Yangshuo Climbing Festival

 

 In my last blog post I promised some pictures... Above me onsighting Proud Sky (7a+). And below me on China White (7b), that I got on the 3rd try. It was hard for me!

The festival was a bit of a chaos, but I had fun anyway. There was a flash contest on real rock – everyone turning in their sheet took part in a lucky draw (but no points were counted). I didn’t get lucky. BUT, I also took part in a bouldering competition, pull-ups competition and jumaring.

The boulder problems in the qualifications were rather easy – I flashed three and got the fourth one on the second go (just a stupid mistake on the first try). We were maybe around 20 contestants, of which 8 went into finals. I was 1^st after the qualification round. In the finals, there were 3 problems – all too easy in my opinion, as I flashed all of them. No one else got the third problem so… Unfortunately I missed the prize-giving photograph as I was just on my way up jumaring towards the ceiling of the sports stadium – placing 1^st in females. Not bad! In the pull-ups comp I got 2^nd place with 21 pull-ups – also my personal best. Though it was a bit easier than pull-ups usually as the “pull-up” bar wasn’t a bar but two jugs at the slightly overhanging bouldering wall. 

 

 Now it's my last climbing day (until March) here in Yangshuo... So got to get back to the rock, bye!!!

Yangshuo

It’s getting cold here.

For weeks, climbers have wished the temperature to drop so that we would have better conditions to tick hard climbs. I have been quite happy with a bit warmer temperature and haven’t complained too much – so the coldness that fell upon us yesterday evening was shocking to me. I couldn’t even sit down and enjoy my dinner before I went back to my flat to get my down-jacket. Brr! I don’t regret at all anymore that I have booked a flight down to Thailand on the 12th of December (a bit sooner than what I originally planned). Now I’m sitting here on my bed, wearing my ah-so-lovely Kolon Sport down-jacket (I can hear you laughing! It’s a Korean quality brand, don’t laugh!), writing my blog though I should be sleeping (it’s midnight, and I have to wake up early to crank!). The funny thing in China is that below Yangtze-river, there is no central heating, so when it's cold, it's cold inside AND outside. At the moment the temperature outside is 6 degrees celcius, which is still not bad. But when it rains at the same time like it did today... ufff. Really, the flight to Thailand wasn't a bad idea at all!

Ok, rewind. So, I came to Yangshuo about 2,5 weeks ago. A lot of the people I met in Getu were still here – although I did miss some as I got stuck in Getu for longer (sorry Mumin, Zorbie, Xiaosai and Julien!). The town is so much more vivid than Getu – well, no wonder, this actually is a town, or a city. I rented a bedroom in a 3-bedroom flat with Matt and Max (who are sharing another bedroom). I met Matt and Max already in Getu. They are two really nice Frisco-dudes with a relaxed attitude. The third bedroom is occupied by Sunny, our flatmate. You can read from Matt’s blog what our Chinese flatmate is like. Matt pretty much sums it up!

Climbing-wise I have had my ups and downs here in Yangshuo – though it feels more like only downs. But successes come in waves as Naomi Guy said in Rock&Ice’s interview – I just have to wait for my next wave to come. I always feel better when I think about that you just CAN’T be at your best all the time.

I have enjoyed Western food, sweets and lots of desserts (thanks to Farah and Alex, dammit!) while being here – and noticed I have done that, too. I felt so heavy climbing a few days ago that I decided to cut down the dessert intake for a few days – and I must say, three days without desserts and I feel much better. Maybe the desserts have been the reason of me not climbing that well… ehm. Anyway, I caved in today - rest day apple crumble is a must! Now it’s time to sleep – Yangshuo Climbing Festival starts tomorrow. There are a lot of small competitions during festival; like who jumars the fastest, does most knots in a minute or does most pull-ups within 3 minutes. Lets see how many pull-ups I can do after this “dessertful” time in Yangshuo. Probably can feel all the freaking apple crumbles working with gravity!

Will upload some photos with the next blog post - the Chinese internet is not my friend today. Until then, keep warm or find someone to keep you warm - it helps :). Or, go have a massage - I had one today. It ended with the lady massaging my boobs. No kidding. I can add that to my list of "weird massage experiences in China". And for those curious ones (I know you are there!!!) there was no happy ending.