Access Update

Before leaving Yangshuo on Dec. 24th, climbing was been open at all crags in Yangshuo and we enjoyed fine, cool climbing weather as is usual for this time of year. There are still unresolved access issues at both the Wine Bottle and White Mountain crags and these will require more time to settle. Overall, the access situation is quite good and relationships with villagers at most crags is improving. We encourage you to talk to villagers near the crags and to eat your meals and buy lunch and drinks there whenever possible. Relationships between independent climbers and villagers is one of the most important factor in continued unrestricted access to our crags.

Various rockclimbing /guiding companies have also approached villagers with an offer to rent the land in exchange for exclusive rights to climbing there. Some villagers still believe there is money to be made from the crags and climbers must compete with commercial operators and developers to protect access to climbing. We must also compete with some guiding companies who seem to have given up on making money from guiding and instead see that there is money to be made charging climbers and other guiding companies for access to the crag while offering little or nothing in return.

In addition to avoiding the hassle of administering a fee system, the villagers should realize that climbers are unlikely to pay to climb at White Mountain. On the other hand, climbers must spend money for food, accommodation and transportation while in Yangshuo and the YAI is working with villagers to enable climbers to spend more of their money for necessities directly in the villages. If possible, we want to avoid setting a precedent by directly purchasing access rights but at this time it is unclear what is the best long-term solution.

The situation at White Mountain has not changed over the past months. I will recap the main points here. Two villages dispute the claim to land-use-right ownership to the area at the base of the crag. A development company in Guilin has approached the Yanse Village and offered to develop the area into a tourist destination with the main focus on a large cave behind the village. Recent conversations with village leaders lead us to believe that climbers will have unrestricted access once the bigger ownership issues have been resolved. The YAI has worked with villages including the one that disputes Yanse Village’s claim to land-use-rights at White Mountain. Early January has been given as the time when official legal proceedings will begin that should eventually lead to the resolution of the ownership issues. Climbers, including Jonathan Siegrist and Ah Bon, climbed at White mountain for 3 days in mid-December but no climbers have returned since due mainly to the cold weather.

The situation at Wine Bottle is still unsettled. There are signs at the base of the crag saying the area is closed to climbing, but climbers have used the crag regularly without any interference.

A group of villagers have acquired the rights to the land in front of the crag and they have sent two younger members to negotiate a rental arrangement with the Yangshuo Climbing Association (an organization that only exists on paper). Since ChinaClimb has opened its own guiding crag near Fuli, and other guiding companies have said they will not longer take clients to Wine Bottle, the economic value of the crag has fallen precipitously. They village interlopers were surprised that guiding companies could just walk away from the crag. There are still a few commercial guiding operators who take large groups climbing and refuse to put in the time to open their own crags. They bulk at paying the villagers a fair price for using the crag to make money and have even negotiated behind the scenes for exclusive access to the crag intending on charging other guiding companies to take clients there.

The solution is not so difficult if you realize that if guiding companies would agree to pay the villagers as little as RMB10 for each client they take there, this income would more than meet the villagers’ demands. The villagers have little recourse other than closing the crag to climbing till the companies pay up. The guiding companies who are making the most money using this crag are holding out, maybe even hoping they can get access on better terms or hoping that independent climbers will step in and solve the problem for them. The YAI has worked with both villagers and the commercial operators and, for the most part, cooperation and understanding has been very good. We have personally taken villagers climbing and shown them which routes guiding companies are using to make money. Once both sides fully understand each other and the money involved, it should be easier to reach an acceptable solution.

Access Updates - White Mt and Wine Bottle

White Mountain and Wine Bottle access discussions with local villagers who control the land in front of the crags are moving forward.We are pressing for clear, long-term resolutions and cannot hurry the process.

