My climbing days in China

China, is... hmmm how can I put this? 

Yeah, it’s China.

It's the most densely populated country in the world and it's completely bonkers. China's hard to describe because it's not comparable to any other country I have been to! If I had to say something, I’d tell you that it's a place where peace & chaos collide. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s also a climber’s paradise and that’s why we get attracted to China! We are magnets; we need to let ourselves float to Yangshuo, the heart of China’s rock-climbing world. We must accept that as a climber, time spent in Yangshuo is precious time. Going to Yangshuo is essential for any climber who thinks he's seen it all!

Riding the bus in to Yangshuo for the first time, you get the opportunity to witness a multitude of incredible karst towers along the way. With good eyes you might even spot climbers hiking in or out of the paddy fields. Normally, the first thing you'd do as you jump off the bus would be climbing. Well, that's only if your not sick from the bus ride. Traffic tends to get a bit hectic. This is the reason why I highly recommend purchasing or renting a bike. It really depends on how long you plan on staying there. When riding a bike around Yangshuo you will easily be able to squeeze through narrow alleyways and jammed packed traffic whilst others won't. The best is that you can bike to 90% of the crags which are all within a 10 kilometers of Yangshuo's centre.

The most attractive crag would surely be ``Moon Hill``. This surreal looking mountain with an arch in the middle beckons to be climbed.

Moon Hill is one of many Karst towers in Yangshuo. It’s located about 6 km from the city’s busiest street. Unfortunately, there have been access issues regarding climbing at this crag. While I was there, the Moon Hill park changed ownership with the new guys being really intense about keeping climbers off the arch. This was a bummer for us and the climbing community since we all spent so much time there. But then again, it’s China. Things change all the time! Hopefully, it will be back up and running soon! In the meantime it's an opportunity to explore the other nearby crags! Maybe White mountain? How about Chicken cave? Perhaps Wine bottle to warm up, then Twin gate mountain? It might be hard to choose with more than 45 different crags in the area.

The amazing thing with the karst towers in Yangshuo is that they are everywhere, they seemed to have popped out of the earth thousands of years ago, just like mushrooms, and to climb all of them would take a good couple of months. You definitely need a guide book as it’s sometimes tricky to find your way around. Even with a guide book in hand, we still got lost more than a few times. Not to take anything away from Tyson Wallace & Paul Qiu’s wonderful book, I couldn’t have made a better guide! It’s just that there are so many towers, the obvious one isn’t always that obvious. The book can be bought at the Black-Rock shop just in town.

 I want to specify that there are many methods to extend your stay. For a low-budget traveller like me to stay for a long-time, the only way was to have a small income. Upon getting there I completed a teaching course so schools could give me a contract if that was even possible. It sure was! Teaching in Yangshuo is accessible, it’s a lot of fun and it’s worth the time off for doing what you love. The school was called ‘’Omeida’’. It's run by good people who make sure every one has a good time. It’s definitely worth a visit. If you plan on staying a while without being a teacher you can still get to help out and volunteer in exchange for accommodation.

A day where I got my adult students to come out and play!

The school is also a great way to meet other climbers. After a few days at the school I bumped into Dan who was there for volunteering. I had met him on the crags and beaches of Thailand. How surprising! Well you realize that the climbing community isn’t all that big, especially in Asia. So we hit the crags and spending days and weeks working climbs all around the area. We’d all ride to the crags with our gear tied to the back of our bicycles. It's funny because I remember Dan always wanting to climb 3-4 crags in a single day!

The interesting thing about this immensity, is that some crags see little or no traffic at all. One of the best kept secrets for me, was a crag called ‘’the neighbourhood’’. You can easily walk to this place from town without using the pedal bike at all. Most routes were developed by Andrew Hedesh and are all 5 star climbs. Although, to get there the hike goes through a bit of a bushy section. It took us a full day to clear the 150 meter path where the old one had been overgrown.  Nobody ever goes there so you get the whole wall to yourself. Most people don’t bother going there. The reason behind this is probably because there are fewer routes than other crags, but it’s worth the walk and the climbing, believe me. Fewer doesn't mean lower quality routes. At the neighborhood you will find 8 awesome routes between 5.10 and 5.13.

Now it's not a real climbing trip without refreshments. In the name of beer… make sure to visit the Rusty bolt. This is the go-to climbing bar that will make any climber feel at home in China. It’s a good place to start and to meet other climbers. There is also a bouldering bar called Rock-Abond named after local legend Abond. He is a fun character with big arms and his bar is a neat place to hang out. They often have events worth attending. There’s also the ‘’Lounge’’ run by a friendly expat named Adam. It’s a quieter bar that merits a detour for a game of pool and a larger variety of drinks.

On days off, it's always refreshing to go chill by the water. The struggle is which river to choose from, as you have two different rivers near Yangshuo. The locals offer bamboo rafting descents or the rivers which can be an amusing on a hot day.  Other options are going to the tea shops for an exhilarating tea session where you learn everything there is to now about the art of drinking tea. Also visit one of the kung-fu schools and learn the fighting skills you always wanted to master from the greatest of the greatest. Who knows maybe martial arts training will help solve that boulder problem that's been nagging you for a while.

Photos are from the time spent in Yangshuo in 2014.