We continued our travels in China and headed to the next climbing area we chose to visit: 江油腰悬岩 (Jiangyou Yaoxuanyan), located northeast of Chengdu.
On the way, Rosinante achieved one of her all-time fuel consumption records: with her 80-liter tank, she made it 813 kilometers, that’s 9.8 liters per 100 kilometers! Not bad for a fat-ass car like her.
All thanks to the flawless Chinese expressways.
Along our route, we found an okay camp spot in an abandoned tourist area. It was strange: the site was huge, complete with an artificial lake, walking paths, shops, apartments, hotels, everything. Yet, all the buildings were completely empty and unused commercially. Local residents came there to chill and a few small vendors and food carts were selling things, but otherwise (aside from one active hotel), the area was abandoned.
On the way, we picked up some supplies: cheap Baileys for Racki and a mixture of cognac and Chinese herbs (we called it Chinese medicine) for me.
Nope, we didn’t take the whole cucumber.
Eventually, we arrived at the climbing area. The road leading there was super narrow, winding through deeply forested hills. It was a nice concrete road, as always in China, with no major damage.
When we reached the gate to the climbing area, a lot of signs greeted us.
Because the few roads in that region were so narrow and at times very steep, it took us a while to find a good camp spot. In fact, both we and the locals had to get a running start in our cars just to make it up some of the steeper sections. Thankfully, there was almost no traffic.
We were extremely happy with our spot, as it provided plenty of shade in the heat.
The climbing crags looked amazing!
There were a couple of sectors, and the quality of the routes was very good.
The weather was great, but it was too hot in the sun, so we timed our climbing sessions according to the sun’s position so we could mostly climb in the shade.
Some sectors required a fairly steep approach through the forest.
We had a blast finally climbing in a larger area again, and we were getting fitter and fitter.
See details about 江油腰悬岩 on thecrag.com.
During our stay, we watched the Leonids, and the night sky and stars at this place were absolutely stunning!
We had to pay the locals for our parking spot, but they were super friendly and…
… let us use their toilet, which was the hole you see at the top left of this photo, located inside their pigsty.
And of course, we enjoyed plenty of amazing food. This was our signature homemade pesto, packed with lots of fresh herbs and nuts.