China: Cliff-top village builds steel ladder for children to go to school

Serenitie Wang Katie Hunt
By Serenitie Wang and Katie Hunt, CNN
Published 12:33 AM EDT, Wed October 26, 2016
A mountain village on a cliff in southwestern China has been building a huge steel ladder to connect it to the outside world.
A mountain village on a cliff in southwestern China has been building a huge steel ladder to connect it to the outside world.
ImagineChina
The village started to construct the ladder in August with an investment of 1 million yuan ($147,928) from local authorities.
The village started to construct the ladder in August with an investment of 1 million yuan ($147,928) from local authorities.
ImagineChina
School children had been forced to use unsteady vine ladders to reach their boarding school in the valley below.
School children had been forced to use unsteady vine ladders to reach their boarding school in the valley below.
ImagineChina
Pictures of 15 grade schoolers, some as young as six, making the two-hour odyssey to and from their boarding school <a href="http://cnn.com/2016/05/27/europe/china-children-education-climb">went viral earlier this year</a>.
Pictures of 15 grade schoolers, some as young as six, making the two-hour odyssey to and from their boarding school went viral earlier this year.
ImagineChina
With handrails and a more stable structure, it will also make the journey safer for villagers, who descend and climb the cliff each week to buy groceries and trade their products at the nearest market several miles away.
With handrails and a more stable structure, it will also make the journey safer for villagers, who descend and climb the cliff each week to buy groceries and trade their products at the nearest market several miles away.
ImagineChina
The isolated village of Atule'er is perched nearly 1,000 meters above the valley floor.
The isolated village of Atule'er is perched nearly 1,000 meters above the valley floor.
ImagineChina
CNN  — 

The world’s most terrifying school run is about to get a little less hair raising.

In the mountains of southwest China’s Sichuan province, a group of children must descend an 800-meter (half mile) cliff to reach their school.

Previously they used unsteady vine ladders to make the descent but now a steel ladder is being built to make the treacherous journey from the isolated cliff-top village of Atule’er easier.

Atule'er, a village in China's Sichuan province, received widespread attention after state-run Beijing News published a series of photos of students climbing vine ladders along a 800-meter (half-mile) cliff to go to school.<br />
Atule'er, a village in China's Sichuan province, received widespread attention after state-run Beijing News published a series of photos of students climbing vine ladders along a 800-meter (half-mile) cliff to go to school.
CHEN JIE/BEIJING NEWS
Fifteen children ages 6 to 15 go to school at the foot of a mountain. They make the journey climbing the unsteady "sky ladders," as locals call them.
Fifteen children ages 6 to 15 go to school at the foot of a mountain. They make the journey climbing the unsteady "sky ladders," as locals call them.
CHEN JIE/BEIJING NEWS
The children don't seem frightened by the descent down the cliff, Beijing News photographer Chen Jie says.
The children don't seem frightened by the descent down the cliff, Beijing News photographer Chen Jie says.
CHEN JIE/BEIJING NEWS
The children spend roughly two hours on each trip up or down the cliff. The trip is so demanding they go home twice a month, the photographer says.
The children spend roughly two hours on each trip up or down the cliff. The trip is so demanding they go home twice a month, the photographer says.
Chen Jie/Beijing News

Pictures of 15 grade schoolers, some as young as six, making the two-hour odyssey to and from their boarding school went viral earlier this year.

The ladder consists of 1,500 steel pipes and will be completed in early November. The village started to construct the $150,000 steel ladder in August.

With handrails and a more stable structure, it will also make the journey safer for villagers, who descend and climb the cliff each week to buy groceries and trade their products at nearest market several miles away.

In the past, villagers have fallen from rotten vines, the Beijing News reported.

Er Dijiang, the village chief of Atule’er, which is home to 400 people, told the China Daily that he looking forward to the children being able to return home to celebrate the Lunar New Year in a safer way.