Fashionable sports vs. poor county
However, poor transportation and infrastructure are the problems hindering local development.
Climbers, who claimed to be the super fans of nature, could endure the conditions initially, such as living in the nearby the cliffs without taking showers for days, but they were soon found suffering under the various hardships that go hand in hand with underdevelopment.
Ziyun Miao and Buyei Autonomous Counties are not only remote, it has been classified a state-level poor county for a long time. In 2010, the per capital income of local farmers was a mere 3,123 yuan. The situation was much worse a couple of years ago, when there were no buildings or farmhouses beside the Getu Valley at all, revealed China News Week.
"At that time we had to limit the intake of participants in our activities to make sure we didn't become a burden on the locals," added Gan Xiaochuan, an employee of the Sport Administration of Guizhou.
Moreover, even with �400,000 euros from the organizer Petzl, and funds from provincial and local governments to help stage China RocTrip 2011, at the end of the day the county found itself short of important resources for an activity of this scale, such as English interpreters, medics, security guards and electricians.
"The Getu Valley could take in 250 people at most, but five or six hundred climbers were coming for the contest," pointed out Liu Tinghong, vice head of the county, adding that "we were already under considerable pressure due to our poor infrastructure and rather small capacity for accommodating visitors."
Yet, the event would undoubtedly make a name for the county, which fits with its evident efforts to develop its local economy via promoting fashionable sports in its wonderful landscapes, a China News Week analysis concluded.
A blue moon
"Since Petzl, a leading manufacturer of climbing equipment, found in favor of the Getu Valley as one of the locations for the 2011 RocTrip China, it opened more than 300 routes in two years and attracted a great number of curious world famous climbers. In this regard, the county is very lucky," explained Ding Xianghua.
"In 10-20 years, Getu Valley is likely to become a state-level rock climbing park and a significant venue for world-class rock climbing competitions," Ding added.
It is also the first time China has backed the exploration of its territory with a foreign company as the lead investor, a fresh development model called "Ziyun Getu Valley Mode" by the locals, reported China News Week.
As early as the 1980s, the sport of rock climbing had its own national competition in China, but not until the 1990s had the first batch of amateur climbers appeared on the scene. Routes on the cliffs of Beijing, Kunming, Yunnan Province, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Yangshuo County, Guiling used to be the main destinations.
The year 2010 was a turning point, according to Ding, when levels of government in Xinxiang, Henan Province made the effort to explore routes for climbers in their local scenic spots.
Compared to the development mode of routes where the government was the initiator, Ding is convinced that the "Ziyun Getu Valley Mode" has proven more effective, since a foreign company can assemble the best team in the world to put up new routes。"
"Local government invested little for this great harvest of climbing routes," says Ding, who feels RocTrip has turned out to be that once in a blue moon opportunity they made good on.
