In November 2019, a team of Americans and Canadians, including AAC Member James Xu, met up with a team of Chinese highliners and embarked on a trip to the Getu River village, located in the province of Guizhou, China. Located south of the provincial capital of Guiyang, it is home to the ethnic Miao Chinese and large karst-limestone mountains with massive caves carved out by ancient rivers. This beautiful rural region of China experienced a boom in climbing development in 2011 with the Petzl Roctrip, and since then has seen more development catering to climbers and tourists. The team’s goal was to connect with the Chinese highline community and to rig an aesthetic line in the Great Arch and another highline between the CMDI Wall and Pussa Yan, as well as climb around the area.
James had been rock-climbing since 2010, and competed in USA Climbing during high school. He continued to climb around the American Southwest and Sierras through college and beyond, sending 5.13 sport and 5.12 trad. His best climbing accomplishment (before this trip) was climbing The Nose in a day, in 15.5 hours on his first attempt. James had also been slacklining since 2012 and onsighted his first highline when he was 17. He had been rigging and highlining all over the US since that time, with a PR of 220m. Some of his best highline accomplishments are free-soloing (highlining without back-up protection) the Lost Arrow Spire in Yosemite, and establishing highlines in the Grand Canyon.
James and his team, funded by the Live Your Dream Grant, had a vision for their project: to bridge the geographical and cultural gap between two groups of people in order to come together and accomplish a goal. James and his friends wanted to use climbing and highlining to build connections, which is truly the best of what climbing can do for our community.
Though traveling overseas to climb and highline epic routes in China was the overarching (pun-intended) objective of the dream, they realized it is community which drives highlining and climbing, and it is community that makes them something beyond just an hobby.
But this trip was also uniquely personal for James. As a first generation Chinese-American who grew up and learned to climb and highline in the US, it was James’ dream to climb and highline in China and make genuine connections with the people there. The trip promised to push his skills to the next level by testing his climbing, highlining, and rigging abilities in a new environment, improving his Mandarin after growing up in the US, and having the chance to beat his climbing and highlining personal bests.
Once James and his team arrived in Guiyang, they met up with some Chinese highliners and were driven to the Getu where the Gezhen Climbing Hostel hosted them. The friendly staff of the hostel generously fed them spicy local dishes, provided logistical support, and helped them get permission to enter and rig in the Getu River Scenic Area. James’ team started by exploring the Great Arch to rig an aesthetic highline spanning the entrance. The Great Arch is a spectacular feature with wildly steep 4-dimensional sport climbing that stands out among the other karst mountains characteristic to the landscape in southern China. They climbed two routes (Lost in Translation 5.13b/c and Nihaowokepa) and established anchors off-route, and within three days they had a beautiful 70m highline rigged in the Great Arch.
To reach the line, a climber would have to jug up a 60m fixed rope…and then you’d be granted access to a highline fully encompassed by a cathedral of porcelain rock.
Phase two of the project led them to the mountains of CMDI Wall and Pussayan, two features overlooking the center of the Getu Village. Exploration of the area involved sketchy cliff-outs while bushwhacking through the jungle, but the top of Pussayan and the wall of the CMDI Wall proved to be viable for anchors. Due to the heavily vegetated and steep landscape, the team had to carefully coordinate among 8+ people. People were climbing, pulling tagline through trees, flying drones, and managing webbing all at the same time until they finally had two beautiful 235m and 130m highlines above the valley floor.
The images captured here speak for the success of the trip.
In his trip report, James reflected: “One of the biggest impacts from the trip is the newfound connections between my community and the Chinese community. The Chinese highline community is composed of less than a dozen people, whereas the rest of the world sports 2000+ highliners. The local climbing community of Getu is also small but talented and kind. Being able to meet, connect, and get involved with them was rewarding for everyone, especially for a Chinese-American like me. My climbing/highline career has been impacted by my new connections in China. I was told I would be invited to future climbing/slackline events in China, which is extremely exciting for me!”
You can experience James’ trip in video form thanks to Canadian-Chinese slackliner Gerald Situ, who captured a beautiful snapshot of the experience.