October - December '08 |
Hot Rock: Climbing in China and Tibet |
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As
we enter China and Tibet, we will be in the extremely rare position of being
in our own vehicle. Officially you are not allowed to take a foreign vehicle
into China and not able to drive a Chinese vehicle. However by re-registering
the vehicle as Chinese, obtaining special permission from Beijing and getting
a Chinese driving license, we will be the first climbing trip at large in
China with the massive advantage of our own transport.
This
will mean we are able to go places independent travelers simply can't get
to and we will save massive amounts of time that would be wasted on public
transport getting between climbing areas. We will be the first people to explore
some of the areas visited and will really be breaking new ground.
Some visiting American climbers in the 1980s reckoned that “Compared to China, Europe and the US are like a wheatfield in Dakota.” Hold on to your hats, China is going to be special.
Heading into Tibet across one of the highest land borders in the world, the road winds though snow capped scenery and open plateaux as we cross the Himalayas into the 'roof top of the world'. We will pass many tiny settlements where yak herders tend to their stock as the steep switchbacks take us further East.
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There are fine views of Everest, Cho Oyu and Shishapangma as we pass Tingre, with a rough camp in the wild expanse of the plateau.
Our
first stop is Shigatse, Tibet's second holiest city and home of the Panchen
Lama, before we cross the Karo La pass at 4,570m. We then arrive in legendary
Lhasa which until recently few foreigners had laid eyes on. The former home
of the Dalai Lama, Lhasa is the heart and soul of Tibet, a city of wonders
that fascinates western visitors.
The
first sign you are near Lhasa is the mighty Potala palace, former seat of
the Tibetan government. Passing dark winding streets, wafting incense and
prostrated pilgrims we enter the city and spend a couple of days taking in
the sights.
There may be the opportunity (depending on current travel restrictions) to visit some of the limestone karst formations that lie to the west of Lhasa and to the east of Sera monastery, to explore for cragging potential. Some of these have been bolted by visiting French climbers. Is oxygen ethical on sports routes at over 5,000m? We may also be able to arrange a trip to Nam Tso Lake to the North, a turquoise blue sacred lake surrounded by 7,000m mountains. Our time in China will be very flexible as the existence of good quality rock, weather, road conditions and security restrictions are all factors that will necessitate constantly changing plans. What follows is our ideal plan!
From
here we embark on one of the great journeys in the world: the 2140km Tibet
– Sichuan highway to Chengdu. In the words of Lonely Planet: “The
route takes you through vast, open landscapes with horizons of majestic peaks.
Tibetan homes dot the landscape like small stone castles. Huge vultures soar
overhead whilst roaming yaks munch on frosty grass…”
Here, in Sichuan province, we find one of the highlights of the entire expedition.
Leaving the truck in the village of Rilong, we will make our way into the
heart of the Siguniang Shan mountain range. Camping in green valleys, we’ll
have a huge choice of objectives. These range from Siguniang itself, a 6,000m
fang of rock and ice, to Celestial Peak, a stunning rock pyramid first climbed
in 1984 and likened to the rather more famous Torres
del Paine in Patagonia. Other peaks in the area – the stunning Mount
Fourgirls, Mt Fattening Sheep (yes, really), or Mt Abi, go at much more accessible
grades and there’s plenty of valley cragging potential as well. 
Little
known by western climbers, the area – the “Goddess of SW China”,
is home to friendly nomadic Tibetan yak herders who are likely to share tea
and stories with us well into the evenings.
Reluctantly leaving this tranquil spot, we next go in search of the region’s most famous creature: the Giant Panda. After a brief stop at the Giant Panda research and breeding base in Chengdu we’ll get back on the road for the 2-day drive to a city that once rivaled Rome and Constantinople for the title of Greatest City in the World. Xi-an, in Shaanxi province, was the end of the ancient Silk Route linking east Asia with Europe and Africa. It’s merely a staging point for Birt though, and in a few days we’ll be continuing our transcontinental journey to coastal Shanghai and beyond. As always, we’ll be on the lookout for rock and there’s no doubt that any climbing we find along this mountainous road will be first ascents!
