Only in China… You get invited to a climbing
competition, all expenses paid. And when you arrive to the airport… There are
people waiting for you with a sign “World cup climbing”.
And no, it was not a world cup.
Though there were quite a few climbers who also attended the World cup, I think
all of
these on the list, most of the Malaysian team,
Shalagin-siblings and then a few expat climbers living in China such as myself; most of us
climbing 5.13s. And also, some strong climbers from Europe such as Silviu
Corciovei (Romania).
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| We were escorted to the village by the police... |
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| ...given flowers in the opening ceremony... |
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| There were thousands of people watching us... Note the fake waterfalls behind them!!! | | | |
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If I had to choose one word to describe the competition,
that would be “ridiculous”. It was not really anything any climber there
appreciated – except the prize money. The “competition” has been arranged
already twice before, on natural rock, top-rope, speed; but the length of the
routes were 65m and 75m… With a 12-minute time limit.
Above of all, last years
there were chipped holds (now I’m not sure), you could pull from slings etc… The
difficulty was supposedly 5.12c for men and 5.11d/12a for women, but surely
with the slings it wasn’t that hard. The rock was super dirty and slippery, and
I wasn’t the only one who pulled down a rock while climbing. If that happened
and you fell – well, that was it from your part. Mostly, it was a competition
arranged for the people in the town; they had built a stage where the routes
started (see picture on the right), and you can’t even climb there otherwise as there is a river below
(and you can’t put up any more routes, either – not that the quality of the rock
were the kind that you would even want to, everything came crumbling down…)
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| Mykhailov Shalagin took the first prize in men... |
The first prize was massive 30 000 rmb (ca. 3400 e). Best 8 in both men and women got a money prize… Unfortunately I wasn’t one of them.
Speed nor endurance are not my strongest points…
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| ... and his sister, Olga Shalagina in women. |
Anyway, it was a very interesting experience, one of those you can only experience here in China...!
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| On Sunday we enjoyed the local canyons in form of a guided tour - the
spot was full of these nice signs like this... |
Only in China… You get invited to a climbing
competition, all expenses paid. And when you arrive to the airport… There are
people waiting for you with a sign “World cup climbing”. 
If I had to choose one word to describe the competition,
that would be “ridiculous”. It was not really anything any climber there
appreciated – except the prize money. The “competition” has been arranged
already twice before, on natural rock, top-rope, speed; but the length of the
routes were 65m and 75m… With a 12-minute time limit. 
Above of all, last years
there were chipped holds (now I’m not sure), you could pull from slings etc… The
difficulty was supposedly 5.12c for men and 5.11d/12a for women, but surely
with the slings it wasn’t that hard. The rock was super dirty and slippery, and
I wasn’t the only one who pulled down a rock while climbing. If that happened
and you fell – well, that was it from your part. Mostly, it was a competition
arranged for the people in the town; they had built a stage where the routes
started (see picture on the right), and you can’t even climb there otherwise as there is a river below
(and you can’t put up any more routes, either – not that the quality of the rock
were the kind that you would even want to, everything came crumbling down…)
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