Don’t ever complain about having to walk five miles to school in the snow again. These kids, a dozen between the ages of 6 and 15, in Atuleer, a remote village in the Sichuan provence of southwest China, get too school via a vertical 2,600-foot cliff face. Their boarding school is in another village high on a mountain ridge and the children must complete the dangerous climb every two weeks. At least seven children have died over the years because of falls. The commute takes the kids around 90 minutes each way.
Many would ask why? Well, the area is extremely poor and transportation and access for the villagers is very limited. The local government attempted to build a road in the steep terrain but it proved too costly. Now the government is looking at replacing the intricate ladder workings that villagers use to scale the cliff with a steel staircase.
The steep lattice work is a stark reminder of the gap in development between the eastern part of China and its wild, remote western regions where natives still live traditionally and without much infrastructure. According to reports, 72 families live in the area and are members of the Yi minority that subsists on potato farming, among other things.
