Belay Specs!

Whilst we were in Yangshuo, we met this cool German couple (climbers, obviously) who owned a very cool pair of specs. Basically, they have prisms on a glasses frame allowing you to look up at your climber with out straining your neck :D genius!

They are called CU belay glasses and they cost a small fortune [98Euros for a pair]

Qingdao Bouldering [青岛抱石]

After scouring the internet for information (and contacting some very helpful and some not so helpful ppl) on bouldering in Qingdao [青岛] we managed to find the location (and some routes) for some great boulders. As far as we can see, a guy called Rocker seems to be the leader in posting information about and developing bouldering and climbing in Qingdao.


Sport climbing is available in Fushan [浮山]


Bouldering is avaliable at:

~ JinJiaLing Mountain [金家岭山](also known as Jinling mountian), close to Yinchuan 俄East Road [银川东路] past Tailing Road [泰岭路] - INFO
~ FengChao [蜂巢] (honey comb) - INFO
~ QuanXinHe [泉心河], which is far from town on the otherside of Laoshan [崂山] - INFO
~ ZhangJiaHe [张家河], again far from Qingdao town more in the direction of Yantai Peak [烟台顶] on Hong Shan[红山] - INFO
~ ChangLing [长岭]， which is far from town on the otherside of Laoshan [崂山] - INFO



There were loads of boulders with plently of routes on JinJiaLing Mountain to play with:

Rocker's Bouldering Guide - HERE

Yangshuo [阳朔] - Climbing Part II

We also went to Swiss Cheese Wall and Space Butress [太空站] (both on the October 2009 update to the Yangshuo Rock Climbs topo guide), we didn't really take any photos of the latter though added to the fact that space butress was a bit tighter on comfy belay places, particularly around the climbs we were playing with (no. 19-21).

Swiss Cheese Wall

The approach to Swiss Cheese wall (which greg and I missed and ended up walking through soggy paddy fields, much to the bemusement of the local farmers)

The view from the wall

A girl who thought our hammock looked like what the smurfs in Avatar slept in...she then proceeded to steal our hammock for most of the afternoon.

Yangshuo [阳朔] - Climbing

The fantastic Karst landscape provides endless possibilities for climbing on lovely (ok, sometimes razor sharp) limestone. The outcrops of rock were surounded by paddy fields with the odd water buffalo either milling about or being made to plough the field by a farmer. We hired some bikes (mountain bikes of varying quality - evil grip shift of DOOM) and cycled to the climbs each morning - which was great for letting us take in the views Yangshuo has to offer.

The quality of the bolting was awesome. some truely good work by the guys developing the area.

Below is a sample of photos of the places we managed to see.

Baby Frog Butress [蝌蚪岩區圖]

The view from Baby Frog Butress [蝌蚪岩區圖]

Rei climbing what I think is Liar (5.9)

A short detour, up some stairs from the car park nearest to the wall took us through a small pagoda-style pavillion down past more fields and then to the river with a swathe of bamboo boats waiting and a good number of bamboo boats floating past

The Egg [公鸡蛋山], the North Face [北面]

The 'master' casually waiting for a climb, with some fantastic karst scenery in the background

[Left]All the kings horses (5.9) [Right] Rooster Booster (5.10a) a nice left face corner at the end for a bit of stemming joy - we actually met the guy (Bob Keaty) who set the route a little later...

Paddy fields - and some *tiny* water buffalo

The 'master' (I miss heard 'monster' but nevermind) taking 'Chuck if ya want to' (5.11d, 7a) in his stride...

Xiao Shi Men [小石门]

Last weekend we went to Xiao Shi Men [小石门], not too far from HangZhou [杭州]. We left Shanghai on the Friday night in a mini bus kindly organised by Jack and Doreen (who also sorted out where we were to stay over night). The hotel we stayed in put 2 of us each in a room designed for 5 on the first night and then we move for the Sat night into rooms with 3 single beds each but with a much-needed en-suite shower room (with glorious hot water). Anyway for 2 nights accom including breakfast and dinner we paid 110RMB each, shocking.

Saturday the weather was beautiful and sunny, and since we had already noticed another few bus loads of climbers heading up to Xiao Shi Men [小石门] last night, we thought an early start would be good. The climbing routes were about 10mins walk from the road, across a river with some huge boulders in it and skirting around fields.

Xiao Shi Men [小石门] - small stone gate

Short walk to Xiao Shi Men [小石门]

[Left] in the small stone gate on the new platform built to prevent drowning from high water levels [Centre] Another face with more climbs [Right] The main wall on Xiao Shi Men

About an hour after we arrived we were swamped with a big group of climbers (mainly newbies) who proceeded to do some very interesting versions of top roping, and later, abseiling. Most of the routes were bolted but there was plently of opportunity for some trad too. All the walks to the climbs had had stairs installed and areas concreted which allowed access to the climbs which started higher up the cliff. There were guys constructing some small reservoir while we were there, who were lugging big rocks and cemet bags up the hill whilst other people were taking lots of wood down off the hill.

A little stream runs in between the small stone gate itself, and recently a concrete platform was built in between the two main faces of the gate. This was apparently because not too long ago there was a very impromptu storm which ended up in the stream level reaching waist height and making a good attempt at drowning the people who were belaying at the time.

Joe showing us how crack climbing is done

A bit of a rest on the stairs...

HangZhou [杭州]

Our first venture in to the outdoors for climbing took us to HangZhou [杭州], about 1h40mins out of Shanghai. Losang, a fellow climber, had very kindly organised our train tickets out of Shanghai (63RMB one way on the fast train, second class), as well as gathering a few other climbers to join us and figuring out where we should go. Once we got to the station we grabbed a taxi to take us to the crag, which took about 30mins and 25RMB... (the bus stop at the entrance to the hiking/climbing area suugest that the Y3 bus also goes there)

We had a short walk up a hill, which was basically a paved stone stairway, past some tea plantations until we reached a slightly wider part of a path with climbers generally loitering around. this part was a bit busy, with not so many easy climbs but they all seemed well bolted and with some decent anchors at the top. Afterwards we moved on to a more secluded area, more off the path, which was much more peaceful with nicer longer and easier climbs.

It was actually sunny and rather warm despite the fog which seemed to be covering the mountain...you could just about make out the tea bushes through the trees.

We got to the station about 6pm and tried to queue to get tickets home, at which point we were told that all the seats on all trains to Shanghai were full, however there were standing tickets on trains available. We ended up taking the last train back (a rapid which took 1h22mins from Hangzhou [杭州站] to Shanghai South Railway Station[上海南站]) .

Waiting for the train back to Shanghai