29 April 2009

Yangshuo - China

All pictures from GerhardSchaar.com

Names and grades are written all over the place ;-)

Yangshuo but what about some details

Recently regular reports and videos pop up in all climbing medias about Chinas best climbing area Yangshuo. 8a.nu brings you, thanks to the Austrian member and globetrotter Gerhard Schaar, detailed traveling, climbing and accommodation information about the area. And we may inform all our users that the Yangshuo guidebook is available in and the now also for the first time.

Location
Yangshuo is located in the southern Chinese of , 24° North 110° East, which is about 1 ½ hours flight from . So you should have an idea of where about the area is. There are two ways of getting to the closest airport, which is located in the city of .

Getting there:

Dragonair f. ex. flies from Hong Kong to daily, at 19.35 o clock (arrival 21.00) local time. The return flight departs in at 22.00 o clock (arrival 23.25) ., and one flight cost about 200.- to 400.- / US $ 300.- to 500.-. Another airline flying Hong Kong to is Southern China Airways. You may also fly from to with Bangkok Airways, which should take you about 3 hours.

Once you arrive in , it is the best choice to directly hire a taxi, that takes you straight to Yanghsuo. Be careful which driver you choose, there are some illegal taxi operators which try to rip you off. The best thing is to arrange the taxi at the information desk, and try to arrange payment half in advance and half after arrival in Yangshuo. This drive should not cost you more than about 200.- to 220.- Yuan = 20 Euro. The drive takes abot 1 ½ hours.

You can also take the airport shuttle that gets to central Gulin (about 40.- Yuan), from where it is about 5 minutes walk to the main bus station. From here busses (about 50.- Yuan) leave on a regular basis to . The bus drive takes abou 2 ½ hours. But be aware that especially at night, busses leave only, if there are enough people in it. You might have to wait for hours!!!

If you take the bus, you have to be careful. Do not listen to the driver and his assistant, if they try to kick you out before you actually reached the real Yangshuo. The work together with taxi companies who charge you double and triple, if they happen to accidentally pick you up somewhere between Guilin and Yangshuo.

Check the Internet to get idea what Yangshuo looks like, so can make sure you know when you are there. It is a city with about 150.000 inhabitants, surrounded by the magnificent karst towers, and the bus station is a kind of enclosed one by buildings on three sides. It is a major one, and you have to drive into the bus station, and there should be quite a frequenzy of people. So never get out if you stop just next to the road, this is a try to rip you off!

Visa:

I recommend to organize your visa at the Chinese embassy in your home country. Be aware of the latest entry date, try to be in some days before that date (flights might no take place, you can get sick,.), and the fact that entering Hong Kong is not the same as entering !

Best time of the year:

Due to its geographical location, climbing is possible all year round in Yangshuo. But the best seasons are spring and fall. I was there in March to May, and it was pretty cold and rainy until April. I do not recommend to go there before April. In Summer it gets very hot, but there is always a shady place to go to and the rivers are beautifully refreshing, I have heard. Obviously the best time to climb in Yangshuo is October and November. The temperatures are just right, the landscape looks the most beautiful and it is kind of late seaon, so prices are lower as well.

Accommodation
In April I could rent a double room, which we lived in for 4 weeks, for just 60.- Yuan a day. It really pays off, to go and check the rooms in Yangshuo.

Getting around

We rented bikes for all areas which are close to the city itself, such as Wine Bottle, The Thumb, Banyan Tree, Twin Gate,

All areas located next to the road to Xing Pin such as Moon Hill, The Thumb, Wine Bottle, can easily be reached by a local bus, which depart from the main bus station. Once checked out it is a piece of cake getting to these crags.

For areas which are farther away, such as you may want to organize a minivan. I can recommend the help of the locals, like Echo, :Dingo: or Alex:, they always checked us a bus and it was always cheap.

Food

There are countless small restaurants all over Yangshuo, especially in the area around where you will probably end up staying. We enjoyed checking all these places out, trying different meals like dumplings, noodles, vegetables and all sorts of meat, like duck, dog and the famous Yangshuo beer fish!

