Most far flung place you've climbed?

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Brandon-

climber
The Granite State.
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 26, 2012 - 06:41pm PT
I've always wanted to go to Jordan or Morocco to climb.

Not really far flung, but I'm sure it's far enough out there to make me happy.

Or Kinabalu.


Fat Dad

Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
Sep 26, 2012 - 07:49pm PT
Dang, never made it to Wadi Rum. Petra, yes. Wadi Rum, no. Some day, and I do mean that. (Edit: and it's in Jordan, not Morocco).

In terms of the OP's question, I'm not sure if bouldering counts. I've hit random boulders and cliff bands--some great, some choss--all over: Jordan, the Sinai Peninsula, Aswan, the Atlas Mts., Nepal, Thailand, Finland, France, Britain (England and Wales), Italy. Those last two involved a good bit of roped stuff. Most of that I'd trade for a solid trip to Patagonia or the Alps. Just too much good stuff out there.
Andy Fielding

Trad climber
UK
Sep 26, 2012 - 08:00pm PT
Darlington Boulders near Perth, Western Australia. I wandered around for hours through the bush until almost by accident I stumbled upon them. Not the easiest crag to find in the world.


divad

Trad climber
wmass
Sep 26, 2012 - 08:18pm PT
Sleepy Hollow
TWP

Trad climber
Mancos, CO
Sep 26, 2012 - 08:30pm PT
Vang Vieng, Laos.

It was a total stoner party town even then (2005 or so) but I hired a Lao climber who took me "bouldering" for a day. We walked around the countryside and I saw incredibly poor, malnourished people during our rambling. We walked through a cave passage that created a shortcut instead of following along a river. The climbing wasn't worth the effort.
Gene

climber
Sep 26, 2012 - 08:38pm PT
Not actually climbing – more jungle slogging than anything – but I once walked across the island of Savaii (Samoa) in a day via Mt. Sili Sili, the highest summit in the archipelago. About a Grade III+, J3. Mandatory gear: machete.

g
paganmonkeyboy

climber
mars...it's near nevada...
Sep 26, 2012 - 09:07pm PT
the people's republic of boulder...
Kenygl

Trad climber
Salt Lake City
Sep 26, 2012 - 09:11pm PT
Point perpendicular NSW Australia
tiki-jer

Trad climber
fresno/clovis
Sep 26, 2012 - 10:45pm PT
Somewhere in the Drakensburg, South Africa........Mt Kinabalu, Borneo......Girl's Floor at a Singapore Hostel....and bouldering in Curacao looking at Venezuela.
Melissa

Gym climber
berkeley, ca
Sep 26, 2012 - 11:48pm PT
A really tall gym in Edinburgh and about two rainy hours at Stanage Edge.
Fritz

Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
Sep 27, 2012 - 12:39am PT
I only climbed up the trail.




One of many 19,000-21,000 Ft. peaks in Mustang Nepal.

From our campsite at 12,000 Ft.

karodrinker

Trad climber
San Jose, CA
Sep 27, 2012 - 01:15am PT
Wow what a cool thread. Sh#t, I need to get out more! I really just stick to stuff I can drive to. Farthest Drive for climbing is Red Rocks from San Jose.

Brandon, 15 countries is a lot man, considering that most people in this world never leave home. I'll bet you are in the top 1 percent of world travelers!
Delhi Dog

climber
Good Question...
Sep 27, 2012 - 01:54am PT
Hmm, Wadi Rum-check though I wish I had more time there...a return is in order, sure felt remote at times
Thailand- check (agreed that the bar seat isn't quite remote though the longer I sat there the more remote I felt)
Oman-check fairly remote in a couple places, not so in others
Border of Nepal and India along the Kali River-check fairly remote if the time to get there counts (lots of other "remote" river canyon bouldering/tr'ing in India + Nepal
Ladhak, India-check fairly remote
Alaska-check though just along the road so probably knott remote
BC- bugs-check, not so remote
Burma bouldering-check, remote probably but if there are people watching wondering what the heck are you doing that probably doesn't count
Sri Lanka-check probably knott remote ^^ see Burma
Vietnam- check though now probably knott so remote
Wyoming-check, at times when those sheep are looking cute

I'll have to dig for photos

Now fly fishing...that's another story:-)

cheers
ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber
bouldering
Sep 27, 2012 - 02:27am PT
... a two day hike in to do a 24 pitch 5.11 first ascent.

