Coup de Bambou 9a/5.14d

Coup de Bambou is a single-pitch sport route on steep limestone in the Getu Valley, Guizhou, China, bolted during the same development push that opened up the area's Great Arch and surrounding walls. At 9a (5.14d) it sits at the redpoint-grade ceiling of what was being climbed in the region at the time, a short, sustained line built around maximal technical sequences rather than one isolated crux. As with much of the climbing to come out of the region, it is defined by continuously overhanging limestone rather than any single feature.

History

Italian climber Gabriele Moroni made the first ascent on November 3, 2011, during the closing days of the Petzl RocTrip China event, when the Getu Valley saw roughly 260 new pitches equipped over the course of the trip. It was Moroni's second 9a of that year, following an earlier repeat of Coup de Grâce in Ticino, and it helped establish Getu as a serious sport climbing destination rather than only a stage for the event itself.

On film

Petzl RocTrip China 2011 - The official movie (2012) documents the event during which Coup de Bambou was first climbed, covering the five days from October 26 to 30, 2011, when more than 600 climbers took part and organizers developed over 250 new sport pitches on the local limestone. Gabriele Moroni appears in the film alongside Dani Andrada, Steph Bodet and Arnaud Petit, with his ascent of Coup de Bambou presented as one of the hardest individual sends to come out of the trip.