Guilin Life News (Reporter Liu Jiaoqing, text/photos) In the beautiful city of Yangshuo, natural rock climbing attracts tens of thousands of enthusiasts from around the world every year.
The “post-80s” Liu Yongbang, driven by his boundless longing for nature, dropped out of school to pursue climbing and settled in Yangshuo, where he has been “dancing with the rocks” for years. In his first year of learning to climb, he completed all the 5.11-grade routes available in Yangshuo at that time. He later pioneered China’s first 5.14b route and traveled to more than 10 countries including Europe and America to climb. He is hailed as a “climbing prodigy” by many climbing enthusiasts.
The cliffs touch a young heart
Liu Yongbang, from Hengyang, Hunan, likes to be called “Abang,” and just turned 24 a few days ago.
Seven years ago, while still in his first year of high school, he traveled from his hometown to Yangshuo. “The first time I saw someone climbing a cliff, I was deeply moved and felt I had found a lifestyle that suited me,” Abang said. Since then, he was deeply attracted to natural cliffs and the sport of climbing. He decided to drop out of school to pursue climbing and settled in Yangshuo that same year.
Whether it was talent, hard work, or sheer determination, Abang completed all the 5.11-grade routes in Yangshuo in his first year of climbing. Not only did he have excellent body coordination, but his movements were also incredibly graceful.
Due to the unique geographical features of Yangshuo, many top international climbers come here. “Every time I meet world-class climbers, I try to learn from their strengths,” Abang said. He learned a lot of professional climbing knowledge and some foreign climbing culture from them.
The joy of conquering the cliffs deeply captivated Abang.
In 2006, he went to Australia for further studies and earned a climbing instructor certification.
Life, dancing with the rocks
For a highly challenging sport, enthusiasm alone doesn’t guarantee smooth sailing.
One memory that stands out for Abang is when he was climbing a 50-meter-long route. Due to the rope initially being too short, he accidentally fell from a 7-meter-high cliff, resulting in a fractured right shoulder. This injury made Abang realize that besides full dedication, climbing also requires a rational mastery of techniques and safety knowledge.
“You must always warm up before climbing and check your protective gear and equipment,” Abang said. Many routes are almost vertical, and some even have “negative angles,” requiring you to climb while looking up. “So safety is the top priority.”
On May 9, the reporter accompanied Abang to Shilong Climbing in Yangshuo. The reporter tried climbing a moderately difficult route. The route was less than 20 meters long, but the cliff was almost entirely vertical at 90 degrees. Some holds were mere cracks — grabbing one would cut your hands; others could only be held with two fingers using an undercling, meaning those two fingers had to support your entire body...
In 20 minutes, the reporter only managed to climb about 10 meters, broke into a sweat all over, had three fingers each peel a layer of skin, and experienced numbness and trembling in the hands and feet...
Yet Abang scaled the wall-like route in less than 5 minutes.
“Pay attention to selecting holds, and use all four contact points of your hands and feet wisely,” Abang said succinctly when talking about climbing techniques. “Movements such as pushing, pulling, stepping over, hooking, and pressing must be accurately applied according to the characteristics of the route.”
Before wrapping up the interview, Abang added: People who love climbing have a strong sense of responsibility because at any moment, one person is in charge of another’s life.
Dreams, on the cliffs
From a little over 100 routes seven years ago to now more than 600, the climbing scene in Yangshuo has grown increasingly popular.
Today, Abang has climbed almost all 500-plus routes in Yangshuo. Aside from climbing, he also searches for new routes or develops them himself. “I developed China’s first 5.14b route,” Abang said proudly.
Although Yangshuo has many cliff resources, few people develop new routes. He plans to travel to several countries each year for climbing and to make friends, introducing them to climbing in Yangshuo. “I want top global climbers to come to Yangshuo to develop more routes, attract more people to participate in this sport here, and find joy in it.”
When talking about his ultimate dream, Abang spoke earnestly. He raised his right hand and held up three fingers, saying that after climbing in many countries, he found Yangshuo’s “soft climbing environment” is among the top three in the world. That’s because climbing routes abroad are often far from cities, while those in Yangshuo are mostly located around the county town, with good access to food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. “My dream is to become a leader in China’s climbing community. Starting with Yangshuo, I want to make it one of the best climbing destinations in the world.”
Link: Difficulty definitions in rock climbing
The current difficulty grading system used in China for rock climbing is called the YDS system, ranging from 1 to 5. To further subdivide the grades, each numerical grade after 5.10 is further divided into four letter grades: a, b, c, and d, with d being the highest level.
Grade 5.10d is generally the highest level achievable by amateur climbers, while grades 5.11a–5.15a belong to the expert category. For example, in 5.14b, the 5 represents the climbing grade, the 14 after the decimal indicates the difficulty level of the route, and the letter b denotes the sub-difficulty level. The hardest climbing routes in the world today are around grade 5.15a.