Bad news about potential future development in Getu, China, an area made famous in climbing circles by the 2011 Petzl Roc Trip:
Unfortunately the peaceful environment I recalled from my last visit in 2011 has been completely altered due to the construction of a huge parking lot and an elevator that will transport people from the parking lot to directly below the arch. I had heard about this from friends and had quietly accepted it as yet another example of how the local governments try to encourage tourism via huge building developments, yet this development is often too ephemeral for the villages in rural China and probably jeopardise forever a beautiful and complex natural environment.