China's Mount Tai

[RoySwkr]

From the Monadnock State Park website
http://www.nhstateparks.org/explore/state-parks/monadnock-state-park.aspx

"A magnet for hikers, Monadnock is said to be the world's third most climbed mountain, following Japan's Mount Fuji and China's Mount Tai."

So anybody know anything about China's Mount Tai or why the park suddenly decided to recognize it?

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

As usual, Wikipedia has the answer (at least to the first part of the question).

 

[RoySwkr]

As usual, Wikipedia has the answer (at least to the first part of the question).

I tried several internet sites including the above and still lack answers to some basic questions, such as:
* Distance and elevation gain to walk up
* Number of people that walk up as compared to cable car

 

[nartreb]

"monadnock vs Fuji" is one of those evergreen stories like "worst weather in the world" - I may have to make a dedicated page for this one too. (Pretty much all you need to know is already posted to the Talk page of the Wikipedia entry for Monadnock.)

For Roy, here's a quote from wikipedia:

Visitors can reach the peak of Mount Tai via a bus which terminates at the Midway Gate to Heaven, from there a cable car connects to the summit. Covering the same distance on foot takes from two and a half to six hours.

According to Google maps,
https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=36.255833,117.1075&q=loc:36.255833,117.1075&hl=en&t=p&z=12
The base of the mountain is at about 200m elevation; the top is about 1500m. Roughly 4000ft gain if you start in town. Definitely bigger than Monadnock. I don't know what proportion of the crowd takes the cable cars but it hardly matters, the visitor numbers are in the millions. Monadnock gets about 100,000 in a busy year.

Tai shan is just one of several sacred mountains in China with huge visitor rates.

"Said to be" is a great phrase, it means "we know this is a bald-faced lie but we'd like you to believe it's an *interesting fact* anyway."

I can only suppose the park read the Wikipedia page...

 

[iagreewithjamie]

There are many qualifiers when discussing "Monadnock as most hiked".
Fuji and Tai both have roads to the top, or mostly to the top. Monadnock is the only one that requires 100% foot power from base to summit. If you are talking about summit visitors, I'd be willing to be that Washington sees more people than Monadnock.

Why don't they just can the whole "in the world" bit and hawk themselves as the most climbed in America? Still quite a feat.

 

[Andrew]

or why the park suddenly decided to recognize it?

It may have been me Roy. I was never comfortable with a firm statement regarding attendance knowing how difficult it is to be truly accurate. When Craig Brandon was researching for both his Monadnock More Than A Mountain and we were collaborating on the republish of Baldwin's guide, I'm pretty sure this is when Mount Tai first came to park managements knowledge from his findings.

I spent a lot of time trying to strike down the whole first, second, third or anything....but did not always have full control of what might be published statements. I rewrote the "How Many People Visit Monadnock" section in the Monadnock Guide to describe the difficulty with establishing certain attendance figures and felt it best to end with this statement that I was the farthest I was willing to go; "Monadnock is surely one of the most climbed mountains in the world." I was always much more interested in being sure that the toilets were clean.

 

[nartreb]

Andrew, the state park does (or did) their budget from a Master Plan document that relies on counts of visitors. (I've seen the rangers with their pushbutton counters at various points on the mountain, and of course they have their parking receipts which cover the majority of visitors.) I've seen such a document a few years ago and it cited 95,000 visitors to the park that year, not all of whom summitted. (I had a link to it, but the document is now 404.) Note that the park service has, to put it mildly, no incentive to under-count, but this number is still lower than the unsupported numbers that have been published elsewhere and repeated in places like Wikipedia.

If the criterion is "most climbed" (not "most hiked"), you have to put Pike's Peak ahead, with around half a million visitors per year according to the company that runs the food stand on the summit.

 

[Driver8]

Would be interesting to see how many visit Washington, Greylock and Lafayette's summits in a year, all told. W gets a lot of traffic in good weather, but it doesn't have a lot of it. How many do you reckon visit on the following: July 4, Seek the Peak day, Bike Race Day, Road Race day, Labor Day, provided good weather? I'd be a couple thousand, conservatively.

 

[RoySwkr]

I was always much more interested in being sure that the toilets were clean.

I'm sure the visitors appreciated that. While some hikers might pass along the "most climbed" to their friends I doubt that visitation would change one whit if it was called the 100th most climbed. One of the groups I subscribe to has occasional reports from a seaman who tries to tag a tourist peak near every port where he gets shore leave, hence turns up some popular local peaks that most hikers have never heard of. As some of the more populous countries gain a larger middle class, I'm sure that whatever rank Monadnock has will continue to drop.

In terms of difficulty, Monadnock is not even in the 100 most difficult in NH but it's conveniently located and enough of a challenge for many hikers and has an attractive summit. There are many outdoor activities that require more physical effort but are not considered mountain climbing, the Boston Marathon for example. What I am trying to decide is whether the ascent of Mount Tai, while clearly taking twice the time of Monadnock, is mountain climbing. For instance one of the Mount Tai websites says not to load yourself down with food and drink as you can buy it from vendors all the way up - not quite what the HikeSafe people would say. Certainly the photos of people walking up ornate staircases are not what I call hiking.

Traditionalists will be glad to note that although Mount Tai is mentioned on the state park website, the exhibits in the visitor center ignore it and still call Monadnock #1 or #2.

 

[Cat in January]

If the discussion is of peaks that people hike up, but are also accessible by car, then I would think Cadillac mountain would be very near the top. Hmm see if Google has a number.



Google said 2.6 million people visited Acadia National Park in 1999 and 76% of visitors in 1998 went to the summit of Cadillac. I am sure this dwarfs Washington's numbers. Still Manadnocks claim of most climbed I am sure is not at risk.

Found an interesting factoid that I did not know. Cadillac used to have a cog railway that ran to a summit hotel, but when the summit hotel burned the railway was sold to .......Mount Washington. Probably others knew this, but it wss news to me.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

I get a chuckle out of Monadnock's claim. There are so many mountains in the world, some considered sacred, which see far greater numbers. Even Ireland's sacred mountain, Croagh Patrick, has over a million a year, many times over the numbers claimed by Monadnock. And yet how many on this BB have even heard of it?

Even if you're not a pilgrim, climbing Crough Patrick is a treat as its views are amazing.

 

[RoySwkr]

Even Ireland's sacred mountain, Croagh Patrick, has over a million a year, many times over the numbers claimed by Monadnock.

How high above sea level is Croagh Patrick?
* Croagh Patrick rises to a height of 762m above sea level.

How long does the climb take?
* Normally, it takes about two hours for the average person to reach the summit, and one and a half hours to descend.

What equipment is necessary for the climb?
* It is advisable to take sturdy footwear, rainwear and some drinking water. Climbing sticks are for sale at the Centre.

Can I take my car part of the way?
* You may drive to the car park at the Information Centre, but from there it's foot power only.

Croagh Patrick appears to be a similar climb to Monadnock, Tai may be tougher physically but is so developed it doesn't seem like a "hike"

 

[nartreb]

Not sure I believe that million-hiker number for Crag Patrick either. They get some thousands (estimates vary) during the annual pilgrimage, but to reach a million you need thousands every day all year long, or WAY more than 20,000 on your one busy day.

 

[sdways01]

I've talked with multiple rangers at Monadnock and some have just stuck to saying "the most climbed mountain in Jaffrey, NH" when the subject comes up.