Rockclimbing Railay, Part 3
Ok, here’s my last post on to cover our climbing adventures in Thailand. If you missed the previous two parts, check out our rocky start, and Thailand’s redemption. I’m not sure why I’m having such a hard time blogging lately. I’ve had some health problems (more on that later, I’m sure), and for some reason, the idea of blogging makes me rather nauseous right now. Today, I want to bite the bullet and get these last two posts up.
On our last full day in Railay, we made the most of it. We ate a huge breakfast, lounged around until nearly 11, and then wandered up to the Thaiwand for one last go on those beautiful 6’s.
Fit To Be Thai’d (6a+, 10b) – Of course, most of the routes on the rock were full of groups of climbers, so we headed up the… interesting… ladder to the routes on the west side. Mark led up this long, lovely 10b, and I followed. It was one of the first tall routes in Thailand that I didn’t feel exposed and freaked out on. I loved every minute of it. The view was incredible, and the climbing was so much fun!
After this route, we decided to camp out in line for Lord of the Thai’s (6a, 5.10a – 1st pitch). We lounged around in the orange dirt for probably an hour, watching a group of 4 people all climb the first pitch of this route. Of course, as soon as we get a chance to hop on it, the first weather we’ve seen in two weeks in Thailand seems to move in.
The wind picked up and started swirling orange dirt everywhere. Thunder rumbled constantly in the distance. Mark led the climb quickly and carefully, and I climbed and cleaned it. It was a long, fun route. And from the top, I could see out over all of Railay and towards Krabi in the distance. The storms were kilometers away, and we were in no danger.
In all, I wish we’d had another two months to spend climbing in Thailand. The routes of the area were so much fun. Long, overhanging, well protected, gymnastic, bucket-hauls that I was finally getting a good taste for right when we left.
On our way out of town, we donated our 2-year old rope and nasty old climbing shoes to Wee’s climbing outfit. At least future deep water solo’ers will have the option of Mark’s size 11’s and my size 5’s. :) And our rope will no doubt live on as anchor tat or boat anchor line somewhere in Southeast Asia.