Inter-village conflicts near the White Mountain crag are coming to a head over access. At this time it is difficult to predict when issues can be resolved. We have begun working with one village to manage our toilet and to open a small store near the crag. This is to be followed by food and lodging services. As mentioned earlier, the formal land-use-rights to the land at the base of the crag is unclear. In fact, villagers do not have a legal claim to crags adjacent to their land as all such lands belong to the government and the land-use-rights have not been allocated to anyone. Villagers have been allocated lands for agricultural activities and crags are outside of this scope.

YingZi, the second nearby village,have moved strongly to prevent climbers from using the crag: they spend the day in front of the crag, harvest is over, and they have, once again,removed bolts from the bottom of most routes. Climbers who do show up are being politely turned away. The first village has begun talking to the government to press for resolution. In fact, this was their plan all along: to force a lawsuit or confrontation and compel the government to step in and make a determination about access rights. We are in the middle of this process. It is possible that White Mountain will be closed to climbing for the remainder of they year, possible longer.

Wine Bottle looks much better. After one of the climbing shops negotiated with villagers who claim they have acquired land-use-rights at the base of the crag from the villager, the local association of guiding shops, the YSCA, empowered the same shop to negotiate on behalf of the association for access by all members. I attended these meetings and all guiding shops were supportive of these efforts and pledge financial support to resolve the access issues; they are pressing for a 5-year contract.Once the guiding shop issues have been resolved, the YAI plans to sign a contract for access for all independent climbers and in return we will invest in improvements at the base of the crag including toilets and benches.

White Mountain Open and Rebolted

Went our with Drew Hedesh and Tan Xi on Monday and finished the job on Wednesday with Ah Chen and Maria Frau, all but 3 less popular routes have been rebolted and relationships with the villagers are on good footing again. I anticipate seeing a lot of climbers out there this weekend as Hong Kong has a 3-day weekend coming up.

Photo are of us getting a ladder from a local villager and of Ah Cheng re-bolting the bottom of Abinormal, the site of a recent ground fall that resulted in injuries.

Temps are also down and we've climbed at White Mountain and the Space Buttress for the past two days and enjoyed cool overcast skies. I'm excited to see what I can send this season: the hold all feel a bit bigger this year - a good sign!

Trip Preparation

Still in Shanghai but ready to travel to Yangshuo for an extended fall trip starting next week. I've been in touch with climbers and there is nothing new to report on the access front other than to confirm that most of the hangers have been removed from the bottom of all White Mountain routes. Probably best to show up at the crag ready to stick-clip the higher bolts just to be safe. I'll go to the hardware store this morning to pick up some small hand clamps and maybe even a telescoping metal stick if I can find one.

I've arranged to meet with at least one village head to discuss continued access to White Mt. but I understand that we will have to meet with a second village to get them on board as well. This is important in preparation of the upcoming climbing festival mid-November. We want to avoid any hassles between locals and climbers during the festival as word will get out about how 'friendly' the area is and this might influence other climbers' decisions about coming here. I'm still not sure why Rock 'n' Ice published the Sharma article which dealt more with the body climbers found in in Odin's Den and less with the actual climbing or what it was like to hand out in the laid-back ambiance that is Yangshuo.

As for me, I think I am about as prepared as I can be for the fall climbing window. I'm fit, except for a bit of elbow tendonitis that I always seem to aggravate with too much gym climbing, and I have a long list of climbs I want to get on to build my pyramid geared toward sending some 7's this season. I've actually started focusing on my sport grade numbers and working routes so we'll see if this pays off in performance. I'm still most psyched about hopping on a few new crack lines on Birdman; I'll try to get the first ascent on trad gear. I feel the anxiety along with the excitement just thinking about it.

YAI and the Guiding Companies

I have been working on Yangshuo Access Initiative, YAI, documents for the past few days and have English and Chinese drafts ready to discuss next week in Yangshuo. I’ve put together what I believe to be a viable approach to economic development together with the expansion of climbing in Yangshuo and I hope most of the important players will support us and get on-board. I’ve talked on the phone with many climbers from all over China and there is much interest and support. I still have to build a website and am open to assistance if any web designers have some free time. I’ve got artwork and a basic structure, just need to realize it.

