Fansipan, a rough pronunciation of the local name Hua Xi Pan means the tottery giant rock. The French came to Vietnam and in 1905 planted a landmark telling Fansipan's height of 3,143m and branded it the Roof of Indochina. Very few people climbed to the top of Fansipan at the time. Then came the long years of war and Fansipan was left deserted for hunting and savaging. The trail blazed by the French was quickly overgrown by the underbrush.
It takes six or seven days to reach the 3,143m summit, the highest peak of the Indochina Peninsula.
In
1991, Nguyen Thien Hung, an army man returned to the district town and
decided to conquer Fansipan. Only on the 13th attempt did Hung, with a
H'Mong boy as his guide, conquer the high peak by following the foot
steps of the mountain goats. Scaling the height was meant to satisfy
his eager will and aspiration to conquer the mountain without expecting
that his name would be put down in the travel guidebook. After that the
Sapa Tourism Agency started a new package tour there. It seemed the
Fansipan Tour was meant only for those who wished to test their
muscular power.
The summit of Fansipan is accessible all year
round, but the best time to make the ascent is from mid-October to
mid-November, and again in March.
Foreigners like best to book
Fansipan tours between October and December, as this period is more
often than not free from the heavy rains that obstruct the jaunt. But
the Vietnamese prefer their tours to the peak of the mountain from
February to April, as it is not so cold then. However, the best time
for the trek to the mountain is from the end of February to the start
of March, when the flowers all flourish and the climbers may behold the
carpets of brilliant blossoms, violets and orchids, rhododendrons and
aglaias.
