Detour

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Detour #67: Tianmen Mountain, China

Known as the Road to Heaven, the insane drive up Tianmen Mountain can trace its roots back 1,400 years to the Tang dynasty. More recently it’s found fame on YouTube thanks to stunts by Land Rover and the late, great Ken Block.

China country road 104 takes you from Yongding, in the Hunan prefecture almost to the 1,519m top of Tianmen Mountain in less than nine miles. No wonder that there are 99 switchbacks to navigate on your climb.

And this wild rollercoaster ride is just the start. If you want to get to the very top a further 999 steps lead to an incredible rock archway and the temple beyond. Should you be too lazy to walk or too car sick to drive the world’s longest cable car can also take you to the top. And if that isn’t quite scary enough there’s a vertigo-inducing glass skywalk to watch the crazies tackle the road below.

In 2018 Land Rover famously sent racer Ho-Pin Tun off in a Range Rover Sport to tackle the 99 bends and the 999 steps to set a new world record as you can see in the video above.

A year later Hoonigan Ken Block took paid a visit in his Hoonitruck and smoked his tyres all the way up, scraping the concrete barriers.

If you do pay a visit then please take it a little easier. It’s a long, long way to fall.

Words Nik Berg Twitter | Instagram
Photography Shutterstock


ROADBOOK

CLASS: Mountain Pass

NAME: Tianmen Mountain

ROUTE: Yongding to Tianmen Mountain

COUNTRY: China

DISTANCE: 9 miles


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