China: Liming Rock Climbing Guidebook

by | May 1, 2018

Liming Rock
by Mike Dobie
Mike’s Website

Liming is China’s premier destination for sandstone climbing and while it has gained notoriety with the trad routes, the most recent wave of development has focused on sport climbing. In addition to up to date beta on all the classic climbs the Rakkup guide is the only resource for the four new sport climbing areas plus new trad routes not in the print version. A total of 30 sectors and 260 routes (as long as 10 pitches) are included in this handy resource.

The Liming area is huge, yet centralized with a town that serves as a central hub for the local natives “the Lisu people” who inhabit the area. There are two main valleys that have seen climbing development spanning an area of about 7 km. The geological diversity is extreme. Tucked into these mountains is an ancient geological seabed that has been uplifted at a hard angle to expose three types of rock. One layer is a softer sandstone with cracks, splitters, and bouldery bolted face climbing, another is a harder type of yellow sandstone filled with pockets and jugs suitable for fun sport climbing, and hidden within these two are pockets of fine grained, vertical to steep granite with cracks. With such a large area and routes going up almost daily during the season, this convenient app will help you stay up to date with the current conditions and new routes.

A few of the main climbing areas are within walking distance from the guesthouses in town with approaches 30-45 minutes. With that said there are also areas that have roadside access using the transportation options detailed in the app. As with all rakkup guides, GPS navigation is featured and makes the approaches much easier. This is a welcomed addition as some areas remain quite wild and access via small trail systems used by local goat herders which can be confusing to navigate at times.

Included is travel beta to help navigate arrival and preparation. There is a particularly useful section for non-Chinese speakers with step by step directions on how to get to Liming. Also pronunciations and characters to show drivers and people where you want to go. China can be an intimidating place if you have never been, but these features make it much easier.

Buy both versions of the guidebook (print and digital) for only $46.99! That price includes $7.00 for U.S. domestic shipping, meaning that you get the print book for only $32 more! A great deal on a beautiful guidebook! Shipping outside the U.S. costs more and we will follow up after your purchase with shipping options and costs.

Please note a VPN is required to download guidebooks behind the Chinese firewall.