachien Mountain.

As well as being near Taipei, it has varied landscapes; a mix of trees and grasslands and the end is rocky, Compain said. "All the way is a nice view."

The trail up Tapachien Mountain passes through woodland, grasslands and bamboo groves before ending up on the weathered rock fragments at the base of the main peak. The peak itself is a 140m wall of rock and impossible to climb without special equipment. It is also the most holy place for the Atayal, who tried to prevent people from climbing it until 1927, when a Japanese team made it to the summit.

More daring trekkers use ropes to climb to the top of nearby Hsiaopachien Mountain. PHOTO: GRAHAM NORRIS, TAIPEI TIMES

A wooden, then iron, ladder was installed to allow people to get to the top, but it was removed several years ago following a number of accidents. It is still possible, however, to climb to the top of the similarly shaped Hsiaopachien Mountain, a satellite peak a few hundred meters away.

National park administrators have put in a covered walkway to protect trekkers from falling rocks around the base of the mountain. PHOTO: GRAHAM NORRIS, TAIPEI TIMES

From the main coastal highway, it takes about three hours to drive to the trailhead at Madalashi, on the border of Hsinchu and Miaoli counties, at 1,800m above sea level. Trekkers require a guide and a Class A mountain permit, which must be presented to a number of police stations on the way.

The first section of the trek is a virtually constant, three-hour, uphill slog to 99 Refuge, so called because the huts and dormitories stand at an elevation of 2,699m. The trail moves from leaf-covered mud to rocks further up. Aborigines, wearing sandals rather than walking boots, carry supplies for the refuge in packs weighing up to 100kg past mountain guides puffing on cigarettes.

Water oozes out of the rock onto weathered stone fragments at the base of the peak. PHOTO: GRAHAM NORRIS, TAIPEI TIMES

Because of the time it takes to drive to the trailhead and climb up to the refuge, most people stop there for the night. Those with time on their hands can relax in the evening, drinking kaoliang and chatting in the kitchen at the refuge, safe in the knowledge they can sleep until 8am and still have plenty of time to explore the many peaks further up the trail.

But those wanting to complete the trek in two days must go to bed soon after dinner. Walking the remaining 6km to the summit of Hsiaopachien Mountain -- and then the 10km back down again -- takes more than 10 hours and means starting at 2.30am.

The forest quickly thins out on the trail leaving Refuge 99, offering a clearer view of the surrounding mountains, over which clouds drift ghostlike in the moonlight. Despite the serenity of the surroundings, the large number of people ascending the mountain even at 3am causes traffic jams on the trail.

The majority of climbers adopt a slow, methodical pace.

"They walk for 20 minutes and then they rest for five minutes," Compain said. "A lot of them just want to look and take pictures of the mountain." Many of them, in fact, don't even try for Tapachien Mountain, content instead to view it from the vantage point atop I-Tse Mountain a few kilometers away at 3,297m above sea level.

Unlike the trek up to the refuge, the trail up the mountain undulates along ridges between a number of peaks, passing through grasslands and bamboo groves.

After the sun rises, the goal, a mass of bare rock surrounded by greenery, can be seen at various points along the climb. But it is only from a few hundred meters away that the bizarre effects the elements have had on the peak can be seen.

After heavy rainfall, water oozes out of the cracked wall of rock that makes up the peak of Tapachien Mountain, raining down from the overhang on trekkers walking around the base of the peak. Sometimes it is rocks that rain down, making this one of the more dangerous parts of the trip.

The highest point on this trek is Hsiaopachien Mountain, a few hundred meters further on, which has a similar bare-rock peak that can be climbed, offering spectacular views of much of Sheipa National Park.

The exhilaration of making it to the top quickly wears off on the way back down. Weary feet slide over the wet rocks that make up a trail that more resembles the bed of a stream than a path.

"Coming down was a bit of a slog," said Edward Fells, who was climbing the mountain for the first time. "It was pretty difficult going, steep with lots of slippery bits. My main consolation was that our guide slipped over several times more than I did."

Frenchman plots escapes from the city

Arranging trips to explore the remote or unusual areas of Taiwan can be a hassle. Permits have to be bought, guides organized, insurance sorted out, frequently all in Mandarin. And then you have to find people to go with you.

Frenchman Jean-Marc Compain encountered all these problems when he arrived here more than two years ago.

Coming from the Alps, he was more than interested in the large mountain range that covers the majority of Taiwan's main island.

"I'm from the Alps, so you give me some mountains, some lakes and even the sea and I'm happy," he said.

He began to discover exactly what Taiwan had to offer as a sports teacher at the Taipei European School, organizing trips for the children to various parts of Taiwan for rock climbing and water sports.

"The parents then said to me, `My kid went to this place. Why don't you organize these things for us,'" he said. "Then I saw that people are tired and they don't have enough energy to find out places to go."

He began arranging trips for his friends until he realized he was personally taking on more responsibility than he could handle. So he created a company, FreshTreks.

The company organizes four kinds of trips: earth (which includes trekking, rock climbing and paintball); air (paragliding, microlighting); water (river tracing, surfing, scuba diving) and metal (go-karting, mountain biking).

Compain also arranges tailor-made private, school and corporate outings. He said one of the most satisfying aspects of arranging these trips is bringing together foreigners and Taiwanese, who, given the opportunity, are just as eager to get out of the city as foreigners.

"The Taiwanese girls are very adventurous. They all want to try something challenging," he said. "Even if they are afraid of heights, they still want to do rapelling. They will say, `I was afraid of heights but I don't want to lose face so I have to do it.'"

Compain said he was not just making a job out of a hobby, but also providing a much-needed service by getting people out in the fresh air.

"People in Taiwan need it because they work too much," he said.

For more information: www.freshtreks.com

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