Climbing Fansipan in a day

View from the car window on the way up to the start

Short on time, and having read some reviews about the camps, we decided to climb Fan Si Pan in a day. Information about this was hard to find so we ended up carrying far more clothing than was required (more on that later).

Sunrise from the early part of the trail

As far as we could find out (and we believe this to be true as we work in another national park in Vietnam and it certainly is the case there) you can't climb the mountain without a local guide. This differs to Europe, but then this is Vietnam, so it's best to respect the laws of the country and support the local economy.

Through woods and streams

Our ascent was towards the end of June (2016) in what has been a cold and rainy year for Vietnam.

Beautiful morning

What clothes to pack was our first dilemma, this is a high mountain by many standards and we really couldn't get any sensible information (the receptionist at the hotel even suggested gloves and warm hat!), this is a hot place but it does rain, heavily particularly at this time of year.

Camp one, camp two does not look as nice

As we were worried about getting cold and only had cheap Vietnamese poncho style raincoats we packed about three extra layers of clothing. A total waste of time it's simply too hot most of the year. My advice would be to ask your guide (the day before you go) about the average temperatures at the summit for the month of your visit, for June it's between ten and fifteen degrees Centigrade but unfortunately we only found this out during our walk.

An early view of the summit

As Europeans we are used to colder temperatures so I would only take a maximum of one extra (thin?) layer plus a lightweight waterproof jacket. Even the waterproof may be a waste of time as the rain is so heavy that you will probably get wet any way, and, if you do put the jacket on, you will probably get to hot and sweaty.

The path now follows the power lines

How much food and drink to take was our next dilemma, reports tend to say the walk takes about ten to twelve hours (and this is probably a good average). We knew we were being provided with lunch but expected no more so we thought we should take something extra as were starting at five a.m. so would miss breakfast.

Still good views but is that cloud I see approaching?

As it turned out, as we left the hotel they handed us a large bag each with bread, jam, two bananas, an apple and (randomly) a tomato plus half a litre of water.  When added to our snacks, the lunch and the half litre of water provided by our guide and the litre of water we packed we thought we would have too much, but again it was too late to do anything about this.

Is this the summit?

As it turned out, we had way too much food but just the right amount of water. So my advice is carry about two to three litres of water each and only take limited snacks or none at all if your hotel provides a packed breakfast.

The trail gets steeper

One important thing is sunscreen, after the first three hours we were in the clouds or under a cloudy sky for most of the day, but despite applying sunscreen before we set off, we both caught the sun a bit. So take some with you and apply regularly.

Into the clouds

So, enough general information for now, back to describing our day. We got up at 4:30 am and were ready to leave by five, except there was no one about 😢. At about quarter past two people turned up on motorbikes (no helmets) and we were given a lift to the guiding company headquarters where we transferred to a car for a lift up to a high pass where we started the walk. At this time the weather was glorious, we should have been at the top! We started off through woodlands and beside a stream, nearly always climbing, after about an hour and a half we reached the first camp, tin sheds, surely people would only stop here if they were walking up from Sa Pa? Continuing up, the weather was still fine and we were rewarded with some fine views.

View from the summit

After a while the route follows a ridge up towards an obvious false summit, this is also the route taken by the power lines used to supply the buildings at the top. Partway up this ridge we were engulfed by clouds and after just over three hours of walking we reached camp two, not a pleasant site, tin sheds like camp one, litter scattered all around. The rooms here looked dark, damp and nasty, used sleeping bags were left lying on the 'beds', giving the impression that they would not be cleaned before being used again. (There was no one around so it's not possible to say whether they were used again or not.)

View from the summit

Our guide wanted to stay here for twenty minutes but we insisted on pushing on after five, twenty minutes later we started descending (this is before the actual false summit), losing about 100m of height before the final climb up. From here on things deteriorated (in our opinion), general building waste was strewn about the hillside and where the path had been diverted, the new path was so poorly constructed, particularly through a boggy section, that I can't see it lasting.

View of the summit! Oh deary deary me!

Eventually we reached the stone stairway that has been constructed to allow the cable car users to get to the summit and reached the top after four hours twenty minutes. What can I say about the top? Well, look at the pictures and make your own mind up, but to me it was horrible and certainly distracted from what had been a pleasant walk for most of the way. I'm sure the thousands of people who enjoy the cable car each day might disagree. The walk back down follows the same route and took us another four and a half hours, but we weren't rushing as we had plenty of time and had lunch about an hour below camp two.

Hairy caterpillar

In conclusion, it is possible to climb Fansipan in a day, but why would you want to? If you do you are going to hit the crowds plus the best weather is often early in the morning so when you reach the top there will be no view, just masses of people (I've read that the cable car can transport up to 2000 people an hour to the summit!) Better to take two days over the climb (as long as you can face a night at camp two), stay at camp two and get up early so as to reach the summit before the cable car clients arrive, and while there is a good chance of clear views.

Congratulations, Vietnamese style!