This is a region of magnificent mountains: within the park are 51 peaks over 3,000 meters high. The range of altitudes in the park is from 760 meters above sea level in the Da-an River Valley to 3,886 meters at the top of Syue Mountain.

The name, Shei-Pa, refers to two notable mountains in the park: Syue Mountain and Dabajian Mountain. Syue Mountain (Xue Mountain or Snow Mountain) is the highest point of the Syue Mountain Range, which stretches northeast-southwest across Taiwan from Sandiaojiao to the Jhuoshuei River. At 3,886 meters, Syue Mountain is the second highest mountain in Taiwan, only a little lower than Jade Mountain, 3,952 meters, the highest mountain in Taiwan, or in all Eastern Asia. Syue Mountain is one of the "Taiwan Quintuple Mountains." Dabajian Mountain, 3,492 meters, is considered one of Taiwan's natural wonders because of its astonishing, awe-inspiring shape. An old legend of the local aborigines, the Atayal, tells how the whole human race originated from a couple who came out of a rock at the base of the mountain. The Atayal venerated Dabajian Mountain and would not ascend it without special reason; it was not until 1927 that mountain climbers from other places began to go up to it.

The mountains around Syue Mountain are connected by high ridges, of 3,300 to 3,500 meters in altitude. Shengling rail, along the north-south ridge connecting the two mountains, is held in high honor both by aborigines and by mountain climbers. It is only some 10 kilometers on the map, but there are 7 other mountains over 3,000 meters on the way, which is difficult and dangerous going. Mountain climbers, starting from the border of the park, plan six days to complete the journey along the trail. In 1928, a Japanese explorer, Numatetu Tarou, writing about the Daba region, said he doubted if anyone could truly express the awesome mystery and beauty experienced along the Shengling Trail. Since many who go there share his feelings, the ridge is very often called the Holy Ridge.

The rock formations exposed in Shei-Pa National Park are mainly slightly metamor-phosed rocks from the Eocene to Miocene epochs of the Tertiary period. The degree of metamorphism decreases along an axis from southeast to northwest. Rock types include sandstones, shales and slates. Folded strata and high-angle reverse faults are commonly seen structures. Owing to the effects of the collision in eastern Taiwan of the Philippine Plate, moving northwest, with the Eurasian Plate, most fold axis planes and fault planes lie in a northeast to southwest orientation, with a curvature towards the northwest.

A geographical feature in the Syue Mountain region which has aroused much interest and discussion is the broken down rock faces around Syue Mountain. Before the evidence of glacial activity in the area became clear, geologists thought that the force of wind on the rock made it crumble into pieces which then slid down the slopes, leading to the formation of "landslide valleys." However, the later discovery of glacial phenomena such as glacial thresholds, U shaped valleys, glacial cols and glacial striation proved that glaciers did once occur around Syue Mountain.

"Cirque" is a general term in topography; it means a kind of circular hollowed-out place with an opening facing downhill and a very steep slope at the upper end. Glacial cirques are a feature of glacial topography, one type of cirque; the name indicates a circular hollow situated where the head of a mountain glacier was, hollowed out by the action of ice, snow and the glacier, and shaped like a great amphitheatre or basin, with very steep cliffs on the upper side.

In the Syue Mountain area, these oval-shaped hollows are thirty seven in number; among them the glacial cirque below the summit of Main Peak of Syue Mountain, called "Glacial Cirque Number one" is the largest in Taiwan and has the finest form. The glacial cirque on the lower slopes of North Peak of Syue Mountain, called "Glacial Cirque Number two," has the most representative glacial cirque shape. Also in the Syue Mountain area, Cuei Pond and lower Cuei Pond were formed by glacial action and so can be called "glacial cirque ponds."