Ni Hao, 国产吃瓜黑料 Readers,
here —聽a freelance writer based in Hanoi, Vietnam. For the next few days, I'll be filing dispatches from the second-annual in , China. If my aching聽fingers will cooperate.
A little background聽info聽on Yangshuo: This touristy town in Guangxi Province (which borders Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin) is聽an overnight bus ride from mega-cities聽Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The late American climber set some of the 聽in the early 1990s. Last year's inaugural fest drew more than 350 climbers from 15 countries.
And a word about me: I've been living in Asia since May. Before that, I was a staff reporter at ,聽the alt weekly in Burlington, Vermont. I'm not a聽particularly committed climber聽— my favorite part about top-roping at the “,”聽near New聽Paltz,聽New York,聽is the post-session souvlaki. But I understand words like “beta,” “crimp”聽and “jug,” and I know good climbers when I see 'em.
Many are聽in Yangshuo聽this weekend. It's easy to see why: Yangshuo's urban core of dumpling shops, touristy boutiques and internet cafes is flanked by postcard-perfect karst cliffs. Fifteen-minute bike rides聽past聽farms,聽mud-brick聽houses聽and peach orchards land you at the base of more than 300聽primo sport routes. Indeed, says聽Ryan Gellert, managing director for 聽Asia, Yangshuo聽has lately become聽“ground zero” for climbing in China.
Gellert was in good spirits at the festival's opening ceremony, held Friday night at Yangshuo's decrepit Kungfu Training Centre. So were the hundred-and-fifty-odd climbers from all over聽China, Europe, Australia and the United States. , a Black Diamond-sponsored athlete from Sacramento,聽told me聽he was聽impressed聽by聽Yangshuo's karst, and the climbing community that聽scales it.
We were sipping spicy ginger tea聽at a makeshift bar. “This is聽a really nice grassroots聽event,”聽said the skinny,聽24-year-old vertical wizard. “Other [climbing] events are聽a lot more corporate.”
Indeed, Yangshuo's Kungfu Training Centre is anything but spiffy.聽The聽green-and-yellow flooring聽looks exhausted, the cement聽bleachers are filthy and the bathrooms are, well, very Chinese bus station. Not surprisingly, last night's event had the feel of a middle school dance, minus the hormones.
Perhaps the nicest thing at Kungfu聽HQ was聽the聽shiny wooden climbing wall, which Gellert says was built specially for the event and will be donated to the聽Yangshuo community. That's where Honnold聽and others will compete against聽,聽a local climbing guide, in a two-day bouldering competition starting Saturday night.
“We won't be competing,” Abond, who won last year's comp,聽clarifies. “We'll just be聽having fun.”
At Yangshuo, are the two mutually exclusive?