Is this sentence correct?

[High on grammar]

Dear English language teacher(s):

Is the following sentence grammatically flawed or is it a well written one as far as formal English is concerned? It is my sentence, by the way.
“So very high a mountain as it was, I didn’t abstain from wanting to climb to the summit”.

I thank you all in advance.

[5jj]

It is neither well written nor grammatical. You'll have to re-cast it completely.

[High on grammar]

It is neither well written nor grammatical. You'll have to re-cast it completely.

Then could you tell me what is wrong with its grammar, I'd really appreciate it.
Which part of it is not grammatical and how how you rewrite it? Here is what I intended to say in a poetic way:
Although it was a high mountain , I wanted to climb to the summit.
In the first clause I used the pattern we use for sentences such as:

Very a good player as he is , Ted is better
Sophisticated as the joke was, the kid understood it.

Thanks

[5jj]

Then could you tell me what is wrong with its grammar, I'd really appreciate it.
Which part of it is not grammatical and how how you rewrite it? Here is what I intended to say in a poetic way:
1. Although it was a high mountain , I wanted to climb to the summit.
In the first clause I used the pattern we use for sentences such as:

2. Very a good player as he is , Ted is better
3. Sophisticated as the joke was, the kid understood it.

#1 is fine.
#2 is not. It could just about be, "Good a player as Bill is, Ted is better".
#3 is fine.

For your sentence you'll need something like, "High as the mountain was, I wanted to climb it".

"I didn't abstain from wanting .. " is not possible. You cannot choose not to want something.

[High on grammar]

#1 is fine.
#2 is not. It could just about be, "Good a player as Bill is, Ted is better".
#3 is fine.

For your sentence you'll need something like, "High as the mountain was, I wanted to climb it".

"I didn't abstain from wanting .. " is not possible. You cannot choose not to want something.

“Very a good player as he is, Ted is better” is actually from a Cambridge English proficiency test.

Thanks

[5jj]

“Very a good player as he is, Ted is better” is actually from a Cambridge English proficiency test.

Thanks

Wherever it came from, it is still not correct.

[High on grammar]

Wherever it came from, it is still not correct.

Sorry my mistake. I guess I was in a hurry and made a mistake when typing the sentence.

The sentence as written in that book is as follow:

Very good a player as he is , Ted is better.

Thanks

[5jj]

Very good a player as he is , Ted is better.

That is still an unnatural construction. There are no citations for this type of construction in the BNC. Which book did you find it in?

[Rover_KE]

“Very a good player as he is, Ted is better” is actually from a Cambridge English proficiency test.

The test must be to correct the mistakes in the sentence.

[High on grammar]

The test must be to correct the mistakes in the sentence.

I am so very, very sorry, again. I really don't know what goes wrong with me sometimes. The first time that I thought I corrected myself by sending you the wrong-again version of that sentence could have been avoided had I checked the sample test in which I had seen the sentence in the first place, but when you insisted on the ungrammaticality of the sentence I thought the best thing to do would be check the source, which proved me wrong.
Here is the correct version:
Very good though he is as a player, Ted is better.
I owe you a million thanks