Mountain Marble

[Jamie Swearengin]

Allof the mountains have cave entrances and numerous tunnels, and it is possible to climb to the summit of Mount Thủy. Several Buddhist sanctuaries can also be found within the mountains, making this a tourist destination.

The area is known for stone sculpture making and stone-cutting crafts. Direct rock extraction from the mountains was banned recently. Materials are now being transported from quarries in Quảng Nam Province.

The mountains were very near the American Marble Mountain Air Facility during the Vietnam War. According to William Broyles Jr., the Marble Mountains contained a hospital for the Vietcong, probably within earshot of the American air field and Da Nang Beach (which bordered the air field on the side opposite the mountains). He describes the enemy as having been so "certain of our ignorance [...] that he had hidden his hospital in plain sight".[2]

The Marble Mountains are home to several Buddhist and Hindu grottoes. A stairway of 156 steps leads to the summit of Thuy Son, the only Marble Mountain accessible to visitors. It allows a wide panoramic view of the surrounding area and the other marble mountains. There are a number of grottoes, including Huyen Khong and Tang Chon, and many Hindu and Buddhist sanctuaries, the temples of Tam Thai, Tu Tam and Linh Ung, and the pagoda of Pho Dong. The sanctuaries feature statues and relief depictions of religious scenes carved out of the marble.

Most tourism comes from day trips from Da Nang and Hoi An as it lies almost directly in the middle of the two. This option is fine and still worth the time invested, but by the time most tours arrive the destination is already packed. I wanted to view this place without the hordes of tourists and constant chatter.

As day trips are the main form of touring the Marble Mountains of Vietnam, and wanting to travel straight to Hoi An afterward, the issue of luggage storage arose. Nothing online I was able to dig up confirmed or denied any type of storage facility at Marble Mountains. As well as my luggage storage, this taxi was supposed to then make the trip to Hoi An. This was confirmed possible by the internet and hostel staff, but without a fixed rate, it would be more than double the price suggested online.

It was around a 1km walk to the secondary, more secluded, almost secret entrance of the Marble Mountains. The whole side street approaching the entrance was littered with marble statue shops, as this area is renowned for crafting out of the rock. Even though marble extraction directly from these mountains is now illegal. Early morning sunshine gleaned from the smooth, polished surfaces of stone chiseled into figures of Deities and mythical beasts.

After the entrance fee of 40,000VND ($1.70 USD) was handed over, it was time for the all-important question of luggage storage. The attendant just pointed behind her, like there was never a reason to worry. No lockers, no key, my backpack just laid on the corner behind a desk.

As I explored, a couple of hours had passed quickly. Slowly edging towards the main entry and exit point, the crowds began to filter in. By the time Xa Loi Tower was in sight, marking the main gate, trying to take pictures without a random person in it was next to impossible. Quiet had turned to chatter and scuffling of shoes filing through to the sites. Get there early!

The Klamath group of terranes has a long and complicated history. In a blog post about my local region around Ashland, Oregon, I provided a brief introduction to these mountains: -revealed.net/the-rogue-valley-region-in-sw-oregon-displaying-300-million-years-of-geologic-time/. Basically, the Klamaths consist of a vast variety of oceanic materials, including all parts of the oceanic crust and overlying marine sediments. These oceanic pieces were accreted to each other and then to the continent via a long history of subduction that included colliding volcanic islands.

Before it was metamorphosed, marble was limestone. Shells of organisms on the seafloor created limestone rock overlying oceanic crust formed by volcanic (magma erupted on the seafloor) and plutonic (magma cooled beneath the seafloor) processes. Because of the high metamorphic grade, very few fossils are preserved. The limestone probably formed in a reef around a volcanic island that was located closer to the equator and that traveled eastward and northward with an oceanic tectonic plate. When the plate encountered a subduction zone, pieces of the plate and the overlying sedimentary rock were accreted to the continent through a complicated series of collisions.

A few minutes later I was almost sure I was again on the wrong path, because I came across this big metal cube of machinery, but when I went to investigate, the trail did indeed continue onward; sure enough, a trail sign appeared!

