Climbing Festival

The 2009 Yangshuo Climbing Festival went well and largely according to plan. Friday night was a gathering in the sports stadium where the new bouldering wall was open to all climbers. Saturday started the treasure hunt: prize tags were hidden at the top of 70 routes at 8 different crags; there were also a number of clinics at the Wine Bottle Crag including those by Black Diamond athletes.

The afternoon saw more open climbing before the evening activities in the sports stadium including a dinner and slide presentation by Alex Honnold on speed climbing – he mostly talked about his recent free solo adventures. A local rock band provided the music and there were many gear give-aways. Entreprises, the climbing hold company, donated all of the holds and a finger board they had brought to the festival to the Yangshuo Access Initiative (YAI) and we auctioned for a good price. It went so well we will consider having more auctions at next year’s festival.

After the auction the bouldering competition got underway and lasted till well past 10pm. It was exciting and holding it in the stadium allowed us all to be together in a comfortable environment. Using the stadium proved a great decision as we woke up Sunday morning to rain and cold; many climbers chose not to go to the crags and waited for the final rounds of the bouldering competition held that afternoon, only Chinese climbers were in the mem's final round. The route setting was much better on the second day.

What was missing from was the outdoor group activities we had last year climbing competitions. I hope we can combine the two aspects next year focusing on the outdoor climbing that makes Yangshuo one of the top destinations for climbing in Asia and being together in the stadium in the evenings.

Fall Climbing Season is Here

It's raining now but the cooler weather and low humidity are on their way to Yangshuo so get ready for the best climbing conditions of the year. I usually try to start going to YS just after the October 1st National Holiday and then spend as much time there till rain and cold fingers of mid-December make other locals more attractive. I've pulled down on my most difficult routes to date in early December after working hard all fall. Actually, February this past winter was my all-time best because we had 3 weeks of mild winter temps and very low humidity, and I was able to rearrange my (non-)work schedule around it. Plus, the days are noticeably longer by that time of year.

The climbing festival was held the first weekend of November last year and many climbers stayed around till early December, including some of sponsored professionals. This was a great experience that I hope will continue this year. This year's festival is in mid-November and I'll plan to hang around till mid-Dec, or until it get too cold to get anything down. I've got an espresso maker that helps extend my days at the crag by at least a few hours, so if I can get a crew up early enough, putting in a full day climbing should not be a problem. Hope to see you there.

Yangshuo Climbing Festival 2009

Excitement in growing throughout China for this year’s Yangshuo Climbing Festival and we can anticipate a lot more people showing up to share in the climbing fun. The event will be sponsored primarily by North Face and Black Diamond, with NF supplying most of the money and BD most of the support and work coordinating all of the parts, especially those in China.

A quick summary of what to expect this year. There are 500 places available and spaces are filling to capacity fast. The format will be much different this year because of uncertainties that presented themselves last year. In addition to open climbing, there will be a type of treasure hunt at 10 crags with prize envelopes at the anchors of 70 routes. Climbing at any of the other 24 crags is encouraged.

The only competition will be a bouldering comp held at the sports stadium. The festival will build a wall at the back of the stage and after the festival, the wall will be turned over to the local government as a way encourage more local people to take up the sport. The wall should be available to all climbers and could turn out to be the place to hang out after dark or on rainy days.

There will also be climbing clinics on a number of topics and slide shows from well known climbers such as Alex Honnolt. The atmosphere should be fun and we are working on sponsors and local vendors to make sure enough food, drinks and beer are available. Holding the events at the stadium will ensure we are all comfortable should it rain again as it did last year. Transportation to the crags will be by bicycle and we are working to have some food and drinks available for sale at a few of the central crags.

So far the committee has been very effective at working together but the real work starts now in constructing the wall, preparing the stadium and putting up the prize envelopes. We are all looking forward to having the international and Chinese climbing community ascend upon Yangshuo for a few days of climbing and socializing. I know many climbers who plan to stay around for up to a month after the event to take advantage of Yangshuo’s best weather and I have a list of redpoints I will be working on to cap off my year. Looking forward to seeing you all there.

