Would You Send Your Kid on a Deadly Climb to School? Here, It Happens
Feb. 23, 2017 - A half-mile commute to school doesn't sound so bad, until you realize that commute consists of a vertical climb up and down a mountainside. That's the reality for children in Atule'er village, located on a mountaintop in a remote part of southwestern China's Sichuan Province. It's a treacherous climb, which until recently had consisted of aging bambooladders. Now, the bamboo has been replaced with steel, making the climb safer and faster, though still difficult. Children typically stay in dorms during the week, making the ascent to return home to the village on weekends.
Read more about the dangerous trek to school and what the new ladders could mean for the villagers.
Villagers in a mountaintop village in China have had their lives made much easier ...
... by a steel ladder.
They used to climb this 2,600-foot mountainside on a rickety bamboo ladder, with no safety harness.
Photos of school children making the dangerous climb prompted authorities to take action.
Now, the villagers have a much safer steel ladder to use.
The new ladder may also bring much-needed tourism to the isolated village.
