To the bemusement of locals, three climbers make a first ascent of a striking and technical peak looming over a remote valley in Gansu province.
OLA LOOKED TOWARDS ME WITH A CONCERNED EXPRESSION, then returned her attention to the wall. I understood, yet held my words. Finally she couldn’t stay silent.
“He’s really runout and his existing protection’s not very good,” she said.
Despite being 30m up with only two cams and two mediocre-slung bushes between him and the ground though, Chuan continued to move confidently over the rock. I agreed with her, but suggested we give him a little more time. If any of those pieces failed, he was looking at a ground fall. Then he entered a technical section with few holds and no options for protection, and stalled. Ola shouted up, suggesting he place a bolt. After contemplating his predicament, Chuan down climbed to a good stance and called up the drill to place a bolt. Ola and I exchanged glances of relief. The adventure was just getting started, this was no time for any of us to take a bad fall.
Our team had first learned of Zhagana in the summer of 2016 when a photo showed up in the Yangshuo climbers’ We chat group. In the picture, a prominent beak of rock protruded from the middle of a jagged limestone massif. Below, an idyllic village nestled among terraced hills. The scene set the chat group afire with questions about whether the peak had been climbed and who would climb it first. While most claims didn’t make it out of the chat group, Ola Przybysz quietly set about researching and planning an expedition for the following year.
In the months after seeing the photo, Przybysz reached out to Beijing-based Chuan He, a climber with many first ascents to his name. Chuan quickly agreed to join her but insisted they bring a third member to mitigate the risks associated with unknown terrain on remote walls. Przybysz then asked me to join. I needed little convincing to fly in from the US and our little team fixed a date in May 2017.
This story is from the May - June 2018 edition of Action Asia.
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This story is from the May - June 2018 edition of Action Asia.
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