Leeds

I doubt anyone actually still reads this but anyway. I'm moving to Leeds in december to start a Phd, which will hopefully last about three years. It's about wind turbines...
Plenty of gritstone, limestone and rivers near Leeds to play on so should be a good laugh.

Yanshuo - end of the trip

It was such a relief to escape from the big red truck and have a litle freedom. We flew from Lhasa to Guillin, and within 12hours we had a comfortable air conditioned hotel in Yangshuo. It was such a massive culture shock to be in a noisy, hot, sweaty touristy town again but we soon got used to it. I stayed for three weeks, and each day was much the same as the last - get up, buy food, go climbing. Didn't take many pictures as it was really hazy and humid most of the time.

From Yangshuo + Hong Kong

From Yangshuo + Hong Kong

The climbing is awesome, I think there are about 500 routes on the limestone karst towers, which are in general steep, juggy and very well bolted. There are some trad lines, but why would you want to?! Due to the heat it was unusual to get more than about 5 routes done per day. It was great climbing with Sebastian and Zamora, we seem to climb at about the same sort of level, ticking lots of 6b+ - 7a. We met up with Jean, who we had last seen living in a cave in Chattru in Northern India. I guess the traveling-climbing-bum world is a small one.

From Yangshuo + Hong Kong

From Yangshuo + Hong Kong

From Yangshuo + Hong Kong

It was not much of a surpirse when we found out that Hot Rock had failed to obtain the permits for climbing in SiguniangShan, and so had enjoyed two weeks of driving only to catch us up in yangshuo. Error.

From Yangshuo + Hong Kong

I got the night bus to Hong Kong, sat around for 12 hours (which was more than enough) and flew home. The End.

From Yangshuo + Hong Kong

Western China and Tibet

Internet access was pretty limited in China hence no update or pics. We entered the PRC from Pakistan and drove to Tashkurgan, where we had to wait for three(?) days whilst various visas, permits, driving licences and liason officers were arranged. It was a very modern-feeling down with plenty of luxuries after a month in Pakistan. Once all the beuarocracy was sorted we drove to Kashgar, via a quick stop at Karakul Lake and Mustagh Ata. I'd been thinking about trying to climb MA but given out tight schedule it wasn't really realistic.

From Western China

From Western China

Kashgar was a fairly big city, and one of the most interesting and diverse I have been to. The population was drawn from all the neighbouring regions - Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan. Some belive this area of China should be an independent 'Turkistan'. Recently there had been an uprising of the Uighur people against Chinese discrimination and ill-treatment, resulting in a massive Han Chinese army presence. Squads of soldiers were sposted at every street corner, wielding rubber bullet guns, pick-axe handles, and grenade launchers. Naturally any photographs taken of these boy soldiers resulted in a severe talking to from their supior officer if caught. The atmosphere in the city was fairly tense.

From Western China

From Western China

We had a two day excursion to see Shiptons Arch, which apparantly is the tallest rock-arch in the world. It is quite surprising that it still stands, as is composed entirly of a mud/pebble conglomorate. Some of the more reckless members of the group climbed onto it's shoulder, thankfully all returned safely.

From Western China

From Western China

After Kashgar we drove for a few days into Tibet, via a high pass at 5400m! After the city of Ali we arrived at Darchen, a small filthy village at the foot of Mt Kaliash - the holiest mountain to Hindus, Buddhists and followers of Bon. A group of use started the traditional trek ('kora') around the base of the mountain. Unfortuanlty we had to be accompanied by our irritating liason officer, so I stepped up the pace a little and lost the group after about half an hour. The kora was through amazing scenery with regular glimses of Kailash. It is forbidden to set foot upon the mountain itself, and I believe it is still unclimbed, despite some attempts by disrespectful westerners.

From Tibet

From Tibet

From Tibet

From Tibet

The kora is 52km, and reaches 5600m. I took 15 1/2 hrs, as after about 10 hours I decided it would be too cold and unpleasant to put up the tent and try to cook some food, so just plodded onwards till I got back to the hostel in Darchen. The rest of the group arrived after the statutory 3 days, as recommended by Lonely Planet ;-)

From Tibet

Another day or two driving got us to Everst Base camp. It was a stunning view. The base camp itself was clean, tidy and quite small - a bit different to Nepali one I believe.

From Tibet

From Tibet

Then some more driving to Shigatse and then to Lhasa. Amazing city which despite the massive Han Chinese invasion, still retains many traditional monastries and interested back streets.

From Tibet

From Tibet

Then five of use decided to sack Hot Rock and fly to Yangshuo for some actual climbing...

Pakistan

We have just reached the border with China at the Kunjerab pass (9th August), after spending the best part of a month in Pakistan. We arrived at the border crossing point of Wagah, near to Lahore and Amritsar. The differences between India and pakistan became apparant the very moment we walked across the border - suddenly everything seemed calm, well organised and ordered compared to the manic craziness of Indian beuarocracy at thier customs point. The people were polite and dignified, the motorways were in a condition better than many in the UK, and there was a noticable lack of litter and filth by the roadside.