There has been some movement in the position of the local climbing association with regard to the question of open access. Most guiding companies now agree it’s best to save their money and let the YAI buy land leases for the crags. Guiding companies still need to develop new guiding and training crags they can manage themselves but these discussions have been going on for many years and we hope to see breakthroughs soon!

Only a small portion of Yangshuo climbers ever use guiding companies and the companies cater mainly to beginners and travelers without partners. Very few experienced climbers ever use them. More directly, it needs to be asked, what have climbing companies done for you and me? Why should we be concerned that they stay around, other than that they are our friends and we sometimes tie in together? I’ve probably bolted more routes than all of the guiding companies put together, except for ChinaClimb who are no longer in the day guiding business, and Spiderman Paul. I’ve help to develop entirely new crags and put early routes on a number of important crags such as Space Buttress, Chicken Cave, the Egg and the Great Wall. I’ve contributed hardware and time, I’ve translated the guidebook, I write this blog and generally do what I can for the community. The guiding companies are free to utilize all of this. So, why should I support them to make money from my work?

Guiding companies need to stop their bellyaching and put together a basket of services, both to their customers and to the community at large, that we can all use and appreciate! Even if it just means putting up new lines for us to get excited about. Furthermore, only when companies concentrate on improving their skill level and their services will they be able to survive economically from climbing - something that is hard to do anywhere in the world.

Crags like White Mountain and Wine Bottle were developed by independent climbers to share with other climbers: they have a 'public park’ status and have been in the public domain for a long time. If guiding companies had their own crags they could set up regular training programs to systematically train new climbers and to help experienced climbers get to the next level. I’d pay if I thought I could learn something useful from a qualified trainer but, presently, I don’t think the guiding companies have this ability or the place to teach.

Yangshuo needs strong, well qualified guides and the guiding companies need to become serious teachers if they are to expand their customer base beyond beginners. Yangshuo is a sport climbing area and it would make sense to teach the technical and strength training side of the sport. It also makes sense to start training a climbing team that could attend national contests because this would be a big draw for Chinese climbers. Perhaps the new bouldering facility will make this easier. Trainers need to focus on developing their students. Their effectiveness will be seen in their student's success and make marketing easier. This might be a possible road to financial success for at least a few of them.

Land Use Issues

The Yangshuo Access Initiative is still not formally established so I will use this forum to communicate my thoughts on crag access issues in Yangshuo. Presently, guiding companies are competing to secure for themselves long-term leases to the base of Wine Bottle and a few other popular crags. Guiding companies are commercial entities out to make profits; their guiding businesses have never been profitable enough to afford anything near a stabile lifestyle and many of the owners have been trying to improve the situation. Fair enough.

One potential way for them to earn more money is to acquire rights to use a crag and then to monopolize access and to charge fees to anyone who climbs there. If they have a legal claim to using the land exclusively, these claims could be protected by the courts and ultimately by the police. Most laws in western societies are exactly that, they protect property rights. Property rights were obtained for Golden Cat Cave and quite a few people believe it has been turned into a gold mine for the guiding company that operates there. Thus, the race might be on to acquire the rights to other popular areas: Wine Bottle, Thumb Peak and White Mountain have all been mentioned in my discussions.

If this is the future pattern, we can expect the villagers near the other crags will also want to lease the land-use-rights to their crags; it may become the norm both in Yanghsuo and in other parts of China. If this is the way things are going, I do not think the climbers, even if we all band together, can stop it. I do not see the government getting involved in the issue on the climbing community's side. I am proposing that the YAI actively get involved in the process and try to secure the leases to the crags and to ensure that these leases will be upheld in a court of law.

