Alpine Climbing in Sichuan

Early Sept was still a bit hot in Yangshuo so after a meeting with Ryan and the Yangshuo Climbing Festival Planning Committee - to give it a special name - I headed off to Sichuan to meet Brian, a fellow YS climber, for some alpine climbing. Due to time constraints, made worse by road repairs into the Siguniang region, we decided to pass on Rilong and Changping Valley where we had initially planned to climb DaoGou Peak, and instead went in through Bipeng Valley looking for a suitable objective.

On the first day we carried our climbing kit high into the valley and got a brief glimpse of the Dragon"s Tooth (approx. 5250m); it was the second most prominent peak in the valley after the huge Yangmantai north west face. We walked back to the hut that afternoon and decided our attempt would be on the Dragon's Tooth.

Over the next two days we ferried all our kit up to the base of the wall and prepared to spend two days figuring out the line before we had to walk out. Alas, it was not to be. On the third evening it began to rain heavily with a lightening storm that would not let us sleep; even though we had made a sheltered place in a cave under a house-sized boulder,with each flash of lightening a searing white light with a deep red center penetrated the eyelids. This was followed by a deafening crack of thunder that echoed across the high peaks - one, two, three, four .. boom. Holy s#*t! I'm glad we weren't bivied on the ridge. In the morning the wall and the high glaciers were dusted with a light coat of new snow. The wall is north facing and would take at least a full day to dry. Our hopes were shattered. We walked out the next day promising to come back soon and to allow enough time to wait out the weather. Our only climbing turned out to be in two of Chengdu's climbing gyms.

The wall itself is between 300-400 meters tall, although we did not get accurate altitude readings at the base and are relying on Chinese topos for our estimates. Far as I know, only one Chinese climber has attempted this wall before; we met with him in Chengdu and he is as excited as we are to return and claim the first ascent. If we can leave some fixed anchors in place, due to its relatively easy accessibility, Dragon's Tooth could become a classic! Gets an alpinist's heart beating.