It was 8 am, and the morning was still dim and the air was too crisp. On the other side of the world from Harvard, more than a dozen of Harvardians and their associates gathered in the front of the Great Wall Hotel in the center of Beijing, ready to head toward the real Wall. The team gathered under the Harvard flag, and the bus slowly filled. We were going to scale the Great Wall – a mission that seems to many so challenging, if not intimidating…

Half of the bus was engaged in enthusiastic conversation, as old friends were checking-in after a busy week. The other half was fast asleep, savoring every moment of rest before the hike. Sometime along the road, sky started drizzling. It did not look promising.

All doubts dissipated with the clouds as the bus pulled into the Great Wall. The sky turned into a clear blue that can be only found after rain, and the Harvardians unloaded themselves at Jinshanling. This trip started to look full of promises.

The scene was iconic. The Great Wall may be thousands of years old, but it appeared timeless, it looked Great. The wall snaked across the mountaintops and filled our view to the edge. The Great Wall took our breath away both visually and physically.

As we huffed and puffed our way up the inclines, old friendships renewed their bonds and new friendships formed. Former students from the Kennedy school and the Business school, the undergraduate college and the graduate colleges broke down their walls and connected over increasingly sore leg muscles and wet foreheads. Conversations ranged from light to heavy. Casual dinner plans were made for next week between new bonds of friendship, and detailed plans were laid out for helping children in the SiChuan earthquake area. As we progressed along the wall, so did our plans.

For four and a half hours, we climbed up and slid down the thousand year old architecture. At the end of our trek, we were exhausted, but we can all agree that the experience of reaching Simatai was worth every breath.

Through the pictures below, you may see what a breath-taking hiking the group had….

A really short break

A small group on a great wall

Almost countless

How do i do it

One of us