Up till now, we have not really tried to grapple with this access issue because we were not forced to. That might be changing. The YAI will represent independent climbers in crag access issues and it is our goal to open access to all independent climbers. Guiding companies may want to use some of the crags to make money and I think this is acceptable as long as there is an understanding that the rights of independent climbers come first. In fact, I imagine the guiding companies will want to become members of the YAI. I need some feedback on this so your comments are welcome. I could also use some support in getting a website off the ground. Thanks, BK

White Mountain Access

The bottom hangers from all White Mountain routes have been removed, presumably by one of the local villages. This according to the Hot Rock climbers who happen to be in town. I spoke with the 'friendly' village head this morning who was unaware of the problem. He offered to get involved with talking to 'the other' nearby village to settle the issue before the Oct 1st holiday. I won't be around; so the most I can do is keep in phone contact to find out what is actually going on and to report it here.

As I have written in this blog before, we are attempting to set you the Yangshuo Access Initiative (YAI) to deal with these issues. It is my goal to have the YAI sign long-term rental contracts for use of the land at the base of all Yangshuo crags and to open up access to everyone who wants to climb there. I want to avoid having the land use rights being bought by commercial companies who could establish exclusive rights to a crag and charge each climber by the day to climb there. Better to pay an annual rental fee directly to the villagers. This will take quite a bit of negotiations to pull off and we will need the financial support of the entire climbing community if we are to succeed.

Also, I would like to rent the land use rights to the grassy area in front of the crag on a long-term basis. We could use this area to host events and also open it up to camping if someone wants to spend the night there. It is a magical place at sunrise and sunset.

For now, we will find out what is going on with the hangers and try to understand the 'other' village's demands. We are considering putting in glue-in bolts, which will be impossible to remove and very difficult to damage, but I think it best to wait till we have discussions with both villages and try to establish more 'friendly' relationships with both of them. I have also heard that a development company in Guilin is talking about leasing the land-use rights in front of White Mountain, possibly to develop a resort there. I don't think they actually have the money to pull this off at the moment, but it is crucial that the YAI be involved in all of these discussions from the beginning in order to protect the interests of all climbers. Any comments, feedback or suggestions along these lines are greatly appreciated.

Overdue Update

I finally got serious about getting around the blocking of my blog by the govt here. I'll try to post a few blogs a day to catch up on what has happened here recently and what is in the pipeline for the rest of the year. Items include: the second annual Yangshuo Climbing Festival on Nov.13-15; the establishment of the Yangshuo Access Initiative and recent and planned projects; new lines including Chris Sharma's unsent 5.15; alpine climbing in Sichuan -have to throw in my recent trip; climbing in Qingdao and Beijing's Baihe area and the translation of the guidebook into Chinese.

I spent a few weeks in YS in the spring before going on a trip to the US where I only had time to climb at the Enchanted Tower with my brother for a few days. The tower is an awesome place and the climbing on pocketed welded tufts was overhung but juggy - biggest jugs you'll ever fall off of. I got back to China early August and after taking care of visa issues I have been traveling and climbing for the past 4 weeks. I joined a mock competition with a group of international climbers in ShanXi Province and many of us went to Beijing and climbed at Baihe for a few days. Then it was off to YS for a meeting of the committe for the upcoming Climbing Festival. I just got back from Sichuan where we attempted to climb The Dragon's Tooth, a beautiful unclimbed peak in Bipeng Valley. We set ourselves up in a good camp near the base, but we could not wait out the rain and had to walk out without touching the wall.

On the Yangshuo front, bolt hangers have been stolen from the bottom of all White Mountain routes, probably by the second near-by village, so the Yangshuo Access Initiative will have to get active there immediately. I plan to return for the reminder of the year after the October 1st national holidays. Climbing in June and last week in early September was still very hot and humid, but temps and humidity can be expected to start coming down soon. I've got a big list of climbs to redpoint this season and hope to see many of you pulling down at one of Asia's best sport areas.