Huashan Five-Peaks Ridge Walk (Golden Lock Pass Loop)

Starting from either the North Peak or West Peak cable car station, this ridge walk links all five of Mount Huashan's summits along the mountain's traditional connecting trails. From North Peak, the route crosses the narrow Blue Dragon Ridge to Jinsuo (Golden Lock) Pass, a saddle where generations of visitors have fastened padlocks to the chain railings, and where the trail forks toward Central, East, South, and West Peaks. South Peak, at roughly 2,154 m, is the highest point on the mountain and sits beside the entrance to the Plank Walk in the Sky. East Peak is the traditional spot for sunrise viewing on an overnight climb, while West Peak offers the most direct cable car descent back down. The full loop covers 6–8 km of stone-cut steps and ridge trail with cumulative elevation change well beyond the horizontal distance would suggest, given the constant climbing and descending between summits. Iron chains are fixed along the most exposed stretches, and the path is rarely wider than a few people at once, so the route can bottleneck on weekends and holidays. Weather on the open ridge shifts quickly, and management closes sections after snow, ice, or high wind, so a flexible day is worth planning around a ridge walk attempt.