Lijiang

BETA PHOTO: Six of the bolted lines in the Lijiang canyon. A s...

Description 

CAUTION: This information is current circa 2004. Be prepared for things to have changed, like everywhere in China

In the last 10 years, Lijiang has become a well-known Chinese tourist destination. Although best known for its massive tourism, there are growing opportunities for trekking and other forms of adventure tourism in the surrounding mountains and canyons. Any guidebook to China has access information for Lijiang.

The river that drains the mountains and plains surrounding Lijiang cuts through a range of low hills south of town, on its way toward the Jinsha (Yangtze) River. The main highway from Dali to Lijiang (and from the airport to Lijiang) follows this narrow canyon. In 2002, the owner of a small café in Lijiang Old Town put up the first climbing routes near the mouth (south end) of the canyon. Like all rock on the Yunnan Plateau, this is another limestone crag. To date, there are 7 bolted lines in the canyon (only six appear on the beta photo; there was a new project bolted on the upstream (right) end).

Contact A Long at the Sunrise Café in Lijiang Old Town for more information about Lijiang climbing.

Getting There 

From Lijiang, head south on Highway 214 for about 20 km, passing through the toll gate, through a narrow gap in the hills, and descending to the agricultural plain. The Lijiang airport is a few kilometers farther down the road. Near the bottom of the hill a dirt road intersects the highway on the right. Turn on to this and travel west and back northerly, winding around some low hills and skirting the edge of the crop fields, crossing a bridge at the mouth of the canyon. The climbs are all on the crags on the west side of the river beginning at the mouth of the canyon.