Open the area for foreigners again, it makes no sense

Did not do the plank walk as I was told that the queue for the plank walk can take 2-3 hours.

Depends how pregnant you are. You can certainly take the cable car ride, but if you're more than 6 months, you will find all the stairs to get to the cable car, and the steep climbs on the mountain, very uncomfortable. I don't think it's unsafe as in potentially falling off the mountain, but it's very hard work.

To my knowledge there are no campsites anywhere on Huashan. The Chinese are not really into camping. I think part of the reason is that their population is so huge that they limit access to their parks to established trails, many of which are stairs, in order to protect the environment. I do believe there are some hostels on the mountain. That being said, I did find a video on UTube in which it looks like someone just pitched a tent on a viewing platform. Whenever I asked about camping during my 3 month tour of China, no one could tell me where you could camp. The problem with camping without permission is that, if it is not allowed, and you are caught, you could wind up hiking down the mountain in the dark. Look at pictures of the mountain, that is not something I would recommend. I personally took the west cable car up, some of the most spectacular mountain views I have ever seen, and then hiked to the 5 peaks. I took the other cable car down. I was able to do this on a day trip from Xi'an. I have to say I haven't been as impressed by a Mountain since I first saw the Grand Tetons back in the sixties. No matter how you do the mountain you will have breathtaking views as long as it isn't totally enveloped by deep fog. I was lucky, the fog rolled in and out allowing me to see it in different ways. Have a great trip and I hope this answer helps.

Hi! May is a good season for Mount Hua, a T shirt will be enough for a sunny day, but jacket is necessary if you come across a sudden rain.

We went up and down via cable car, so we have no need for hiking equipments, but in your case, if you need to hike up via the trail, it would be best to be fully equips with the necessary hiking equipments. safe travel.

I'm not entirely sure on this, but I think it's normal business hours (9am-6pm)

No need to camp on the mountain, you can do the mountain easily in one day - all 5 peaks. Wuyun Peak is a guest house near the North Peak, as well as North Peak Hotel. I did not see any place to pitch a tent and this kind of information is difficult to find in China. My map also tells me there is a guest house near West Peak (it looked like it was being renovated when I was there), also Zhen Yue Gong Hotel and East Peak Hotel. None of them are fancy and probably cost a lot. I would suggest staying at the bottom and spend the day at the top, unless you are trying to see the sunset/sunrise

we spend there one full day an we only reached the north peak (and we really wanted to get the south peak and didn't make, it is huge mountains). i recommend you to spend two days if you want to get it all