Simplified Chronicle of Taiwan mountaineering Before the dawn of Taiwan mountaineering history, there is a significant event should be mentioned that is Batongguan Traversing Trail which was constructed on Chin Dynasty in 1875. It is an island-crossed trail from West to East, At that time, mountain activity was mainly for economic, military and living purposes. Six separated periods are listed below since 1896 until 2007.
1. 1896-1925 Mountaineering of Measurement & Exploration Period. Japanese Lieutenant Nakano Yoshitora went along the Batongguan Traversing Trail across the Central Mountain Range twice for nature resource investigation and terrain measuring . Also, in 1917 Japanese Noro Yasushi issued a list of 48 high mountains which are all over the height of 3,030 meters (11,000 feet) in Taiwan.

2. 1926-1945 Modern Mountaineering Period. Taiwan Alpine Club was found by civilian in 1926. Since then, the record of mountaineering separated from governmental investigation and academic research. In 1927, Japanese Numai Tetsutaro led a team to reach the top of Mt. Dabajian (3,492 m).It is the first ascent record.

3. 1946-1970 Mountaineering Promotion Period. Due to the difficult economic and political situation, not so many people could be interested in mountaineering. Several alpine clubs were established which offered many kind of traditional mountain activities. One of the remarkable club was China Youth Alpine Association established in 1953. They had done a very good job to promote mountaineering . Regarding the contribution to Taiwan mountaineering development and promotion there were four famous climbers worth remembering: Mr. Tsai Qin-Zhang, Mr. Xin Tien- Zheng, Mr. Lin Wen-An and Mr. Ding Tung-San. In 1969, Taiwan Outdoor Magazine was published and it continued until 1988 for almost 20 years, it played an important role of Taiwan mountaineering promotion and development.

4. 1971-1981 Mountaineering Development Period There is a successful column traverse from Taiwan South most peak to North most peak of the Central Mountain Range, which became a milestone of mountaineering development. Since "the Club of Hundred Peaks" was established, more and more people throw themselves into the high mountain activities. Several major events are worth to mentioning. First, National Chung Hsing University (NCHU) Colleges of Law and Business student alpine club held a joint climbing of six different traverse routes in the Snow Mountain Range, and succeeded to meet on the main peak at the same time. Second, first ascent of the north face of the Jade Mountain in 1979. Third, several mountain accidents caused deaths of five climbers in 1971 in stormy weather, three climbers went missing in 1972 until now, and six climbers died in 1976 due to extreme bad weather. It all happened on the Chilai mountain area. The above accidents called more attention from the people, so more mountain safety education was held, also more refuge huts were constructed. After three high mountain Taiwan National Park was established, they devoted lots of efforts to managing visitors and educating people. We can see the benefit is the norm of mountain activities and also more respect of mountain ethics.

 5. 1981-1996 Modern Technique & Overseas Mountaineering Period Significant achievement during this period are: Deep exploration of Taiwan remote mountain area by Kaohsiung Alpine Club; Dajhuoshuei River and Dan Da River scouting by student alpine club of National Taiwan University, also NCHU Colleges of Law and Business did a very good job to probe the Bei-Erzih mountain of Toroko Area; Up-Stream climbing is blooming at the time of early 1980s. Some measurable of success was in joint climbing with Japanese, e.g. Osaka Waraji Club, Warajino Nakama, etc.

6. 1997-2007 Period of Diversity

1.Blooming of "Sport for all" activity.
2.Overseas trekking & hiking are getting moreattention, like trekking at Rocky MountainsAmerica, Nepal Himalaya, Tibet, and XinJiangare very popular. For climbing purpose, firstpriority is Mt. McKinney Alaska, then Mt.Kinabalu at Sabah, Malaysia, Japan Alps andTien Shan at Pamirs.
3.The Challenge of Seven Summits.
4.P articipation in international alpine organizationse.g. UIAA, UAAA and competition events.

REMARKABLE OVERSEAS MOUNTAINEERING KEYEVENTS.

• 1974 Mt. McKinney 6194m, Alaska NorthAmerica (inspiration success)

• 1980 Mt. Parachamo 6315m, Rolwaling HimalNepal (a milestone success)

• 1983 Mt. Bhrigupanth 6772m, Gangotri, UttarPradesh India(three perished before reaching summit)

• 1993 Tibetan side Everest 8848m (first Taiwanesesuccess)

• 1996 Nepal side Everest 8848m (success) (onedecease, another serious injury)