From Pakistan

From Pakistan

From Pakistan

It was still hot though, high thirties as we drove for three or four days straight past Lahore, Islamabad and on to Gilgit. From here we left the truck and took local transport away from the Karakoran Highway eastwards to Skardu (a starting point for many of the high peaks in the Karakoram and Concordia). On some information found on the internet, we continued for another 100km or so eastwards to Khaplu, where we expected to find some good climbing.

From Pakistan

A huge 300m wall towered over the sleepy rural town of Kaplu which at first glace promised to provide plenty of entertainment for the next few days, but on closer inspection the granite was utterly rotten, and very loose. I climbed a couple of routes on that face, getting to the top once with Roscoe, but the climbing was so terrifying and dangerous (imo) I didn't get much else done. One other route to the top was completed by Roscoe (again) and Danny, following the line they had spotted on the internet. A few other attempts resulted in retreat, stuck ropes, one ground fall and lots of falling rock. For the record, the climbing in Khaplu is pretty crap and I wouldn't recommend it.

From Pakistan

After too long there we got a ride back to Skardu and then up the KKH to Pasu, which although still generally full of loose rock, was a much more pleasant place to stay. We camped outside the Glacier Breeze restaurant, at the bottom of the Pasu Glacier. There were three sport routes established near the restaurant, but being 6a, 6a+ and 6b slab routes with very wide spaced bolts they didn't hold much appeal after being climbing once each. We started to bolt a couple of steep lines but our crap drill wasn't really up to the task, so we settled for top roping. Even so it was pretty good fun and kept us active and entertained for a couple of days.

Pakistan was a interesting country to travel though and I wouldn't otherwise have had the inclination to do so, but the climbing seems to be pretty limited as far as cragging is concerned. I'm sure with more time and planning, some bigger mountains would be a great adventure.

From Pakistan

At the moment our plan is to drive up to kashgar, then spend a few days at Shiptons Arch (mmm conglomerate... loose again) then a gurt big drive across Tibet to Lhasa, hopefully taking in a trek around Mt Kailash, a visit to Everest Base Camp at Rhongpu, and a few days mooching around Lhasa. After that Hot Rock is going driving for two weeks with a week at Siguniang Shan, which might have some trad possibilities. As I've decided to fly home on 25th Sept, I'll try to fly Lhasa -> Guillin, for two week bolting clipping at YuangShuo before flying home from Hong Kong. I had been thinking of staying out till January, but the south east asia section of the trip will be easier, cheaper and probably more enjoyable to do by myself or with a smaller group of friends sometime in the future.

Leaving India

I'm back in Manali for the last time now, which is a shame because I love this place. We've got a couple of days here, then a couple in Amritsar before heading to Pakistan. The plan at the moment is to drive flat out through/around Lahore and Islamabad till we get to Gilgit, where apparently it is less dodgy.

From Northern India

The last week-and-a-bit was spent at Chota Dhara, a place even smaller than Chattru, about 20km further up the Chandra river. It was higher (3800m), quieter and more barren, but much warmer which was nice. TopsOff4Power all day long!

From Northern India

The trad lines looked sweet but the altitude and quality bouldering meant I never got more than 20ft off the ground. A few guys put up some bigger lines on perfect granite splitter cracks, so there's reason to head back in a few years. The bouldering was great but a little different, the rock was in general very smooth, presumably eroded by the river or glacier. It took a bit of getting used to but after a few days I'd cracked a font 6c+ traverse and a bunch of 6bs which was sweet. Ed and Zamora both ticked 7a+ which was a wicked effort especially given the altitude. We were topping out breathing as if we'd done a 40m sport route!

From Northern India

From Northern India

From Northern India

Chattru

Well I'm back in Manali for a day to restock with food and to have a shower. I decided not to go to Leh/Stok Kangri, as it sounds like lots of driving followed by lots of walking up a big hill with an even bigger bag. I'll go back to Chattru tomorrow for another 10 days, then down to Amritsar, Wagah, and Pakistan...

From Northern India

The climbing in Chattru is stunning, and there is really no need to leave. You could spend months here and not get bored, there are thousands of boulders to explore, and when the skin needs a rest, there are huge trad lines, and 4/5000m peaks to have a go at. Then when legs need a rest, there's plenty of bouldering... you get the idea.

From Northern India

From Northern India

Chattru is a 'village' about 7 hours north of Manali. It consists of one broken bridge, one slightly less broken bridge, and four large tents ('dhabas') which house the four families who live there. The tents are their homes, and also small shops and cafes for the passing vehicles on the road from Manali to Kasa.

I'm not sure what the rocks is here, maybe shcist, it looks like gtranite but is a little flakier. It can take a bit of effort to find good trad lines, as often stuff that looks good from a distance turns out much biger, looser and scarier than expected. That said, we've done a coule of classics on really good rock.

