Climbing & Scenic Pictures
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Taiwan rock & mountain climbing

• Taiwan climbing areas locator map
• Early years-me climbing with my older sister and brother somewhere in Taiwan. Note the great footwear. (82k)

• Dragon Cave (LungTung)  [location info]
• Wallpaper pictures
• Approach trail-seaside "trail". At high tide a couple of spots require that you traverse the cliff band for a short distance. (72k)
• Traverse picture #2- this little spot can be quite intimidating to the novice. (49k)
• My family hiking in-my kids, my dad, part of my sister and me hiking in to climb (hey, it's a personal web site). (57k)
• Climbing pic #1-climber leading. (75k)
• Climbing pic #2-climber on toprope. (68k)
• Dragon Cave-in the center, the cave is actually a natural tunnel with a ceiling 20-30 feet high that passes through a cliff band. It may look like fun climbing, but it's junk rock, so be careful. (53k) [wallpaper version]
• Chillin' out-some climbers taking a break in front of a popular cliff face. It can get really hot here in the summer months. Bring a swim suit and maybe snorkeling gear for quick cooling off in the Pacific Ocean. (68k)
• Busy day-more climbers, mostly relaxing, in front of the cliffs. (46k)
• Mark climbing-my son nearing the top of the Wedding Route, a great 5.7. (42k)
• Teri climbing-"If Mark can do it, so can I." My daughter on the Wedding Route. (38k)
• Bouldering-my brother-in-law, Mark, working a few moves. (40k)
• Resting-a couple of climbers taking a break between attempts on one of the many overhanging routes at Dragon Cave. (42k)
• Long Lane-looking toward the "Long Lane" area, the dark gap between the cliffs in the center of the picture. The "Whale Head" creates the prominent roof half-way up the cliffs on the left. To my knowledge there is no route across the roof. (58k)
• Cliff band-looking north along one of the cliff bands. (53k)
• Rappeling a route-my father-in-law on his way back down. (57k)
• "Big wall" bivy-a nice little bivy site about 80 feet up. The east facing cliffs make for beautiful sunrises and hot mornings. (65k)
• Rock closeup-note the unique patch of quartz crystals; this is high friction stuff. (75k)
• Mark on "Oh!"- the route begins with an overhang. (48k)
• Higher on "Oh!"- after the 5.8 crux overhang, it's a nice face climb. (43k)
• Lungtung Rock Climbing Guide book
• Old Route Topos
• Big Canon Cliff  [location info]
• Climber pic #1-climber toproping a short 5.9, wondering if his fingertips are still there. (65k)
• Climber pic #2-Julie pulling through the overhang on The Last Overhang route. (63k)
• Climber pic #3-another climber toproping a short climb. (32k)
• Climber pic #4-my father-in-law, Andy, on another climb. (32k)
• BCC cliffs-The Slab area on the left and The Last Overhang on the right. (50k)
• Big Cannon Cliff Climbing & Bouldering Guide
• GwanDzLing [location info]
• Entrance gate-just look for the red tile house on the left and drive through the gate and up the small road beyond it. (30k)
• Extreme Rock-the path from the concrete road leads up to this first cliff. There are bolted routes on the face. (54k)
• Another cliff-yet another small cliff face at GwanDzLing. Most of the rock is very soft limestone. (50k)
• Kenting National Park  [location info]
• Climbing pic #1-probably hundreds of these small cliffs lie on the hillsides above the ocean and await someone to come and develop them. (65k)
• Climbing pic #2-sand blown up from the ocean makes for a nice soft landing, but also gets into all your gear. (69k)
• New route development-first bolt in on the best 5.9 in the universe! (Well, maybe not that good.) (91k)
• Mark leading-my son on "Displaying Very Little Talent", his first lead (5.9?). (57k)
• Julie climbing-holds everywhere, but some are just too sharp to grab. (59k)
• Overhanging limestone-plenty of new route potential here. Note my daughter standing in the bottom right corner for a perspective. (55k)
• Nixon's Nose-Mark logging some air time off of Sail Rock (aka Nixon Rock). (23k)
• Big Pointed Mountain-as seen from the west with horses in the forground. (37k)
• Big Pointed Mountain top-some of my friends on top. The view is quite nice from on top of this 318 meter "mountain". (30k)
• Ku Kuan[location info]
• Ku Kuan river bed area-short cliffs in the river bed. Note the overhead tyrolean traverse. (63k)
• Mark on toprope-can't see much of the climbing in this pic, but my son was having fun climbing in the river bed area. (60k)
• Teri on the tyrolean traverse-my daughter returning from her walk across the river (about 30 feet up). Because the military uses the area for training, there are some fun "toys" to play with when you want a new thrill. (50k)
• Green Island [location info]
• Cliffs everywhere!-there is an incredible amount of rock and cliffs around Green Island. Unfortunately most of the cliffs are made up of very soft, loose rock. (45k)
• Climbing-we only found small group of basalt cliffs with solid enough rock for climbing. Here's a climber on toprope. (50k)
• Climbing #2-same climber, different angle. (44k)
• Climbing #3-from below showing two easy to setup lines. (75k)
• Basalt cliffs-these ancient basalt columns have tilted 90 degrees and create a unique look. The rest of the very abundant rock we found on Green Island was "junk", too loose for climbing. (30k) [wallpaper version]
• Basalt cliffs #2-here is the same formation from another angle. We didn't climb on this particular piece of rock, instead setting up a couple of ropes on a somewhat separated piece of the same basalt columns not surrounded by water. (38k) [wallpaper version]
• Location-arrow points to the location of the cliffs shown above. These cliffs are near the "Sleeping Beauty and Her Dog" formation (top of the picture). (50k)
• Chi Lai Mountain
• The North Peak from below-the north peak rises to 3605m. While considered one of the more dangerous peaks on the island because of sudden weather changes, the hike also has third class scrambling over loose rock which has claimed lives. The ridge traverse between the three main peaks is a "tight-rope act" and it's a long way down. (45k)
• On the top-my wife and I on top of Chi Lai Shan north peak, December 1996. (There was only a little ice and frost at this time; for a more "alpine" ascent, wait until January or February; by March you can start dealing with full-on hypothermia weather--rain and sleet at 35 degrees, the stuff epics are made of.) (40k)
• Jade Mountain (Yu Shan)-the tallest mountain on Taiwan stands 3952m.
• Trail-watch your head and your step. The Jade Mountain hike is reasonable for most relatively fit people. (56k)
• Jade Range-part of the Jade Mountain Range. (36k)
• Sea of Clouds-hiker stands on an auxiliary peak, facing the sunrise above a sea of clouds. (40k)
• Taroko Gorge-plenty of rock, but not a climbing location. Much of the rock here is smooth river polished marble or too loose to dare climb on. It is beautiful though. These picture were taken on my last trip there which was in cloudy and rainy weather.
• Waterfall-it's not Yosemite Falls, but there is an upper falls, middle cascades and lower falls at this nice spot. (46k) [wallpaper version]
• Waterfall 2-in this sub-tropical climate, water abounds. (61k)
• River rocks-the white marble creates quite a beautiful contrast with the darker colors around. (33k)
• Marble walls-this is only a tributary, but you can already see the deeply carved marble walls. The main gorge is spectacular in its depth and narrowness. (43k)
• Memorial-they sure know how to pick a spot. This waterfall originates just behind the memorial at a single gushing spring. (49k)
• Together: Giant Outdoor Spirit wall [location]
• Store front view-definitely designed to be noticed, this formed concrete outdoor climbing wall looks wild. (37k)
• Close up-here's the wall from a side angle and closer up. The "arms" can be seen more clearly here. (44k)
• Around the side-the main wall continues around the side of the building where there is vertical climb with a section to practice stemming and chimney technique. (40k)
• Cracks anyone?-a separate section of wall on the other front corner of the building is designed for crack climbing. There are some built in features as well, but no bolt-on holds. (46k)
• Sun & Tree Outfitters bouldering cave- [location]
• Pic 1- There are a variety of surface shapes at this cave. (55k)
• Pic 2- There are even holds on part of the ceiling, and a one foot thick pad on the floor makes for great bouldering. (42k)
• Outdoor Fun Taiwan wall- [location] 50 feet high and 12 feet wide, this wall starts overhanging at 12 feet up and doesn't stop. There is also a bouldering cave beside this wall. (55k)
• My home wall-my kids spend more time on it as a jungle gym/swing set than I do climbing. Every home should have one! (40k)

