Video: China Jam - Big Wall Climbing In The Tien Shan Range

Back in October, I posted a story about an expedition to China to climb big walls in the Tien Shan Range that was dubbed China Jam. In a nutshell, three Belgians, Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll, Nicolas Favresse and Stéphane Hanssens, and one Frenchman, Evrard Wendenbaum, traveled to the Chinese-Kyrgyz border to put up the first ascent of Kyzyl Asker, a 5842 meter (19,166 ft) tower with a 1220 meter (4000 ft) exposed face. It took the team two weeks to complete their objective, but eventually they were successful.

The team is now hoping to complete a documentary of their climb and they recently attempted to raise funds on Indiegogo to help complete the project. Unfortunately, those efforts did not succeed, but they aren't giving up just yet. A new site for taking contributions has popped online, giving us all another chance to help fund the film of this expedition. For a sample of what the footage looks like, take a look at the very impressive images in the video below. It looks stunning and I'd love to see this film get completed.

China Jam - Trailer from Evrard Wendenbaum on Vimeo.

Adventure Racing World Series a Success in China

Earlier this week an epic adventure race took place in a remote region of China, marking the debut of the the Adventure Racing World Series in Asia. By all accounts it was a successful first race with just minutes separating the top teams in what promises to be an exciting new addition to the ARWS in the years to come.

The Xtrail Expedition race took place in the Altai Mountain region of China, not far from the border with Mongolia. The event covered 300 km (186 miles) or rough terrain, which the top teams were able to complete in just a few days time. In fact, in a sport that requires hours and days to complete, the three podium finishers were separated by less than 20 minutes, which is a testament to how strong the 28 teams competing in the race truly are. Of those 26 were international squads, while the other two were local Chinese racers.

The winners of the race were the Thule Adventure Team, which completed the grueling route in just 36 hours and 16 minutes. They were followed closely by Team Adventure Medical Kits, who were 14 minutes back, with Haglofs Silva coming in third another 4 minutes behind. The rest of the teams staggered in over the hours that followed, with the course officially closing on Wednesday of this week. Yesterday, the coed teams of four left the region and began the long journey home.

After such an auspicious debut, it seems that the Xtrail race may be a great new addition to the AR World Series. Having visited the part of the world where the event took place myself this summer, I can attest to how beautiful, rugged, and remote it truly is. With the addition of this race to the schedule, the ARWS now has events on six continents, which is an impressive feat in and of itself, and an indication of just how healthy the sport of adventure racing is at the moment.

Now, all eyes will turn towards Australia in November. That will be the host country for the Adventure Racing World Championship, where the 2016 world champs will be crowned. At the moment, it looks like it could be quite an interesting showdown between the best teams on the planet, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

Video: Rock Climbing China's White Mountain

In this video, we'll head to China's White Mountains to go rock climbing with Liu Yongbang, one of that country's promising young climbers. Yongbang, who is also known as "Abond" in climbing circles, attempts a route called Hot Dumpling, which has a rating of 5.14d. For those who don't know, that would put it amongst the most difficult climbs on the planet. Along the way, we'll get some unforgettable footage of the surrounding countryside as well, giving us a glimpse of some of China's great climbing opportunities, which are often overlooked.

Video: Paddling China's Salween River

This video takes us to a remote region of China with Travis Winn, a paddler who visited the same area 15 years ago to make the first descent of the Salween River with his father. Now, he has returned to that same waterway, which is being threatened by damming, to take us on a tour of this amazing part of the world, which is increasingly altered by the industrialization of the landscape.

Salween Spring from NRS Films on Vimeo.