AMAZING EXPERIENCES

Rock Climbing in Krabi, Thailand

The Krabi region is far south on the west side of Thailand, bordering the Andaman Sea. We stayed in Tonsai, the main climbing island and found the perfect little hut to hunker down in for 3 weeks in February/March. Tonsai can only be reached by boat from the port town of Ao Nang and is basically a climber village set on a beach.

Southern Thailand is the promised land for sport climbers and the climbing was everything I hoped it would be. There are so many limestone cliffs chocked full of glorious climbing routes, that it was difficult to choose which ones to do each day. I felt like a kid in a candy store! Most of the routes are pretty steep, with the majority starting at 5.10c. But that turned out to be fine for us and we never ran out of options. Some of the more popular routes were polished and therefore quite frightening, but the rock was really positive once you got off the well-beaten path a bit.

We spent our days climbing or seeking shady spots on the beach and we spent our evenings getting Thai massages, trying out the slackline and visiting the beach bars. It was such a different pace than what we were used to and the relaxed atmosphere and un-ending climbing possiblities put us in a happy frame of mind.

Two of our dearest friends came to Thailand to visit us. Karl brought his friend Tallis and then Amy joined up with us one day later. We had a fantastic week together climbing, laughing, sweating, swimming, drinking thai ice teas and battling the food poison demons. It was a very special time. I hear that they are about to knock down the cheap housing on Tonsai to make room for some fancy resorts. I think we got in for the last season that the island will belong to the climber crowd.

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