In
1974, peasants digging a well outside Xi-an stumbled onto the greatest archaeological
find of the 20th century, possibly of any century: the army of the Terracotta
Warriors. 6,000 lifesize footsoldiers and cavalry stand in battle formation
in 3 underground vaults that simply have to be seen to be believed. This is
another changeover opportunity, and we’ll say goodbye to some and hello
to new faces in any one of the Chinese, European or Arabic restaurants that
remind us of the ancient lineage of Xi-an.
But
now it’s time to flex those pecs, as we head to Song Shan, holiest of
China’s 5 celestial mountains and centre of the Shaolin tradition of
Kung Fu monks. Whether you spend your time watching novices sparring with
the force of an express train, or seeking out the local rock, a unique and
memorable visit is guaranteed.
Continuing east, just 75k from Xi-an, we stumble across Mt Huashan. One of the 5 sacred mountains of China, Mt Huashan is celebrated for its “majestic breathtaking crags, steep paths and beautiful scenery”. It is said to be “the most precipitous mountain in the world.” Oddly there’s no record of any climbing ascents, so we may be in new routing mode for a few days.
From
here, we drop in on the Yellow River just north of Zhengzhou, said to be the
“origin of the Chinese Civilisation,” en route to bewildering
Shanghai, the easternmost point of the trip, where we’ll take the opportunity
for a dip in the Pacific Ocean. Those who have come all the way from the beginning
can notch up on their bedpost a complete traverse of Asia, from its westernmost
extremity in Istanbul to the easternmost tip of China. Marco Polo traveled
though these lands many centuries ago as the first westerner to enter the
'forbidden kingdom' and since then very few people have followed in his footsteps.
Shanghai will give us the chance to recuperate and give Birt some much needed
TLC before we head to another of the great climbing destinations on the trip:
the Huang Shan, or Yellow Mountains.
We’ll
spend the best part of a week here, as we gird ourselves for some intense
climbing over the course of the next month as we travel slowly south to the
Vietnam border.
The
Huang Shan is a series of craggy peaks and spectacular walls and slabs with
72 famous cliffs. We will spend four or five days new routing around Lotus
Flower Mountain, Heavenly Capital peak and Purple Cloud peak. Along with Yangshuo
(hold on, we’ll get there) this is China’s most famous landscape.
At just over 1,800m the area is crisscrossed by trails often cut into the rock itself leading to temples perched on lofty peaks. We will base ourselves in one of the mountain refuge dorms and after a day climbing we can relax in the local natural hot springs.
A traveler of the Ming dynasty wrote, "After seeing China's five sacred mountains, ordinary mountains seem like nothing. After seeing Mt. Huang Shan, the five sacred mountains seem like nothing." With granite walls ranging from 20m-200m, there is potential for everybody, no matter what grade, to climb on untouched rock in the heartland of China.
We'll then move on to the Wuyi Mountains, where we will have a number of days in the area to climb on the dramatic sandstone towers of Green Peak, Bamboo Shoot Peak and Touring Fairyland Peak amongst others.
Noted
for their spectacular topography, the Wuyi Mountains have inspired generations
of artists with their limestone peaks, swirling clouds and subtropical rain
forest. Hiring Bamboo rafts we can travel down the Nine Bends River passing
36 peaks and 99 precipitous cliffs. Many of these 50m-100m high pinnacles
have never seen an ascent although we can observe and explore the Yu peoples’
boat shaped coffins placed high on cliff ledges 3,400 years ago.
Continuing South from Wuyi, we have a days drive past traditional Chinese villages in the province of Canton to our next destination: Shenzen city, where we may have time to play on the sea cliffs before making the short trip to Hong Kong.
There are possibilities to surf and windsurf in Hong Kong as well as fine short treks around the rocky peaks and, naturally, great climbing. Hong Kong has masses of rock climbing from huge easy grade sea cliffs to short test piece sports climbs. There are many climbs on Kowloon Peak up and above the skyscraper skyline such as the 120m Severe (5.5) ‘Sunset Crack’ or 200m ‘Thread of Gold’ HVS (5.8).
