Shanghai Climbing (21 April 2013)

Work takes me to China with some regularity. Most of my trips have been to the south, but this time I was in Shanghai. After a little research, I didn't find any nearby crags (unlike Hong Kong) but I did find several climbing gyms. A coworker had tried the Hongkou Stadium facility and said it wasn't bad, but the holds were a bit greasy, and encouraged me to explore elsewhere.

So, I visited the Shanghai Stadium Rock Climbing center. Despite being the "largest indoor rockclimbing center [in China]," it's really only about 100 horizontal feet of holds built into the side of the stadium walls. Not a world class climbing gym at all, but not bad.

The bouldering was no Planet Granite. I think there were only two marked routes, with no grades. The walls were mostly plywood with some sand/paint, which brought me back to my time at the MIT bouldering room. Small greasy holds were the name of the game. However, small groups of climbers were finding their own problems and having a bunch of fun. Climbing is climbing, and a bit of creativity is all that's needed.

I only played on the boulders and never got on a rope, and the wall climbing looked more fun and varied, so I'd definitely go back with a partner. And I'll be looking for some outdoor crags, too.