• Wallpaper pictures
• Great White Book
• Stately Pleasure Dome-Great White Book follows the large dihedral near the right profile of the dome. (31k)
• The Great White Book-Mark's first multi-pitch climb. (22k)
• One more pitch-Julie and Mark a pitch below, preparing to climb. (18k)
• Tenaya Lake-looking down on Tenaya Lake from near the top with Half Dome just visible in the distance. (16k)
• The descent-Julie and Mark on the descent from the top of Stately Pleasure Dome. (27k)
• The Grack-Center
• Lead climber #1- (53k)
• Lead climber #2-setting a belay. (45k)
• Seconding-my wife following. (52k)
• Snake Dike[topo][beta]
• Snake Dike route-the southwest face of Half Dome with the Snake Dike route marked. (60k)
• First pitch-starting out on one of the most beautiful, long 5.7 climbs in the park. (31k)
• Royal Arches Route [trip report/beta]
• Royal Arches-from Glacier point. (68k) [wallpaper version]
• Royal Arches Route-approximate route marked. (94k)
• "Lunch break"-a belay somewhere on the route. (32k)
• Pendulum pitch-looking back across the pendulum. (26k)
• South Crack, Stately Pleasure Dome, Tuolumne
• Julie following-one of the early pitches. (40k)
• Julie above-with a longer rope, you can make it to the ledge she is on in one pitch. (34k)
• Nutcracker-Andy following a pitch in the middle of the route. (37k)
• Fecophilia start to CS Concerto-climber happy to be clipping the first bolt. (69k)
• South Face of Washington Column [trip report/beta]
• South Face route-Washington Column from the Curry Village parking lot with the South Face route marked. (70k)
• Washington Column-from near the switchback where you turn back toward the west after heading east. Dinner Ledge is the huge step just below the middle of the picture. (49k)
• Kor Roof-pitch four is a great pitch, especially for the leader. (61k)
• Dinner Ledge-it's hard to get out of bed on this nice of a bivy. (37k)
• Pitch 5-Rich leading the top half of pitch five above the two bolt rappel station. (39k)
• The top-Ron topping out at sunset. (48k)
• Half Dome-seen from Dinner Ledge just before sunrise. (24k)
• Prow of Washington Column
• Prow route-east face of Washington Column. The Prow route is the prominent white streak up the center of the upper wall. (49k)
• Pitch one-looking down after having cleaned the first pitch. (87k)
• Pitch two-mostly TCU's and a few brass nuts. (84k)
• Pitch two belay-approaching the belay while cleaning the pitch. (61k)
• North Dome Gully-as seen from low on the Prow route. (64k)
• Half Dome
• Slab Approach-view from Mirror Lake with the middle and upper slab approach marked (approximate). (112k)
• Base-looking down at the base of the wall approaching from the shoulder. The NWRR starts in the vicinity of the snow drift visible in the bottom center of this picture which was taken in late July. (70k)
• Up the NW  face-looking up the wall from the base of the Regular Route. Climber is rappeling the first pitch. (55k) [wallpaper version]
• Down the NW face-from the visor, looking down toward Thank God Ledge, the slabs and the valley. (61k)
• Mirror Lake view-the slabs and the the NW face from Mirror Lake. (65k)
• Half Dome with a poser-the northwest face of Half Dome as seen from the top of Washington Column. (22k)
• Half Dome from Washington Column-the same picture as above but without the goofy climber. (21k)
• NW Regular Route-the face with the route marked. (39k)
• Classic view-from Yosemite Valley between the trees. (43k) [wallpaper version]
• South Face-it sure looks different from the back. (28k)
• View from Tuolumne- and another different view. (24k)
• El Capitan-through the trees. (42k)
• Yosemite Falls (62k)
• Vernal Falls-from the trail below. (44k)
• Mirror Lake-my wife and son walking in the sand along Mirror Lake with Yosemite cliffs in the background. I love this shot. (60k)
• Arial Views - swiped from USGS via the Microsoft TerraServer (all photos 800x600 dpi grayscale).
• Yosemite Valley - El Cap in the upper left and Half Dome in the upper right. (101k)
• El Capitan (64k)
• Half Dome (73k)