Local food is very cheap, a bowl of rice noodles cost just around 4.- Yuan. Stay with the locals at the beginning of your stay to find out how much things really cost!

Meeting climbers

If you are going through on your own you can easily find other climbers during the main seasons. Good places to meet other people are:

Climb Office and Bar

Black Rock Climbing School & Shop

X Climber Climbing School and Club

Karst Climber Café

At the end of the article there are the links to all of them!

Developing new router

Yangshuo has a huge potential for new routes. You can borrow a drill from Alex at X climber, and obtain all gear and tools in the local shops. One bolts with hanger will cost you about 3.- / US $ 4.-. So maybe you want to bring some hardware on your own. You need to bring stainless steel only, preferably glue in bolts.

Before starting to bolt you should talk to one of the locals of course.

Short description of the most popular climbing areas

Wine bottle

The Wine Bottle Cliff is just 5 minutes walk from the main road, and you can either go there by bike or local bus. The climbing is mainly face climbing on very solid grey limestone, with pockets, tuffas and crimps. Most of the routes here are in the range of 6a to 7a. It is a good crag to get started in Yangshuo.

The Thumb

On the opposite side of the Wine Bottle is the four pitches high Thumb tower. It is a nice route that has a nice view from the top, and will entertain you for half a day.

Twin Gate

Twin Gate is a single karst tower, with two small caves, from which the area got its name from. The most beautiful thing about it, from my personal point of view, is the approach. You have to take your bike on tiny paths in between the rice and vegetable fields, go through the small villages and even through a school yard. Here you get to see the real Chinese countryside. The climbing itself is mainly face climbing again, and there are around 15 good routes in the center of the area.
Local Chinese men come here for meetings, which eventually end up in smoking and getting drunk.

Moon Hill

Moon Hill is located about 15 min bus drive into the direction of Xing Pin. Normally you have to pay an entrance fee, to be allowed to enter the area, but you can also sneak in on a secret path.

The first obstacle you will encounter are the women selling watel, and soft drinks. They will follow you all the strenuous 30 min hike up the hill, just to realize you really do not want to buy anything.

This amazing cliff has just a few easy lines, all the rest is 7a or harder. You got very steep climbs on jugs, or 45m endurance monsters on stalactites, pockets and crimpers.
From the top of Moon Hill you have an amazing view over the karst tower landscape.

The Egg

The Egg is about 15 min mini van drive away, or about 45min with the bike. It is a nice cliff band, just about 40 m high with lots of routes in the intermediate region around 6c. The cliff is surrounded by a nice landscape of fish ponds and rice fields. It is great to see flocks of ducks wandering around, water bulls lying in the mud and local farmers playing cards all day long on the open field.

This area is probably the best I have been to. Around 60 lines from 6a to 8c have been developed on this amazing cliff. The left hand side is pretty steep, with the hardest lines that are up to 45m long. The further you get to the right hand side, the more vertical it gets.

You probably want to rent a mini van to get to the end of the road close to this area. Then a 10 minute walk takes you through an orange tree farm, before the view of the cliff pops up. First it looks like a big swiss cheese, with distinctive holes all over.

At the base of the south facing rock is a nice meadow, perfectly suited for resting and watching other climbers. When the sun is shining, it gets pretty hot, so it is all but a summer area.

Yangshuo offers 27 more areas, an dif you are interested in them all you should check out the new Yangshuo Guidebook from Paul Collis, which was issued in January 2009, and is now also available online for Europe and the / .

Links

Gerhards website with his Yangshuo experiences: www.gerhardschaar.com

Yangshuo on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangshuo

Yangshuo guidebook offer: http://www.gerhardschaar.com/?siid=1827&pagetype=&jid=SO&arid=11463

Yangshuo Gallery: http://www.gerhardschaar.com/?siid=1648&pagetype=&jid=SO&arid=10968