Petzl Roc Trip 2011! China, Guizhuo, Getu Valley

So earlier in 2010, in early October to be precise, I headed off to a little known valley called Getu in Guizhuo Provence here in China to attend a small local climbing festival and to stay on to help bolting some new areas there. The new development was part of the prepartions for the 2011 Petzl Roc Trip and I am happy to announce that it is going to be amazing!!!

The area already had a few smaller walls outside the park that held a handful of routes but the first bolting team from Petzl (that included the likes of Gerhard Hörhager, Guido Unterwurzacher, Erwan Le Lann, Arnaud Petit, Stephanie Bodet and Dani Andrada amoungst many others...) set to work bolting mainly in the huge cave that the area is well known for here in China. The cave is a tunnel about 150 metres long, 80 metres wide and 3 pitches high on the inside!!! There is one route now that goes from the ground to the lip of the cave and it is a massive 5 pitches long!

So far the larger cave (that is called 'Dachuandong') has about 30+ routes in it from 5.7 to 5.14c and from 1 to 5 pitches and with several possible 5.15 projects bolted in it and there are several other walls being bolted nearby with a range of routes including some amazing long moderate walls with up to 7 pitches of 5.10 to 5.11 climbing... outstanding! The cave and nearby surrounds has the potential to hold alot of routes so it will be interesting to see how much gets done by the time of the Roc Trip.

A team from Petzl will be returning this year to continue bolting in preparartion for the Roc Trip in October this year. Their plan is to finish developing as much of the area as they can on this next trip. At present many of the routes bolted so far require the proper anchor sets to be placed at the top of the routes which was due to a shortage of these here in China during theor last visit but these will all be placed on the next trip soon and the crag will be sure to become another classic sport climbing destination here in China with something for everyone to climb, and all in a fantastically beautiful setting.

I will be sure to keep you all updated on news of the next bolting trip out there and with details of the Roc Trip dates, etc as they come to hand.

Here are a few pics from Getu to get you excited...

Here is a video from the 2010 Petzl Roc Trip, looking forward to this year!

Petzl Roctrip Mexico 2010 - El Chonta Rodeo from Petzl-sport on Vimeo.

Oh, and look out for a Location Beta post on the Getu Valley in the coming months, once the bolting is completed and some topo's are done I will unleash all the beta I can for you!