Yangshuo Climbing Festival Planning

Planning for next year's annual Yangshuo Climbing Festival is about to get underway and there is much excitement surrounding it. One thing for sure is that it will be much different than this year's. So far, no one has taken the lead, although one of the sponsors is pushing to start the dialogue as soon as possible.

Mistakes were made at this year's event, but nothing more than was to be expected for the inaugural year. In all, I think it went down very well: the weather mostly co-operated, everyone had a good time and no one was injured. Some of the international sponsored climbers stay around in the area for up to a month after the festival and it was great to climb and hang out with them.

Some squabbles broke out among the volunteers, I include myself in this group, and there were some equipment and management issues that could have been handled better - all problems that will be taken care of next year.

I do, however, have a few views on how I would like to see the festival run next year:

First of all, I would like to see the climbing community play a bigger role, and the sponsors a conversely smaller role, next year. Although the guiding shops do take out a lot of clients, they contribute relatively little to the development of climbing in the area. ChinaClimb is, however, a notable exception as they do contribute to bolting of new routes and some of their guides put in a lot of time and effort ensuring that existing routes are safely bolted. They also buy bolting hardware and make their drill available to experienced bolters.

That being said, I would like to see the active, independent climbers play a more central role in next year's festival or at least get acknowledged for their role in making Yangshuo the great area is it today. PC and I have put in much time and money over the past years establishing new routes and in opening and improving entirely new crags for climbing. In the past year we have spent many days developing Space Buttress, the Camel's Neck, the Totem Pole and, of course, the Great Wall. These crags, I believe, add significantly to the quality of the climbing experience for anyone visiting Yangshuo.

Climbers at the top of the game spend more of their time at Lei Pi Shan and White Mountain because of the number of difficult lines there, and we have also put up new, moderate routes at these crags for those of us who do not climb at a high level. The thinking was that some of the partners of the more hard-core climbers would also appreciate having easier routes to climb there. This has worked out just as planned and we get many positive comments for our new 5.10 lines there.

The climbers who are actively developing the area must get recognized at next year's festival, maybe the only way to do that is to tone-down the emphasis on a climbing competition and find other ways to celebrate the climbing here. I would like to find ways to get more people out to more crags just to make them aware of the diversity of climbing possibilities here. A photo competition might also be included next year as this is also a big part of the sport for many of us. Or how about introducing a handicapping system so climbers can compete more fairly with each other. Recognition for winners instead of prizes might make the competition more fun and we could have more categories, perhaps include more crags, crazy costumes, team events - anything to make it more fun and different!

Any while we are at it, why not have a local farmer's and an old-timer's category next year?

The second point I'd like to make is that we should try to involve the local community in next year's event. There are many shops, hotels, restaurants, bus drivers and even massage parlors that are part of our climbing experience and they should be invited to participate by advertising or opening stalls or booths at the events. Why not let Karst Cafe sell breakfast burritos or Dr. Lily give back massages, or the juice stands provide smoothies, the bakeries sell muffins or cinnamon rolls near the event venues? Other than cash, I failed to see what some of the sponsors of this year's events have contributed to the area compared to these local businesses.

Finally, we need to search for a better theme for next year's event and to stick with it. Do we want to be a commercial success? Do we want to attract more top climbers? or do we just want to have a great party in the laid-back fall season in Yangshuo that we have all come to love? I for one schedule my work-year around taking time off in late spring and fall when conditions are at their best for climbing.

The climbing scene in Yangshuo is unlike anywhere else in the world; it's cheap and accessible, the setting is awesome and the town is very laid-back. Having lived in China and Taiwan for more than 2 decades, for me Yangshuo is the best China has to offer in the way of an outdoor lifestyle. The festival should celebrate all these things, along with the fantastic climbing!