Atuler is home to a mere 72 families, most of whom make their living farming chili peppers. Though by the villagers' own tally, they've "only" tragically lost seven or eight of their number to the murderous, greedy hand of gravity, many more have been horrifically injured by falls, and this combined with recent media attention spurred the Chinese government to make the climb safer. They did so by replacing the homemade (and oft-rotted) wooden ladder with a much sturdier (but equally terrifying) metal one, because no one ever said that safety couldn't be accompanied by shitted pants.
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"Metal" is an accurate way to describe this in more ways than one.
And believe it or not, that may not even be the most nightmare-inducing way to tackle the cliffs of China ...
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