A Gorge 10,000 Feet Deep is Driving Hell in China

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Navigating China’s deepest gorge: This from MSNBC today, complete with a movie showing the harrowing drive up a gravelly road up a steep mountain. Adrienne Mong wrote this account.

“Tiger Leaping Gorge is believed to be the world’s deepest gorge, measuring some 10,000 feet deep, between the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and the Haba Mountain in Yunnan, and running only nine miles long.

Its narrowest point is only about 100 feet, hence the name — it’s believed a tiger once escaped a hunter by jumping over the rushing Yangtze River below, from one mountain range to the other. We had just four hours to make our way to the top, film a bit of the landscape, and get back down to continue our journey toward the Sichuan border.

At first, Yang drove a hard bargain, citing the tough road conditions. But as with other haggling cultures, you never accept the first offer. Besides, we still thought his price a bit high so we negotiated a lower rate by arguing that he still could book an afternoon tour after he’d taken us up to the lookout.

Several minutes later, as our bread car approached the path, heading upward in a series of endless hairpin turns, we realized our folly. Yang had not been exaggerating when he said the road was difficult. If anything, he’d understated it.

Made of loose gravel and dirt, barely wide enough to accommodate a car — let alone a minivan — with no barriers overlooking the gorge, the road also served as a repository for falling rock.

We eyed the pebbles dribbling down with some trepidation, but the driver had better things to worry about. He was lurching right into the first hairpin.
With mastery, boldness of spirit, and not a little exertion steering, Yang commanded his bread car up that mountain whilst we held our breaths.

It wasn’t until after we’d climbed to the top and he’d mopped the sweat off his forehead that our driver told us that just a few days ago a landslide had toppled over a minivan, killing three people – including the 19-year-old driver — and injuring five others.