This is where that actual trail began! Huzzah! There was no register or anything, but I continued straight up the path where the climbing began. It then occurred to me that the machinery at the bottom was from an old ski lift up the mountain; this trail just followed the ski lift straight up. It was actually really cool to be able to look back and see exactly where I had started, because it was a straight shot.

This is when the poop really hit the fan for me. The heckin lousy microspikes. During the hour it took me to return to the junction on the ridge, the other strap on the right one broke, so the set of spikes under the front of my right foot kept slipping and popping up over the top of my boot, often stabbing my other leg when it happened. To make matters worse, both straps on the left one also broke during that hour. I was so frustrated and angry at this point, I very nearly chucked both of them off of the mountain, good riddance, but decided to strap them onto my pack in case of emergency, or to burn maliciously later, or whatever. I resolutely took both poles out of my pack, and very carefully made my way up Whiteface. Wow, it looked soooo far away, and TALL. At one point, I reached a really cool clearing that must have been an old ski slope or something, and it was nicely shielded from the wind, so I decided to have a seat on a convenient boulder and have some lunch.

I climbed up very carefully, and at about that point realized that there was NO WAY that I would make it back down the whole mountain without my microspikes. Even the slightest decline can be extremely difficult when icy. I was a bit nervous, but decided to worry about it more after I had reached the summit, because there was no way I was turning back now.

I stayed up here for all of 5 minutes. Seriously. It was cold, and it was soooo much later than I had anticipated arriving (stupid microspikes!). So I took a few last pictures, and turned back. Unfortunately for me, the road was closed past that point, so I had to go back the treacherous way I had come up, until the trail met the road again.

WHAT IS EHLERS-DANLOS SYNDROME?

I have a rare degenerative connective tissue disease called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, and it makes every aspect of life more difficult. Nevertheless, I will not give up on hiking! Read more about EDS here:

For the uninitiated, the Marble Mountains is a cluster of five marble and limestone hills located in Ngũ Hnh Sơn District, south of Da Nang city in Vietnam. According to Wikipedia, The five mountains are named after the five elements: Kim (metal), Thuy (water), Moc (wood), Hoa (fire) and Tho (earth). All of the mountains have cave entrances and numerous tunnels, and it is possible to climb to the summit of Mt. Thuy. Several Buddhist sanctuaries can also be found within the mountains, making this a famous tourist destination. The area is famous for stone sculpture making and stone-cutting crafts. Direct rock extraction from the mountains was banned recently. Materials are now being transported from quarries in Quảng Nam Province.

In the Upper Crystal River Valley, to the north of the town of Marble, is a 12,000-foot peak known as Mount Daly. Like most of the mountain features in the area, Mount Daly has abundant snow and it offers ski lines on nearly all aspects of the compass.

As we ascended the skin track that day up through the popular ski zone, my gaze was drawn to Mount Daly to the north. I was impressed by the half dozen prominent ski lines that descended from its summit towards town and the old ski area below.

Our local Elk Mountains have a Mount Belleview overlooking Crested Butte and a Belleview Mountain adjacent to West Maroon Pass. Snowmass Mountain and Snowmass Peak are neighboring high points that overlook Snowmass Lake. And not far from Marble, in the Raggeds Wilderness south of town, there is a Ragged Mountain and a Ragged Peak.

Two decades after first seeing Marble Daly, I finally had an opportunity recently to explore it up close. My wife Christy and I, along with two other ski partners, made plans to take advantage of a sunny spring day, and we packed up our ski gear and made our way to Marble.

After the short skin up the road, we took the high fork of the Lead King Loop to the summer trailhead for the North Lost Trail. We left the road at the trailhead and made our way through the forest along the North Fork of Lost Trail Creek until we reached Buckskin Basin.

Buckskin Basin is a beautiful valley in the summer, green and full of wildflowers. The trail that ascends the valley can be followed to reach Avalanche Pass or Carbonate Creek, which can make a cool circumnavigation of Mount Daly.

At the head of Buckskin Basin, the mountain steepened. The final 500 feet to the summit involved some high-angle skinning and switchbacks. We needed to select terrain carefully to avoid exposing ourselves to more avalanche-prone slopes.

But soon enough, we were on the 12,610-foot summit. It was a beautiful day and the first time this year that this crew had been out to ski together. And it was also the first time any of us had been on the summit of this mountain, which made the moment even more special.

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