Heaven’s Gate is a stunning tourist attraction in China’s Hunan province. To get there one has to climb 999 deadly steep stairs at a 45 degree angle. The road that leads to the staircase is also very treacherous: It has 99 dizzying turns much like roller coaster tracks.
The “stairway to heaven” leads to the Tianmenshan Temple, which was built in the year 870 A.D. The 999 steps represent good fortune and eternity since nine is a lucky number in Chinese numerology.
You can also get there on the world’s longest cable car ride — a 30-minute, 7 kilometer ride — or opt for a bus.
Now, there is another way to make the climb
You can take a Range Rover straight to the top. Recently, the Range Rover Sport PHEV successfully completed the Dragon Challenge at Heaven’s Gate.
The new plug-in hybrid Range Rover Sport has become the first car to climb to Heaven’s Gate in China. The luxury off-roader set a world record by driving through those dizzying 99 turns and then climbing the 999 steps at a 45 degree angle to complete the 11.3-kilometer trek.
Ho-Pin Tung, the Panasonic Jaguar Racing driver who made this historic drive, says his Formula E and Formula 1 experiences, and even his 24 Hours of Le Mans victory, had nothing on this.
