Boulder Oz: October 2010

Saturday, October 30, 2010

阳朔攀岩节 - Day 1 - Opening Night!

So the Yangshuo Climbing Festival (阳朔攀岩节) started yesterday with an opening ceremony and slideshows along with free beer and lots of catching up with old friends from the climbing scene around China. Good times. Then it was off to Bar 98 for some bday celebrations for Jen and John - Happy Bday's kids!
Here's a few pics to get things rolling... full report on the festival afterwards :-)

Yuki!

Jon... so hot right now

Drunk arm wrestling = sore elbows today

Andrew = Hero

Duo Duo!

Me with my new friends Yuji Hirayama and Emily Harrington

Panda, love this kid!

Seeing friends is always exciting haha

Dane... "I heard this is where they are hiding the free beer..."

Jen, the birthday girl

CAKE!!!

Rowena

Monday, October 25, 2010

Guizhuo Madness - Part 1 - The Climbing Festival

So I have a few stories to ell. Both take place in the same place at the same sorta time but are two different things. So first is first...

A couple of weeks ago I headed off to Guizhuo province, a few hours from the capital, Guiyang, to take part in a climbing festival there. I headed up there with my good friends Jiang Yong, Jen, Mick, Dane and Fabian by plane then buses to the beautiful valley that hold the village of Getu and the National Park that is the crowning jewel of the area.

We spent 3 days rocking out a Speed Comp and Onsight Comp with the usual Chinese opening and closing ceromonies, pop celebrities and good fun shenanigans. Good times all round in a beatiful place with great people.

Heres a few pics... more coming soon, plus part 2 of the trip... ;-)

Friday, October 8, 2010

Guo Qing Kuai Le!!!

Happy National Day!
Well, its not National Day today but as its the end of Golden Week here in China after National Day on the 1st of October I thought I should post about the recent goings on here.
So for those who dont know, National Day in China is a big deal. Everyone has the week after it of which is known as Golden Week so popular tourist destinations such as our very own Yangshuo get packed to busting with tourists. Town hs been jammed to overflowing every night, traffic is at a standstill half the time and the hotels are full. Crazyness reigns! But its good fun and its only for a week... lord if this place was like this all the year I would lose my mind haha.
In two days I am off to Guizhuo Province to do two things. First is to compete in a climbing festival and competition. Second is to go bolting new routes in some amazing big caves there with a team of strong climbers from Europe. There is a point to the bolting trip but I'm not sure I can advertise what it is publicly yet so I'll keep you posted.
After the Guizhuo trip we have the Yangshuo Climbing Festival (29-31 Oct) at which I am route setter for the bouldering competition. Then after that on about the 5th Nov I am off the Vietnam to go bolting some new crags in Ha Long Bay with my good mate Slo at Slo Pony Adventures as well as hopefully getting in some more Deep Water Soloing.
Lifes full of exciting prospects isn't it!

Heres a few pics from Guo Qing (National Day) and Golden Week...