• Devil's Doorway-a cool looking formation. (45k)
• Doorway Crack-5.8 if you start from the bottom. (31k)
• Full Stop-a fun 5.6. My first lead, probably in 1986. (34k)
• Mouse Tracks-a fun 5.11a. Mouse Wall is known for its more course sandstone feel. (30k)
• Leaning Tower-Julie and her brother, Paul, working a 5.8 in younger days. (34k)
• Kris and Randal-my sister and brother climbing back in the 80's. (35k)
• Saint-our Alaskan Malemute enjoyed being with us up at Devil's Lake even if we kept him on a short belay. (40k)
• Teri on toprope-who says you can't climb in a dress? (45k)
• Mark-following one of the many nice 5.6 leads. (38k)
• Sometime Crack-Jon from Ft. Wayne, IN [jthirsch@aol.com] leading a classic, overhanging hand crack. This is one tough 5.10 lead. (57k)
• Topping out-Jon on the final few moves of Sometime Crack. (57k)
• Birch Tree Crack-at the crux of this tricky 5.8. (37k)
• Chicago-a classic 5.8. Considered a dangerous lead. (49k)

• Bouldering-Mark showing his dad how it's done. (35k)
• Fall Wall-Ron in the middle of the climb. (22k)
• "5.11 Crack"-it's really only a 5.9, but it still is a good climb. (28k)
• MRC area-just plain fun climbing at all levels. (38k)

• Reach the Flake-(I think?) a fun little overhanging face climb. (83k)
• Lark Canyon Crack-the obvious crack in the lower boulder. (56k)
• More boulders-and the possible new routes are endless. (60k)

Cliff pic #1-with its proximity to San Diego, Mission Gorge is a nice little crag. (26k)

Cliff pic #2 (22k)

 

Half Dome NW Face from near Mirror Lake	Half Dome NW Face from Yosemite Valley	Half Dome from low on the Prow of Washington Column	Classic view of Yosemite Valley
Looking up Half Dome NW Face Regular Route from the base	Royal Arches from Glacier Point	Washington Column	Washington Column, North Dome and Royal Arches
Washington Column and Half Dome	Tenaya Lake and some Tuolumne Domes	Tuolumne landscape	Across Mirror Lake toward the east
Taroko Gorge- waterfalls and a swinging bridge	Dragon Cave - looking south from the Wedding Route belay ledge	Dragon Cave - looking north from the Wedding Route belay ledge	Dragon Cavecliffs (Long Lane & Beside Monobridge on the left)
Dragon Cave scenery- looking north toward the School Gate area	Dragon Cave School Gate area	Green Island - basalt sea cliff	Green Island - another angle of the same basalt sea cliff
The Chang Kai Shek Memorial in Taipei.