China | chossclimbers.com

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The Great Arch.

Golden Boy.

With some personal losses, bit of health issues and other more minor life pains, we both agree that not getting our heads lopped off in Mali has been the highlight of this year to date (really that whole trip was a once in a lifetime perfection). And so we set off for China feeling that if we did not get our fix soon, our fucking heads were going to explode. Admittedly, the areas we ultimately visited were not what you would call love at first sight: the multi-pitch routes were not inspiringly long, the real classic lines of at least one area were way above our ability (Getu), and one place smelled like a tourist trap (Yangshuo). On the upside, the landscapes looked like something from a Chinese postcard, there were just enough doable multi-pitch climbs to make the trip seem worthwhile, and China still seemed like an exotic destination; and given the proximity to Southeast Asia, we could tack on a couple of days of family duty in Bali.

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Yangshuo.

Topping out on Lion Rock. Photo by Ron or Karen.

With our limited time, we decided to get local fixers to help us with the logistics (especially the language barrier) – in other words, babysitters who’d take care of everything for us short of climbing. To that end, we contacted Ana at the climbchina.net and made the arrangements. Little did we know that meeting and interacting with those people would prove to be the highlight of our trip. Our deepest thanks go to Ola who put up with us for nearly two weeks as well as to Ron and Karen who enabled us to do a bit of climbing (& much more eating) during our 18-hour layover in Hong Kong; and of course to Ana who made the arrangements and ensured an absolutely seamless trip.

I’ve indicated which photos were taken by Ola or Ron and Karen. Those were posted with permission. All copyrights belong to the authors.