Page 22 - 2011 AMA Summer

REDICE
By Duncan Francis MIA
£50
ARTICLE
Iwas hanging by my tools just below the top
quality; mostly a series of steep pitches, of the fifth pitch of a WI4 ice route, under a
often with free-standing pillars, joined by cloudless blue sky. Across to my North I
shorter easier pitches. But there the similar- could see the beautiful 5694m spire of the
ity ends. This was our second season in the Matterhorn-like Abi Shan, while above me
valley, and we could count the number of rose the 5472m Hunter Peak. Like most
foreign ice climbers we had met on the fin- mountains in this area of China’s South
gers of one hand. And the Chinese, new- Western Sichuan province, these peaks still
comers to the sport, climb differently. In await a British ascent. Tony and I were the only
common with the way that they rock climb, two figures in this vast landscape of moun-
a group will gather below a route, one of tains, rock faces and scrubby sheer hillsides,
them will go up the first pitch and fix up a less for a herd of yaks grazing on the flattened
top-rope or two, and then the remainder will pasture of the valley floor. The inimitable Mick
spend the day happily going up and down Fowler had won the Piolet d’Or for a new
the first pitch, chattering loudly to each other route on Siguniang (6250m), a couple of miles
all the while. But there were never more than
to the East, but otherwise this fantastic area of Alpine peaks is almost unknown in the West.
And likewise the huge variety of ice routes which adorn both sides of the Shuangqiaogu Valley; a sort of Chinese- Rjukan, the centre of ice-climbing in China. But this is Rjukan with a difference. The routes are there, mostly multi-pitch, ranging from WI2 to WI6, and most could be termed as ‘roadside’. And a lot of them are very high
three groups in the valley, leaving us the pick of the remaining fifty or so routes to climb in peace. But make no mistake; some of the Chinese climbers are very good indeed. And they have all the latest gear; ice-climbing in China is the game of the nouveau-riche.
There are other differences too; there is little snow here, just glittering icefalls coursing their way down frozen brown hillsides. The ice is sometimes very hard, although on the slightly
Duncan leading the Talus Climb
20 ARMY MOUNTAINEER