A climber is using all his skills to climb upward.

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Recently, the first stop of the China Climbing Southwest League was held at the Black Ram Climbing of Chongqing Amusement Park in Nan’an District. There, 119 climbers from Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Chongqing had a fierce competition. The youngest climber was only nine.

The first southwest climbing league has reached international standards.

“Climbing is not a very popular sport; there are only 300-500 people who truly love climbing in Chongqing.” According to Luo Xin, a climbing instructor and the organizer of the activity. With climbing now included in the Olympic Games, in order to promote the development of climbing in Chongqing, they and other climbing gyms in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan jointly organized the China Climbing Southwest League. Four competitions a year are held in Chongqing, Kunming, Guiyang and Chengdu respectively. This is the first as well as the largest quasi-professional event in Southwest China, with the routes designed according to international standards.

“The event the climbers compete in is sport climbing.” According to Luo, climbing is mainly divided into three types: speed climbing, difficult climbing and sport climbing. Speed climbing emphasizes the speed of climbing on the same route, difficult climbing focuses on the climbing height on the route determined by a judge, while sport climbing stresses the number of finished routes among those selected, with the difficulty determined by the route setter.

119 climbers partake in the competition, among whom the youngest is only nine.

There were 119 climbers in total in the competition (47 for the Women’s Group and 72 for the Men’s Group), with Chongqing climbers accounting for one third. In the competition with a relatively high level of difficulty, there were quite a few juvenile climbers. The youngest is Wang Bingtang from Chongqing who is only nine.

In the competition held the day before, Wang finished three routes. “As the routes were mainly set according to the standards for adults, my arms are not long enough to reach certain spots,” said Wang, who loves climbing very much and came to experience the competition with adults this time.

Climbing stresses completing safety protection in advance.

“A number of people think climbing is with high risks, but what climbing emphasizes most is safety protection.” According to Ma Zida, a member of the China National Climbing Team who came to watch the competition, climbing has long been known as “alpine ballet” and “gymnastics on rock faces”, and the event can completely be described as “thrilling but not dangerous”.

“I’ve been engaged in climbing for over 10 years, but I’ve never suffered any injury from it,” said Ma, who is 25. Both speed climbing and difficult climbing require protective measures such as protective rope, and there will be a protective cushion with a thickness of at least 50cm under the rock faces in speed climbing to fully guarantee the safety of climbers. While in outdoor climbing, when climbers see an appropriate climbing route, they explore it several times to confirm the route, install protective devices and only then start climbing. They will never start climbing without any preparations. (Translated by Tang Zhiqiang, Fathom Language Limited)