Editor's note: We'd like to thank Lósang Hita for compiling this Kunming climbing guide and Tom Kirkpatrick for providing the photos of Xiaomoyu cave. If you would like to contribute to GoKunming, please contact us.
A mild climate and an abundance of quality limestone make Kunming a great place for rock climbing. Both sport and traditional climbing are now more popular than ever among a diverse group of Kunmingers. There are also gyms in downtown Kunming where climbers can improve their strength and technique on rainy days or between trips out of the city. Here are some of the most established places to climb around the city:
Fumin Gorge
There is great climbing at the cliffs rising above the Tanglang River (螳螂川) about three kilometers south of the town of Fumin (富民). The area is normally a 45-minute car journey west-northwest of Kunming, but heavy road works and traffic can sometimes significantly lengthen the trip.
There are many bolted sport routes and crags that provide lovely technical face climbing in an airy setting. There are also some relatively shallow routes that are good places for beginners to develop technique without exhausting their arm muscles. Grades range from about 5.8 to 5.13 and there are even some multipitch routes.
To get there take the G108 highway to Fumin and head south along the Tanglang River on Liyang Lu (黎阳路). After about three kilometers, turn left and cross the river on a small bridge to access the crags. Coming in from the direction of Anning in the south is also an option for those familiar with local roads.
Xiaomoyu Cave
This is a hard-to-find cave near a small village called Xiaomoyu, about a five-minute drive northwest of Bamboo Temple (筇竹寺). One of the cave's major advantages is that it stays relatively dry and allows for climbing on real rock during the June to August Yunnan rainy season.
The most difficult routes are inside the cave and range from 5.10b (6a) to 5.13d (8b) with heights of 10 to 25 meters. The heavily featured limestone offers nice variation in style, ranging from short bouldery problems to longer flowing lines. Even good climbers can expect to be defeated on their first try of some of the more difficult routes, especially if they have been enjoying the holiday grades common in other parts of Asia.
While the inside of the cave has a higher concentration of quality routes there are also nice problems to be found on the wall outside, with routes from 5.10 and up.
To get there follow the road to Bamboo Temple for about 1.5 kilometers beyond the temple and turn left onto the four-lane divided highway with which it intersects. A few hundred meters later a sign indicates the turnoff for Xiaomoyu (小墨雨) on the right. Turn right and follow the dirt road past a quarry to the village of Xiaomoyu. A clean rock face should be visible from the village on the other side of some corn fields. The entrance to the cave is on the left side of this rock face.
Red Point
Red Point is the largest climbing gym in Kunming. It offers a nice environment and is frequented by many high-level climbers. Most of the 100-square-meter wall is overhead climbing but there are also some vertical sections. Red Point also has a clothing and climbing equipment shop and occasionally holds small climbing competitions that are partly an excuse to throw a party.
Location: Number 1, Building 49, Sujia Cun, Dongjiawan, Huancheng Dong Lu
环城东路苏家村董家湾49幢1号
Price: 20 yuan
Flying Eagle
Flying Eagle is an outdoor activities club that opened in early 2007. It has a quality rock climbing wall covering about 70 square meters with a bar and a small outdoor clothing shop. Most of the wall is overhead climbing. The decor and music are pleasant.
Location: 20 Xuefu Lu, 2nd floor
学府路20号2层
Price: 10 yuan
The area around Kunming is littered with limestone crags waiting to be developed by intrepid climbers. Leave a comment with your favorite climbing spot or additional information about the places we've profiled.
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Comments
Buy the guidebook!
as usual all the money wil go in bolts.
can be found at redpoint.
and ifyou wanna open new routes go to redpoint and look for wang er, he has the drill.
ah, again, buy the guidebook to have REAL indications about how to get to the Fumin crags and Xiaomoyu.
those are incorrect and incomplete (Fumin has 6 crags, the one listed is old red rock, and you will never get there if you only follow those indications).
support bolting, buy a guidebook!!!!!
