AMAZING INFRASTRUCTURE: CHINA'S HEAVEN'S GATE MOUNTAIN AND ITS CAPTIVATING SIGHTS

Did you know that the Tianmen Mountain has the world's highest naturally formed arch known as 'Heaven's Gate' and that reaching it involves ascending 999 steps referred to as the 'Stairway to Heaven'?

Tianmen Mountain is a mountain located within Tianmen Mountain National Park, Zhangjiajie, in the northwestern part of Hunan Province, China. Tianmen Mountain literally means 'Heaven's Gate' Mountain.

Tianmen Mountain's 'Heaven's Gate' truly lives up to its name. The celestial entrance known as 'Heaven's Gate' is located within the breathtaking Tianmen Mountain. Situated approximately 5,000 feet above sea level, Tianmen Cave in China stands as the world's highest naturally formed arch. 

Accessing this remarkable landmark involves ascending 999 steps referred to as the "Stairway to Heaven," where the number nine holds significant meaning in Chinese numerology, symbolizing good fortune and eternity. Alternatively, visitors can opt for a bus ride along a narrow roadway.

With dimensions reaching about 430 feet in height and 190 feet in width, the cave was once an ordinary cavern. However, in 263 A.D., a section of the mountain's cliff collapsed, giving rise to the captivating appearance of a "portal to heaven" that mesmerizes observers to this day.

A cablecar was constructed in 2005 by the French company Poma from nearby Zhangjiajie railway station to the top of the mountain. Tianmen Mountain Cableway is claimed in tourist publications as the "longest passenger cableway of high mountains in the world", with 98 cars and a total length of 7,455 m (24,459 ft) and ascent of 1,279 m (4,196 ft). The highest gradient is 37 degrees.

In August 2016, a glass skywalk overlooking Tongtian Avenue, called the "Coiling Dragon Cliff", opened to the public. Tourists can walk on kilometres of paths built along the cliff face at the top of the mountain, including sections with glass floors. An 11 km (7 mi) road - Tongtian Avenue - with 99 bends also reaches the top of the mountain and takes visitors to Tianmen cave natural arch in the mountain of a height of 131.5 m (431.4 ft).

The Tianmenshan Temple is located on the summit, with chairlift or footpath access. The original temple there was built during the Tang dynasty and destroyed during the first part of the 20th century. In 1949, as the Chinese Communist Revolution neared its end, construction of a new temple, with Tang dynasty architecture, began; the temple now sits on landscaped grounds covering 2 hectares (4.9 acres).

Heaven's Gate Mountain, a tourist destination, has recorded series of tragic incidents as well as renowned feats. 

In 2007, Alain Robert (a French rock and urban climber known as "the French Spider-Man" or "the Human Spider") scaled the cliff below the arch, bare-handed and without protection; a plaque commemorates his feat. The World Wingsuit League held the first and second World Wingsuit Championships in Tianmen. In September 2016, the Italian driver Fabio Barone set the first speed world record with his Ferrari 458 Italia, covering the nearly 11 km (6.8-mile) route in 10 minutes and 31 seconds.

On October 8, 2013, during a training jump for the second world championships, Viktor Kováts plunged to his death when he was unable to open his parachute. In April 2023, four people died in a group suicide on one of the skywalks at Tianmen Mountain. Three men jumped to their deaths from the west line skywalk at a height of roughly 1,430 m (4,691.6 ft). The fourth person, a woman, was stopped from jumping but had already swallowed poison, causing her death.

Sources:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianmen_Mountain

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