Getu

As for going to Yangshuo right after Petzl Roctrip, I didn’t – I decided to stay a few days longer… And another few days longer... Suddenly I realized my planned two weeks there had turned into almost a month. Great climbing, great people, great climbers, great atmosphere, great parties! (Though no ray of light through the arch for those who arrived just in time for Roctrip - we, on the other hand, enjoyed it every morning for a week before that).

Time to harvest

Although, sometimes we did crave for a little bit of variety in food… As mainly it was noodles for breakfast and rice and veggies for dinner - unless you went to a nearby town to buy supplies (which I did once) and survived with oatmeal and fruit brekkie for some time. Getu is a really, really, REALLY small and poor Chinese village, and there were basically no fruits in the whole town - if you wanted snacks, you bought "French bread" or vacuum-packed chicken feet from one of the few little shops. (And when saying "French bread", note the quotes. It was quite far from it!)

 

Chilling and watching big boys climb multipitch

DJ Dave and Sasha rocking the dancefloor

Me and Sean Villanueva enjoying the cheeseholds at the Arch

There were still a bunch of us who stayed after the Roctrip ended and I must stay, it was a more ‘chillaxed’ atmosphere then – I prefer a smaller crowd, and I also figured Yangshuo is the place everyone will go to after the Roctrip. At one point I realized I was the only Western person there to speak Chinese, so everyone turned to me had they a question. Which, to a certain point, was nice… (But I must say, the first days when I got to Yangshuo –where I am now– I spoke almost no Chinese- as phew!, no one knew I can).

 One by one people left after the masses – Yangshuo crew, my Israeli climbing buddy Leon with whom I climbed for a few days, American crew, 5.10 crew – and finally it was only me, Arthur, Sean, Aymeric, Julien and two couples we found in bamboo house in the evening. Then also Julien and Arthur took off… and finally I realized it was time for me to go, too.  We loaded to a local minivan going to Ziyun, and from there on changed to a bus to Guiyang – on the way we saw so many cliffs that it is amazing… So much potential!

CMDI wall and Pussa Yan in Getu-valley

I will keep this short as I still need to write an article and another blog post (in Finnish) about the Roctrip – and I have read so many stories from the Roctrip that I feel like I would just be repeating what everyone has already said (check out this, this or this). Anyway, Getu-valley was a great experience and it was a lucky coincidence that I happened to be in China during the Roctrip. Sent some cool routes, met very many cool people and enjoyed myself. Thanks to Erwan le Lann and all the others who made it happen! I wish I will meet all the cool people somewhere at a crag again. I am already planning a short return to Getu next year. We will see.

Me on Drill Team (7c+). Photo: Logan Barber