Extreme Engineering

Workers build a footpath around the vertiginous slopes of Shifou Mountain in China
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Thousands of metres up the vertiginous slopes of Shifou Mountain in Hunan Province, China, a team
of workers, operating with hardly any safety measures, are building a footpath
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The workers are building a plank road on the side of the mountain that, once it is finished,
will stretch for 3km (9843 ft) and be China‘s longest sightseeing footpath
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48-year-old Yu Ji (above) is one of the workers and he has been working on high cliffs building such plank roads for more than 10 years. He comments: “Young people don’t want this job, as it requires them to stay deep in the mountains for months or even years”
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Yu Ji takes charge of the most dangerous part of the project -
drilling the holes to set up pipes to support the footpath
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Building a plank road on Shifou Mountain is difficult because the
cliff stands vertical at 90 degrees, without any slope or alcoves
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A finished section of the footpath
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