Tianti

Chinese: 天梯
Pinyin: Tiān tī
English: Heavenly ladder
Coordinates: 40°39'27.63"N 117°18'2.28"E

After tower 12 you will climb up to a terrace. Beyond this point, the wall is officially closed. There are usually, but not always, guards at this point. Some of them have been known to allow people to pass in certain situations, and others have been known to be completely unrelenting. Continuing beyond this point is very dangerous but not impossible. The wall here becomes “one-sided” again. After the fourteenth tower, you reach a very steep uphill section known as Tianti or Heavenly Ladder.

Heavenly Ladder

The lower part of this section is at about an 80-degree angle and many steps are more than one meter high. At the top of the Heavenly Ladder, the ridge is quite narrow and there is no longer a walkway beside the wall, so one must walk upon the wall, which is approximately one meter (three feet) wide and, at some parts, less.