From Northern India

(Don't worry I've had a shave since)

The bouldering is amazing, easily as good as hampi, with better climate and less monkeys and annoying locals! The glacier approaches do cause a bit of hassle, but at the rate it's melting, should be clear by the end of the week. There is a guidebook, but so far it's been much more fun just to mooch about and find stuff that looks good.

So far, this is probably the only part of India I would seriously want to come back to. Hampi and Badami were good, but the amount of driving, the heat, and the annoying people take away some of the appeal. The people up here in Manali and the north are so different, not only in appearance (lots of Tibetan and Nepali infuence) and religion (Buddhist) but they are much more layed back, friendly, and less interested in fleecing us than in the South. You could get to Chattru in about 36 hours from London... do it.

Manali

From Northern India

We're just about to leave Manali for three weeks away from BiRT. First to Chattru for big trad and bouldering. Apparantly Sharma was there last month (oooh!) so it must be reasonable at least. Then to Leh, and a trek up Stok Kangri. Should be fun (and cold, hard work!).

From Northern India

Manali is a cool town in the foothills of the Himalayas. The climate is good, it rains a lot and there's lots of marajuana growing everywhere. We can see these amazing snowy peaks from our hotel up on the hillside; if we had more time here there could be months of climbing just in this valley. I'll try to put some pictures up later. We'll be back here in three weeks to meet up with BiRT again and then drive to Pakistan...

From Northern India

The grittier side of India

I'm writing this in Delhi where it is about 45 degrees in the shade. Since Goa we drove for three days straight up past Mumbai till we got to Jaipur. Jaipur is famed for it's 'pink city', ancient forts and Hindu temples. I had a major case of Delhi belly and spent 36 hours not being more than 5 meters from the bathroom. Probably actually the best time to be ill, as Jaipur is an absolute hell hole (well the small bit I saw was anyway). The pink city is more of a dirty brown, there are a few nice temples but overrun with beggars and people selling all sorts of tat to the tourists. Also it was very, very hot :-(

Another half day drive to Delhi so we could sort out Chinese visas. It's hot here too, and I've decided to bail and get a bus to Manali to escape the searing heat and fetid air. Will meet up with the other guys next week sometime.

The last couple of days we climbed on some awesome trad quartzite at Dharj, which was actually pretty good after the 3pm thunderstorm had cooled things down. For the next month or so until Lahore, things will be much colder - after Manali we'll head to Chattru (3500m) for big mountain trad and then to Leh to have a go at Stok Kangri, which at 6200m should be refreshing to say the least.

India, Hampi, Badami, Goa

Got to India about two weeks ago. I flew into Goa, and got a train straight to Hospet and tuctuc to Hampi, where I met up with BiRT and a bunch of climbers on the Hot Rock Climbing Tour. BiRT is a converted Scania artic' cab with a custom made backend, with seats up top, and lockers underneath for all our stuff. At the moment there are 14 people on it, including the leader Danny and driver Pete. The other guys are all cool climbers from Mexico, USA, Spain, Germany, UK and until last week Flavius from Romainia. Unfortunatly he fell off Double Arete in Hampi (see the Sharma film, it's a cool looking f7b problem with a hideous landing.) He ripped some ligaments in his knee and had to go home. Hopefully will be back on Hotrock before the end, in January!

From Hampi, Badami, Goa

From Hampi, Badami, Goa

There's a good mix of abilities, Danny sent Double Arete, along with a 7b sport route pretty quickly in Badami, so is probably the strongest. The psyche is high though and I'm sure we'll all be cruising 8a by Thailand...




Hampi was very cool place but quite different to the 'real' India. A chilled out hippy paradise, sharp granite boulders as far as you could see in every direction. We stayed there until we had no skin left and went to Badami, which is very much 'real' India. Absolute poverty and apparantly lots of people who'd never seen whities before. The streets were full of filth, it seems people haven't got the concept of toilets out here yet. There are pigs and wild dogs everywhere, so at least they clean up some of the grime. We got hassled wherever we went, kids begging and adults just hassling us to try to extract some money for whatever they were selling. If the climbing wasn't WORLD CLASS we might not have enjoyed that place too much! The sandstone routes were incredible. We did tons of new trad routes and existing sport routes on superhard compact sandstone. Highlights were climbing my first 6c after clean on toprope, seconding Ed on the FA of a gruesome overhanging jamming crack, E3 5c/6a, and some brilliant other trad routes. Had a week there until muscles ached, and drove to back to Goa for some R+R on the sandy beaches, in the warm sea.

From Hampi, Badami, Goa

I had planned to stay on Hot Rock till September, and then go to Edinburgh to do a Phd. The Phd title changed to something altogether more boring, and Hot Rock is better than I could have imagined, so I'm probably going to stay the full 9 months, through China, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. Back in January? Life is good...

Projects

Couple of weeks till I'm off and the kayak is looking like it might actually be finished by the time I leave! Strapped up and glueing the inside seams today, outside ones tomorrow, and hopefully launch next weekend.

From Sea Kayak

Kiteboard is looking less likely but I might finish shaping it. No chance of glassing as well though, not even finished the rails yet.

From kiteboard