Archive for 2010

After a few not-so-fun climbs around Railay, we hit the jackpot when we wandered north to Tonsai for the day.

Fire Wall

We clambered up to the base of Fire Wall at just around 11:30a. The sun was gone, and the area was in deep shade, but a thick lingering heat still filled the jungle below the crag. You could feel the burn coming off of the rock. We were the only ones there, though. Amazing!

The Groove Tube (5.10a) – We had at least 5 people ask us if we had done The Groove Tube before the end of our first week in Railay. Evidently this climb is at the top of the super-mega-ultra-must-do climbs list for the area. I’m giving the route a grade of 10a, which is the closest YDS grade to the book’s given 6a grade. But Mark and I both agreed, this route was barely more than 5.8, in all likelihood. And it was fun!

There are a few lovely, unique things about this climb. One is it’s obviously interesting morphology – you start by squirming through a tight chimney (really a giant pocket in the limestone) and then stem your way up through a cool tube formation, covered in giant pockets. The other is the protection. The bolts in Thailand are not always great, and this climb is protected entirely by bits of climbing rope threaded through the rock and tied off.

As we were climbing, the inevitable crowds descended upon us. But this time, we met up with a bunch of fun climbers. We met a couple from California, Kyle and Briana, who are starting a 2-year long around-the-world trip. We hung out with everybody for the afternoon, swapped stories and belays, and had a really great time.

Boob Tube (5.10c) – After our go on the Groove Tube, Mark led up this climb just to the left. It was lots of fun too. It starts with a cruxy overhanging section where you climb up giant stalactites, and then transitions into a long vertical pockety funness. Another crux comes further up where you have to stem up to below a chimney and then make a committing lunge for what turns out to be a good jug. Highly recommend this route as well.

Kochel Rock

We were looking for a couple of fun routes to tick off before heading to cooking lessons later, so we wandered down towards 1,2,3 Wall again, hoping to find some of the low-tide climbs. Amazingly, we ran into Kyle and Briana again, and ended up following them to a little out-of-the-way crag called Kochel Rock.

With You, Liebelein (5.10b/c) – There were four routes on this little wall, and nobody around when the four of us showed up. Mark led up the righthand climb, while Briana led the lefthand one. All of the routes on this wall had recently had bad bolts replaced with shiny new ones, and the guidebooks were still out of date. So, the area had not seen much traffic, and we got a good dose of Limestone sharpness on these routes. They were covered in knife-like texture, but lots of fun!

One for you, one for me (5.10c) – We TR’d this route from the anchors just left of With You, Liebelein. It started with a 20ft long overhanging finger/hand crack, and finished with thin, sharp moves on a gently overhanging face. Mark whizzed up this one, feeling super-strong and made it look beautiful and easy. I got about halfway up and decided to give up before I was bleeding too much on the route. Briana worked it out and said she enjoyed it as well.

Unknown 6a (5.10a) -The route on the far left of the rock, that Briana put up in the morning, was more fun for me. I started massively off route, but rearranged myself and finished strong, it was a fun one. Mark enjoyed it as well, but felt this was one of the harder routes of the day for him. I disagree completely. With more vertical, balancy moves, it definitely played more to my strengths than any of the other climbs on the wall.

So Mark and I traveled half way around the world to hang out on beaches and climb huge limestone cliffs in Thailand. Unfortunately, our first few climbs were a little… ahem… rocky.

During our two weeks on the peninsula, we managed to visit most of the main areas of climbing, and tick off a couple classic routes. We stuck to single pitch climbs, and only did about 2 pitches a day before deciding to move on to a pool, bar, or boat.

So, we can’t provide an impressive ticklist from our trip, but I can give a brief overview of each area we went to, and the few climbs we did.

1,2,3 Wall

This was our first stop for the trip because it was easy to find, and covered in moderates. Weeks rented a harness and shoes and we took him climbing for the first time in two years!

We arrived at about 1p, and the wall was shady and quiet. Within 20 minutes though, the guided groups arrived. The wall was instantly swamped with European tourists and Thai guides, shouting instructions and encouragement to each other at the top of their lungs. If you’ve never been climbing before, this seemed like a fun, party-like environment in which to start. If you’re used to long, quiet days of trad at Vedauwoo, 1,2,3 Wall was a bit of culture shock.

Giggering for Climbing (5.9-) – Our first route in Thailand was a bit of a disappointment. Short, weird, loud, and smooth as glass, this climb has seen so much traffic that there was no friction left on it anywhere.

Make a Way (5.10c) – We found this gem had just been vacated by a couple of Americans. I should note, I’m giving ratings here in YDS, but in Thailand, it’s all French. The guidebook said this was rated 6b. The guys at the base refused to call anything by it’s YDS rating, and the resulting conversation went something like this:

Mark: “Hey guys, is this a fun 10?”
Climber: “This climb is a long 6b.”
Mark: “It doesn’t look like a 5.6.”
Climber: “No, just a 6b. Maybe 6b-.”
Mark: “6b-, what kind of grade is that? What are you talking about?”

Mark put up a great attempt at this long, overhanging, VERY FUN route. He flashed it to the last bolt, but a bad sequence problem left him hanging from a deep one-finger pocket, and then *pop* suddenly he lost all feeling in that finger. He rested a bit on the last bolt, and finished the route strong, even without knowing the state of his finger.