There
are many routes that await their first free ascent, and other lines that would
go at harder grades on the established crags. As the guidebook says, "Hong
Kong was once described as 'this barren rock'. Well rock it may be; barren
it is not as any climber who has macheted his way through the jungle to a
buttress spotted from afar will testify."
With many of the crags having easy access and a strong local climbing scene, we’re likely to be in the company of some local climbers. No doubt we’ll bore them into submission with tales of the climbing across Asia. One climb that looks an absolute must is “Swan Song” (100m HVS 5a, 5.8), at promontory point, a sea cliff above the crashing waves of the South China Sea.
But we’ll not spend more than a couple of days in Hong Kong. For now, Guilin and the world famous limestone pinnacles of Yangshuo are our next destination.
Guilin is where the Li River meanders through an abstract landscape of limestone karst peaks and pinnacles. There is a brief history of climbing in the area on some of the most spectacular formations such as Moon hill, a massive arch where Sam Lightner and Todd Skinner put up 'Micky Mao's' up the right hand side of the arch, and more recently Neil Gresham pioneered a simply astonishing roof line straight under the arch from one side to the other.
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Todd Skinner said of Guilin at the end of his trip, "One more day of pumping out at moon hill had already come to a close. So much rock, so little arms."
Leaving the area after running out of bolts and time, they enthused about the massive amount of unclimbed rock on the 20km stretch of river from Guilin town to Yangshuo where we will base ourselves. More and more climbers are likening the scene at Yangshuo to the early days at Thailand, and the potential is similar:
Alastair
Lee, on PlanetFear.com:
“Running through the Paddy fields the rock looks clean, sunbaked and hard. The setting is quite unbelievable, a precise ideal of climbing aesthetics; a hybrid of a Vietnam film set and Phranang Bay’s Thai towers cloned to innumerable spores. The Yangshuo area has it all, roadside crags with a range of bolted routes, lines through bizarre karst shapes and stalactites with outlooks more surprising than Atlantis under the Sea. It’s the climbing tourist’s nirvana. Easy approaches to an increasing number of well bolted 6a -7b routes on great rock, duelled with budget living in one of the world’s most interesting cultures and an untapped potential that leave the doors open for Yangshuo to develop into Asia’s no.1 climbing area.”
On rest days we are spoilt for choice for what to do, we can take the canoe that is on the expedition vehicle or hire them to take a memorable trip up the winding Li River. Alternatively you can join the other billion Chinese people on bicycles to pedal around the region. As a bit of a travelers’ Mecca there is also a good selection of cafes serving everything from pizza to boiled snake.
It’ll be hard to tear ourselves away from Yangshuo but yet more top quality climbing is just around the corner, at the Kunming Stone Forest.
On the way to Kunming we will enter the colourful tribal areas near the Vietnam and Laos borders at the head of the Mekong River. Passing through low mountains covered by terraced rice paddies, we will stop at Huanguoshu falls, the highest in Asia, with the nearby rock village and massive dragon palace caves.
Kunming is extraordinary. No words can do it justice, so check out the photo above. It’s pretty well developed, with an active local scene.
There
is some stunning video footage of Todd Skinner and co climbing new routes
on the thousands of 5m-40m high eroded limestone pinnacles that are spread
over the vast area. Many routes climb semi-submerged pinnacles, giving great
potential for deep water solos. Some excellent routes exist, many established
by Kurt Albert, such as 'Ashima' (f7a), 'Greshenk Gottes' (f6b) and 'China
Cringe' (f7a). The potential for new routes is virtually unlimited on the
acres of virgin rock. We will camp nearby and spend a few days exploring these
stunning limestone pinnacles.
This
is the final climbing destination in our epic 2 month circuit of China. From
the roof of the world to the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong, and from the
Terracotta Army to the otherworldly limestone of Yangshuo, China will be engraved
on your memory.
Now, however, our sights will turn to the fantastic deep water soloing and sport on the weird pinnacles of Halong Bay as we enter Vietnam, and SE Asia proper.
