China climber
After five months driving from the UK along the old silk route Hot Rock was nearing the end of the first trip to Hong Kong. After the cold weather in the north we hit Guilin and looked around in awe. A lifetimes worth of rock: Dunc takes up the tale.
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Good to his word last night Paul got breakfast in bed for us all - local variation on a bacon sandwich. Luke had gone out and came back to tell me that people were about to head out climbing! at Riverside Retreat. And what a gorgeous day. The sun was out and warming everything up quite brilliantly. The crag is set in the most stunning scenery. The hotel is on the banks of the river, with bamboo rafts tied up waiting to punt upriver.
Walk
past the hotel, away from the road, and I am instantly in the authentic rural
China. Huge pinnacles of vegetated rock rise out of the ground, unfathomable
in their formation, maze-like in their distribution. The river casually winds
through flat irrigated fields, farmed by villagers. After crossing the river
on a built-up dirt path we pass through the village. The people there show
no concern and greet us warmly or are oblivious to our passing. In the foreground
distance sits our crag. It is half the height of its sisters, a sheered face
of clean limestone, two large caves at ground level.
There's
already a bunch of Hot Rockers hanging off ropes along the face. Development
of crags here is clearly at an early stage, with only a few climbers passing
through each year. It seems a little ironic that with all this abundance of
incredible limestone that everyone appears to congregate at this one small
crag.
There are only five bolted lines here, and I played around happily on four
of them. Started out bricking it as usual but pretty quickly got into a slowly
progressing groove. Had to sit at one of the top bolts - really pumped and
nerved out at a hard move up steep rock with poor feet and failing crimp strength.
The perfect tonic - exactly what I was after; easy access climbing in stunning
location with the first real sun since Tibet.
There
was no breakfast in bed this morning but Luke, Paul and I did spoil ourselves
at the No Name cafe with a slap up feed and a game of scrabble. Paul was feeling
and looking a hell of a lot better. (He told me I was snoring like a bastard
last night). Then we headed off to Moon Hill to check out the climbing. The
rock does look pretty cool - reminds me of the natural bridges you see in
Kentucky. But this one is a lot bigger in the arch and the roof is just littered
with stalagmites. Andy and the 2 Johns were already there with Echo, (newly
befriended local climber), with Aine and Emma arriving just behind us.
All the routes at moon rock are hard, steep sharp featured limestone; another
stamina/endurance fest. I couldn't lead anything, but happily contented myself
with TR ascents. I think I need a rest day - despite a dry start and emerging
sun I felt in need of some relaxation. Fingers stiff and generally achy. Shame,
tonnes to do. The next day we rented a couple of local boats and went for
a three hour cruise down the river from Guillin at sunset with a beer or five.
A great night as the end of the silk route trip draws nigh.
