currentPROJECTS
Climbing media production, China climbing resources, instruction
currentPROJECTS
Climbing media production, China climbing resources, instruction
Published in Rock Pirates Magazine!
I had the honor of getting my story published in Nat Bailey’s Rock Pirates Magazine, issue 4! The story is a two-part collaboration between me and my long-time climbing partner, Dane Schellen-berg, whose story will appear in issue 5 about our experiences in the China climbing community at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak. We learned a lot about what it means to "belong" in a place and the ability to put down and maintain roots in a country that is not your own. If you have some time to spare during these work-from-home days, please give the story a read, and stay tuned for Dane's article in the upcoming issue!
Click on the image below to open the magazine (e-publication). The story begins on page 53.
Adventures Outside China in the Covid ERA, Dispatch 1:
The Torment-Forbidden Traverse, Trip Report
Read the full trip report here, or by clicking on the image below
A lot has changed since Dane and I released the Baiyansi guidebook. For starters, neither of us remained in China following the outbreak of Covid across, well, the entire planet. Plans were upended, changed and life for basically everyone has been fundamentally altered. I luckily returned to the US early enough before the lock down went into full force in Yunnan and before the current crisis really took hold in the United States.
I did not think I would land on my feet, finding a home in Seattle, WA and in the Cascades. But I somehow managed, by the luck out in the universe, to find a place to call “home.” After the long months of stay-at-home orders, my climbing partner Woody and I resolved to tackle at least one big-ticket climbing destination. That big ticket turned out to be the Torment-Forbidden Traverse, one of the most aesthetic, rugged alpine routes in North Cascades National Park.
Click the image below to see a trip report and get beta on this classic alpine adventure!
Allegory of the Caves :
Baiyansi’s FIRST Top-out Climbing Route
Read the Article and Get the new (and FREE!) Guidebook
Well, it is finally complete! After Dane and I put weeks of work into a new route, Baiyansi finally has a route that tops out the mountain! The two of us established Allegory of the Caves (5.11c, 17 pitches, ~540 meters, Grade IV). The route itself weaves its way up an enormous wall on the main formation, reaching a huge network of caves about halfway up. Climbing teams can even bivouac/camp in a comfortable, sheltered cave on pitch 12, about 400 meters off the ground! The whole process was an exhausting effort, requiring plenty of nights on the wall and many lessons about the logistics of wall development. Hopefully, you can enjoy a little of the story that went into this route creation!
Click the picture below to read the article. It is full of pictures and video clips from our adventure. You can also visit the Guidebooks section of the website or click here to download the Baiyansi guidebook.
Click the picture to link to the article. You can also get access to the new guidebook here.
Climbing Update: Elephant Riders is now a Top Out!
Elephant Riders (5.12b/c A0, 4 pitches, 120 meters) is finally complete to the top! Peter and I finally topped out this beast of a route via the incredible “Crack to the Center of the Earth” pitch, an enormous chasm that connects the Elephant Ear crux to the top of the Dinner Wall! It took a lot of grit to complete, including a nasty episode of sand and an eyelash buried deep in my eye at the crux pitch belay, but we managed to forge on and complete the route.
Took lots of prep work, including a bunch of new glue-in epoxy bolts on the top pitch, but this route is now one of Liming’s burliest, most varied, wild top out routes! It’s now open for YOU to climb! Ending my winter stint in China on a high note! (quick note: the A0 is and has been freed at 5.10, but there are some considerations regarding the Lisu village below the wall and some rock; beta is on Mountain Project, if you want to find out more).
In other fun news, this route now makes it more accessible to top out the Dinner Wall by the classic "Soul's Awakening" (5.10, 6 pitches) just next door. If you take the adventurous, wandering top out pitch of Soul's to the summit, you can now scramble to climber's left and rappel the Elephant.
Thanks, Chuang Liu, for the photos. Check out his Instagram page @chuangdesign to see some great photos from the climbing goings-on around China.
New Article: Big Wall Development in Yunnan, China
It has taken a while, but I finally have written a dispatch about the new routing Dane and I have been doing on Yunnan Province’s first granite big wall! The article is full of photo and video that give you an idea of what a massive undertaking it was to find a way up this massive chunk of stone, Baiyansi! The wall itself will hold endless potential for new routes possibly up to 20+ pitches in length! Follow the link below or click here to read the article.
New Blog Post and Site Reboot!
After a long hiatus. I'm back! There has been so much going on this past year between life and work and climbing that I have scarcely had a moment to write my thoughts down. But what a spring this has been! I pushed my climbing grades, finished a wicked FFA of a crack route, and even put up a huge 12-pitch multipitch on granite! More to come on the granite big wall, but for now, follow the link here or click the image below to get to the full story! You can even catch some great photo work in the article from my collaboration with climbing photographer Irene Yee!
below: a shot of the wild, exposed crux pitch of Elephant Riders (5.12b/c, 3 pitches) in Liming, Yunnan || photo © Irene Yee
Shots from China: Opening New Routes from Yunnan to Xinjiang
Some of the highlight shots from exploring the high country of China's west!
Wild West China Film, Episode 2: Lightning on the Rabbit Ears
Summer climbing in China is not what most people expect. It's not like summer in the States. Unlike the stable, sunny, occasionally thunderstorm prone, approach-in-shorts kind of weather, the Chinese alpine is marked by by the arrival of the monsoon cycle, which brings heavy rain and strong mountain storms on a near-daily basis. Even when confronted with these challenges, the Wild West Team soldiered on to develop some new climbing lines and even an epic high line across some granite monoliths! Catch episode 2 below!
Wild West China Film, Episode 1: The Long Journey to the Chinese West
Check out the first installment of our big trip video! This episode details how the team came together and concocted the crazy idea to venture deep into the Chinese west. We also have scenes from our stint of crack climbing in Liming.
WildChina Explorer Grant!
ICC is in-the-running for a big exploration grant to adventure deep into the mountains of China! Check out the video below and vote for our video! It's super easy and requires only a few clicks! Check out our video segment, which highlights some of the crazy exploration we have already done out in China's high country!
VOTE HERE: explorergrant.wildchina.com/leaderboard/
NEW GUIDEBOOK AND CHINA CLIMBING RESOURCES
ICC has just published a guidebook on west China climbing! You can download it for free on our China Climbing Resources page or click the thumbnail below to download the book for free! The book is a compilation of routes and areas the Wild West China team (including ICC member Ryder Stroud) explored and established new routes during the summer of 2015. Check it out and let us know what you think!
Download the guidebook (free!), here or click on the cover thumbnail below.
The Sandstone Cliffs of Liming
Collaborating with Black Diamond athlete, Mike Dobie (www.exploreclimbrepeat.com), and Climb China's Ana Pautler (www.climbchina.net), I produced a short filming detailing the exciting the new climbing development in the Zion-Indian Creek of China: Liming, Yunnan Province, China.