Yellow Mountains for 2 days from/back to shanghai (night stop at XiHai Hotel) - possible?

Hi, we are hoping to visit Huangshan mountaintop, with 1 night at XiHai hotel, on 24-25 december (it is sadly short however we cannot extend this side trip above 2 days at this point). My questions are, if you have a chnce to know the answers:
1) is it possible to get an early bus from Shanghai straight to Scenic Area, then walk/take a ride to the cable car and still be able to take a ride and hike to XiHai hotel before dark (in fairly reasonable pace)?
2) which cable cars will be open at this time of the year (if any?); what time approximatley is the first/last ride up/down?
3) even if scenario 1) id doable, will we have a chance (again, at reasonable pace) to hike a bit on our way down on the 2nd day, perhaps combined with a cable car down, and catch the last bus to Shanghai (around 5 pm as far as I remember)?
The idea is to see a bit of Yellow Mountains this time, even if not by extensive hike, however not in a super-rush or to find out that the infrastructure is closed at these dates. Thankx in advance for any advice! Olga