More than 350 climbers from 15 countries and more than half the provinces in China came together the First Annual The North Face/Black Diamond Yangshuo Climbing Festival was held from October 31 through November 2 in and around the town of Yangshuo in Southeast China’s Guangxi Province.

Yangshuo’s endless chain of limestone karst towers spread amongst the surrounding rivers and farmland provided a surreal backdrop to the weekend’s events. One of the area’s premier climbing walls, White Mountain, served as festival headquarters with its overhanging 70-meter main wall forming a natural amphitheater for music, clinics, slideshows and the Total Points Competition on Day 1 and an escape from the rain for Day 2’s Hardest Route Competition. Cedar Wright, James Pearson, Sun Bing and Jonathan Thesenga provided Day 1’s evening entertainment with slideshows and product giveaways. 

The male winner of both Day 1’s Total Points Competition and Day 2’s Hardest Route Competition was Yangshuo local Liu “Abond” Yongbang. Abond followed his 17-route performance on Saturday by establishing the high point on Sunday’s onsight attempt of a new White Mountain 5.14a. However, the story of the weekend belonged to Aleksandra Przybysz of Poland who traveled 30 hours by train from Beijing and won Saturday’s female Total Points Competition on five hours sleep and then took Day 2’s Hardest Route Competition before hopping the train back to Beijing. 

The Yangshuo Climbing Festival’s dual goals are to serve as an annual gathering for the climbing community throughout Mainland China and Asia and to preserve and promote rock climbing in Yangshuo. To that end, all money raised from entry fees have been donated back to the local community via the Yangshuo Climbing Association (YSCA). Thanks to everyone who showed up, volunteered or helped by sponsoring the event. We hope to see you all again next year.

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Hardest Route Competition Results (Sunday, November 2, 2008)

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