I plead no contest.
Guangzhou

Trad climber
Asia, Indonesia, East Java
Sep 27, 2012 - 03:04am PT
Not my most remote, but sure felt committed at the time. My mother tried to have me committed when I told her about the trip.

While living in China, four of us decided to visit Gualiang Village. Gualiang Village was isolated until a series of hand carved tunnels were built in the mountainside. (Forget how many years the process took.) The windows in the side of the tunnel were where the carvers would throw the rock out to clear the way. An amazing feat for sure.



From what we had read and heard, it should have been a fairly straightforward and easy trip, but it was China and thing are not always what they seem. We knew a couple other climbers had explored the region and claimed that the area had fantastic climbing possibility too.

Gualiang is located in Henan Province, the Taihang Mountains specifically, and should take about 3 hours to reach from Xingxian but took us almost eight hours because of a tunnel collapse. We were lucky; the collapse happened a couple days before we passed through, no one knows how many died inside. This was nearly ten years ago.

With the tunnel collapse, we had to squirt the mountain via dirt road on a very overloaded bus. One passenger had a couple of chicken and a goat with him, this didn’t help the situation any. About half way around the mountain, our bus driver saw an opportunity and decided to stop the bus near bee farmers. Riders had a choice, pay extra because of the extra fuel cost, or get off the bus and hitch hike. My girl friend at the time, and my buddy’s girlfriend were both Chinese and protested, but my buddy and I convinced them it wasn’t the best place to piss off the driver. We negotiated a fee that was half what the driver initially ask for, roughly $1.50 per person. This cause the other passenger to ask for a refund of 50%, they threatened to tip the bus over if no refund was provided. Money returned, we moved onwards.

Guoliang has about 200 inhabitants, many growing apricots. Decades ago, the Guoliang Tunnel was carved along the side of and through to make the village accessible. Today, the area is a tourist destination, we were early tourist in the cycle, and many of the villagers were seeing white skin for the first time. We feasted on apricot dishes, and some other foods that to this day I can’t identify, neither could my girlfriend at the time. Some was delicious, other ….

What we found from a climbing point of view was a lifetime of first ascent on clean and mostly solid rock. Of the 10 or so first ascents we did, only two had loose rock worth mentioning. Routes will range from 7 to 20 pitches there. In the main valley, you can climb from the ground and reach the village at the top. On the tunnel side, we stopped at tunnel or road height because we had no bolts for the rappels above.

If you go, bring a bolt kit, even a drill. They were some great looking cracks that started about 40 or 50 feet up with no protection to reach them. Definitely climbable, but to difficult for me to climb unprotected. We did lower/rappel from the tunnel at one point to climb two glorious pitches back up.

While there we found two other valley with almost as much rock. Endless cracks await climbers willing to venture there. Local villagers now have turn their house into excellent bed and breakfast, a week there would cost you less them 60 USD including breakfast and dinner.

We visited the region in Late July/August; I was as schoolteacher so limited. Fall would be much better for sure. If you go, keep in mind, no local hospitals, no rescue, and crap roads.

On our way back, we decide to use an alternate route, but that’s a all other adventure and story.

Eman

I'll post photos later, but you can google Gualiang Tunnel China to see plenty of images.
steveA

Trad climber
bedford,massachusetts
Sep 27, 2012 - 06:14am PT
Vietnam and Blue Mountains-Australia
RP3

Big Wall climber
El Portal/Chapel Hill
Sep 27, 2012 - 09:17am PT
Beach bouldering in Michoacan, Mexico
Delhi Dog

climber
Good Question...
Sep 27, 2012 - 09:22am PT
cool tale Guangzhou.
Sounds like a place to go!

cheers
John Duffield

Mountain climber
New York
Sep 27, 2012 - 04:33pm PT
Hard to say. I've done a few. Some of the islands off the coast of China are/were pretty remote. Africa, Asia, South America. Loads of places

This looks pretty remote. India, near Pakistan. The Hindu Kush. Pick something to climb.


Stewart Johnson

climber
lake forest
Sep 27, 2012 - 05:25pm PT
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