The injury ended up sticking with him. Mark still doesn’t have all of the feeling back in his right middle finger. But he’s gotten used to it, and it didn’t interfere with his climbing on the rest of the trip.

The Thaiwand

After the 1,2,3 Wall incident, we had the hike with Weeks, and the deep water solo’ing day. So, it was probably 4 or 5 days before we were back on the rocks around Railay. And our next stop was the Thaiwand wall – a huge overhanging monolith that hovers over the south end of Railay West.

Primal Scream (5.10b) – There are about 5 climbs on the lower tier of the Thaiwand that are in the 10 range (and worth climbing), and when we arrived around 11a on this morning, there were groups of climbers on all of them. At the far left end of the rock are two 10-ish climbs that two girls had hung a top-rope on, and were running laps over and over on.

Mark and I tried to make friends with the Norwegian girl who was belaying, but she really did not like the idea of us horning in her climbing plans. No, she would not relinquish the climbs any time soon. No, she did not want to let us to lead one while they were climbing on the other. No, she really didn’t want us to hang out and wait for them to get done.

This girl was not nice.

Eventually, we convinced her to let us lead the left climb while her partner worked on the right one. It was a fun route, but nothing too spectacular. They pulled their rope eventually, and Mark and I TR’d Solution 41 (5.10d R) after they left. I thought this one was more fun, but both routes were so close together as to be rather contrived. The cruxy top section of Solution 41 was great fun, pulling on shallow pockets and balancing on little limestone divots.

So, after our first week on Railay, we had climbed four routes at two areas. We had been screamed at by guides, overrun with tourists, frowned at by an unhappy Norwegian and only had one great climb to show for it. So far, Thailand was not living up to expectations.

After the first taste of snorkeling from the Deep Water Solo’ing trip, Mark and I wanted to do more. So, we signed up for a “Sunset Tour” with a local dive shop. This worked out great for us. The boat didn’t leave until 2p, so we could climb in the morning and snorkel in the evening!

There’s a lot of fun pics in the gallery for this one too! Videos after the break…

After returning from our trip, Mark and I have been asked several times “Why go all the way to Thailand for a vacation?” And our answer is pretty simple. There are not many places in the world where you can do something like this…

To be honest, deep water solo’ing was not on our list of “must-do”s as we made our plans. But at a reasonable price of 800 Baht (US$24) a person through Wee’s outfit, which covered a full day of cruising around islands, a nice lunch, the option to snorkel and play on remote and deserted beaches, well, it was an offer we couldn’t refuse. And it was worth every Baht.

I highly recommend checking out all of the photos for this one in the gallery.

Railay peninsula is a pretty small place. You can walk from the west beach to the east side in about 10 minutes, it’s probably less than half a kilometer wide, and no more than a kilometer long. Despite it’s small area, there are some really fun hikes to be had in the area. You may not travel far longitudinally, but vertically, there’s plenty of distance to gain.

At the start of our trip, Mark and I wandered the peninsula, scouting the best beaches, talking to people at climbing shops, and trying to figure out the lay of the land. By the time Weeks joined us on the third day of our trip, we had a good idea of exactly what we wanted to do.

We wanted to hike to the Hidden Lagoon.

Another morning off, another hour of internet, and a few more pictures are up in the gallery.

Things are falling into a bit of a rhythm here, and it’s a nice slow one. It’s a wonderful feeling to not have anywhere that we have to be, or anything that we have to do, right now. Just time to relax, enjoy the sea, the sun, and the rocks, and have a great time.

Mark and I have decided that Railay peninsula, despite being filled with resorts and European tourists, is still one of the most “real” places we have visited. In other words, it’s hot, dirty, sweaty, and wonderful. The monkey’s are real and wild, the reefs are filled with fish, and the jungles sing with cicada’s and bats at night.

Mark gets a kick out of the fact that there’s no signs warning tourists of the danger of steep cliffs here. There’s no yellow paint on the mud-slick trail to the hidden lagoon among the cliffs. No ropes or trainers keeping us from getting bitten by monkey’s. And no life preservers on the boats taking us out to snorkel. In fact, when signing up for ocean activities, nobody makes you sign a waiver, vouch for your swimming abilities, or tells you if you might get eaten by sharks.

You have to look out for yourself here, and this ain’t Disney World! But, I think it’s even more fun that way.

Well, it’s been an incredible week so far. I’m not really sure where to begin.

I’ve started putting a few pictures up in the gallery, but there are hundreds more to come!

Currently, I’m sitting in the lobby of a resort on the west coast of Railay Peninsula, on the south east coast of Thailand, using the only free wifi for 100 miles, and sweating like mad. We’re taking the day off of adventures today, because Mark and I both feel like we’ve been through a mud, sand, sun and salt-water filled blender in the last few days.

We’ve been on the peninsula for 3 days, and so far we’ve hiked through thick jungles, seen about a hundred monkey’s, climbed two beautiful sport climbs, met up with my old college buddy Weeks, gone swimming in clear, warm water, and spent hours deep water solo’ing on the cliffs dotting the ocean.

We are sunburnt, raw, and exhausted today, but still have plenty of time left to explore this amazing country. Mark and I are in love with Thailand right now. The people are amazing, the food is fantastic, the landscape is surreal and beautiful, and the climbing is top-notch.

What more could you possibly want?