“Woofstuck is in Huu Lung as all the crags we’ve developed, and at In the first of a series we talk to Push Peeps and friends about their favorite climbs around Vietnam.   This week we check in with Gavi Piper, co-author of Vietnam Climbing about her favorite climbs in the country. the moment my favourite is “L’entrée des Artistes”; a new crag we bolted last January.”

Jean Verly is the founder and director of VietClimb, the first indoor bouldering gym in Hanoi in 2011.  A climbing fan himself since he was ten years old he came to Vietnam from France in 2006 to find out more about his roots. Since then he’s been working on building the climbing community in Vietnam and in particular in finding climbing and bouldering routes in Huu Long.  VietClimb now does guided climbs in Huu Lung, Cat Ba and Quoc Oai and it’s to Huu Lung that Jean’s thoughts turn when we ask him what’s his favourite climb.

“Keeping in mind that I haven’t had the opportunity to climb in Huu Lung or Quoc Oai since they’ve been developed, so my experience is mostly through the lens of having worked based on Cat Ba Island. I’m a kid who gravitates toward more technical routes at moderate levels; climbing steep tufas was actually a huge challenge for me when I first arrived in Vietnam. One of my favorite routes is called Elephant Man— it’s located in Butterfly Valley and goes at 6b+ . Elephant Man is an awesome maze of little pockets and cracks to navigate on an otherwise rather blank wall, with a minor roof to overcome at the top. It’s essentially a line of super fun, varied, delicate, techy problem-solving.

I’m a kid who gravitates toward more technical routes at moderate levels; climbing steep tufas was actually a huge challenge for me when I first arrived in Vietnam. One of my favorite routes is called Elephant Man— it’s located in Butterfly Valley and goes at 6b+ . Elephant Man is an awesome maze of little pockets and cracks to navigate on an otherwise rather blank wall, with a minor roof to overcome at the top. It’s essentially a line of super fun, varied, delicate, techy problem-solving.

Words by Steve Shipside.