The article gives a basic idea of what is around Kunming and is obviously not intended to be or to replace the guidebook!
For people who are seriously interested in rock climbing here buying the guidebook from Redpoint gym is a very good idea.
where can i get a copy of that book? how do i get to redpoint? can anyone provide a map? thanks.
ok, just to make clear that buying the guidebook helps the bolting process..
here how to get to redpoint:
www.climbingkunming.com/aboute.htm
ps:tom, i am alberto. I 've lost my phone in the states so....by any chance,, are you going to tuanjiexiang tomorrow?
yosemite was great!
semola call me! one three 6 5 88 four four 317. peter
Cheers Pete, I keep forgetting to get your number.
hey y'all,
im a climber from the states who just moved to kunming and I am finding it pretty hard to find exactly where on the east ring road redpoint is. google maps doesn't know the address and it seems www.climbkunming.com is out of service. I also tried to call. No answer. Can you tell me some kind of landmarks of where it is?
hi dan,
If you still need a help, you can contact me. BTW: I have my own gear bought in Europe, we can go somewhere together for climbing;
gapyearinkunming[at]gmail.com
I scoped out a pretty nice boulder on a ride around Changchong Shan today that would be pretty good for bouldering. Its got a nice exit to the top for getting down and top roping if desired (although its only about 5 metres high). Check out the blue boulder on my map here: maps.google.com/[...]
There were maybe 3 routes up this thing, one particularly nasty slight overhang lay back on the south side which would see me barn dooring for africa!
Note I also included a blue link to some cliffs which I am sure would have some good climable routes. There is a little view station on top of the cliffs and a good path to it so reeks of climbing potential. Its all limestone rock and undiscovered... local climbers should get in there and start developing it up there!
Gonna be moving to Kunming in a month or so. If anyone is up for showing me local climbing/bouldering spots I would be keen. Only been climbign a few months, bouldering V4/5 and sports 6a's or the occasional b or + so pretty much novice climber but able to belay. will be bringing harness and shoes but little else. What is kunming like for renting/buying gear? I have heard all kinds of stories about shitty ripoff chinese karabiners etc.
I'm moving to Kunming next month! ( Late August) looking forward to meeting you all and climbing!! I lead sport and second trad. It'll be cool to climb some routes that I've never done and make some contacts so that we can head out of town on the weekends to climb!
I've climbed at both of these locations in Kunming in 2011 I believe. Climbing competitions are kind of fun, I hope that there will be some coming up. I did my first one in Shanghai a few years back. I'm excited to live in China again and to climb! See you soon.
Cheers,
Holly -Canada
Hi everyone I`m here now!
I tried calling the phone number for Red point but the number didn`t work. This is the number on their website. 0871-337-2350.
Does anyone know their hours?
I'm going to go check out both gyms today: Red Point and Flying Eagle.
Maybe they`ll have their hours on the doors.
Cheers,
Holly
158-eight seven eight six- 77 one zero.
@Holly.28
Don't know if Red Point is still going, but last year Kunming added a "6" to the beginning of all land line numbers. Try calling 63372350.
Holly, that's definitely awesome if we can do it together.
So I found Red Point, It's close to Tuodong Stadium. It's open from 4-10pm Mon-Fri and you can call this number if you have any questions: 138-eight eight one four-8768. The address is: 拓东路120号3-13(昆明市规划展厅旁)
and you can find pictures of how to get there at their website: www.climbingkunming.com/?page_id=11
I also went on an adventure to find Flying Eagle gym. Apparently it's also an outdoor club. But I couldn't find is at this address: 学府路20号2层 and there's no contact number. Does anyone know if this gym is still going? Where it is? A contact number?
Cheers,
Holly
Hi Holly 28
I often go to the mountains for paragliding, you're welcome to join if you want to check out some potential climbing sites.
Does anybody know places to buy climbing gear in Kunming?
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