What could possibly go wrong? The tourist trek thousands of feet up a Chinese mountain along wooden boards that were nailed together 700 years ago

PUBLISHED: 06:59 EST, 29 May 2013 | UPDATED: 11:57 EST, 29 May 2013

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These vertigo-inducing pictures show tourists navigating an extremely narrow and treacherous walkway along cliffs at a scenic mountain in China's Shaanxi Province.

The precipitous Chang Kong Cliff Road on Haushan mountain was built more than 700 years ago by hermits seeking ‘immortals’ they thought were living deep in the mountains.

The walkway is only a foot width wide and has been built clinging to the absolutely vertical cliff. One misstep would send pilgrims plunging thousands of feet down into the valley.

These days, anyone brave enough to navigate the path does have to wear a special safety harness.

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Perhaps its better not to see? A daredevil visitor to Huashan Mountain's Chang Kong Cliff Road walks the narrow pathway in a dense mist which obscures the background... and the lethal drop below

What a view: A young woman traverses the narrow walkway

Taking it all in: She sits as she poses for a photograph

But what a view... A young woman poses for photographs along the walkway, which was built more than 700 years ago by hermits seeking ‘immortals’ they thought were living deep in the mountains

Look! No hands! A man trusts his life to the safety harness as he negotiates a section where the wooden walkway ends and the path continues cut out of the living rock of the mountain

Don't look down! Or do, but prepare to be afraid...

Don't look down! The man in the red jacket breaks the cardinal rule of moutaineering. But even if he is afraid, there's no turning back: to avoid precarious congestion the Chang Kong route is strictly one way

Thank goodness for those safety ropes: The walkway is only a foot width wide and has been built clinging to the absolutely vertical cliff. One misstep would send visitors plunging thousands of feet down into the valley

Breathtaking: Huashan Mountain is part of the Qin Ling Range that divides northern and southern Shaanxi, and also China. It is one of China's Five Great Mountains, and has a long history of religious significance

Ancient: The road was built during the Yuan dynasty by a person named He Yuan Xi and his students and took them 40 years to complete. It was built as a route to a more peaceful place to practice their religious beliefs

Vertigo-inducing: Tourists cling to the safety chains as they make their way along the Chang Kong route

Tourists climb stairs to the narrow walkway: The route to conquer the peaks passes temples, shrines, pavilions, terraces, carvings, and statues interspersed between the granite paths and forested margins

Sacred place: Many visitors time their ascent to arrive at the peak to watch the spectacular sunrise

Danger: Tourists queue to make their way up the mountain. Despite the safety measures introduced by cutting deeper pathways and building up stone steps and wider paths, fatalities continue to occur on the mountain

VIDEO 'Experience' the climb along the Chang Kong Cliff Road

Terrifying helmet camera view of climb on Haushan mountain

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If you think navigating that thing is bad, ponder this one for a moment. Some one had to haul all of the chain, boards,fixings and tools up there to build it and knock holes in the rock face while trying not to fall. I wonder how many lost their lives building it. More than one, I will bet.

- John Preston , Stoke on Trent, 30/5/2013 14:06

Click to rate Rating 10

My head is turning...........

- Jacques Mesrine , the hague, Netherlands, 30/5/2013 12:58

Click to rate Rating 5

MAD!

- pip , cornwall, 30/5/2013 12:21

Click to rate Rating 6

All I could think of was seing an episode of one of those fat-busting programs, sending their curvy contestants to try and get up those stairs, and navigat those planks.That, I would watch!

- Silly , Leicester, United Kingdom, 30/5/2013 11:56

Click to rate Rating 5

No, no, no,no,no, no, no, and no again.....

- polheg , Worthing, United Kingdom, 30/5/2013 11:44

Click to rate Rating 20

the 700 year old chains are in good condition !

- Andrew , Philippines, 30/5/2013 11:43

Click to rate Rating 7

No way would I do it, not for all the tea in ....well China.

- JavaBoy , london, United Kingdom, 30/5/2013 11:20

Click to rate Rating 29

Looks like fun and your going nowhere with that safety equipment, no real risk!!!!