Rock Climbing: No Ropes, Pure Freedom

in #adventure8 years ago (edited)

Welcome to the limestone Karst-filled bays of Phang Nga, Thailand.

These ancient rocks are a popular tourist attraction of Southern Thailand and are unique to only 2 places in the world. The other destination is Ha Long bay, Viet Nam.


IMG_0317.JPG


Today I took a tour of the Phang Nga bay on a small climbing expedition with a group of like-minded travellers. First off our guide showed us a few of the obvious routes and what was possible on this wall. The top out here is 30 metres!


PB203905.JPG


To start climbing here the good Samaritan local climbers attached a rope ladder to start rather than jumping leap of faith style from a boat. Thanks guys :)


PB203910.JPG


First climb, on top of this big candle-wax like stalactite is a great spot to rest and appreciate the amazing scenery.


PB203927.JPG


Nice splits! A seriously scary move here, if one one foot slips you'll be sent falling in a spinning/flipping motion and it's difficult to enter the water in an upright position. A back or belly flop from so high up can be painful or even cause broken bones.


PB203934.JPG


Climbing to the top!


PB203938.JPG


This climb was a pretty tough one, a lot of sea spray had wet the route earlier in the day so I was battling against slippery foot holds and a strong pump in my forearms. I got to the very last move on this one and took a gnarly fall from 18 metres into the ocean. Luckily I was semi-prepared and landed in a mostly upright position as I entered the water.


PB203959.JPG


That concludes today's climbing adventure, thanks for reading.

Sort:  

wow, looks like a lot of fun. I wonder who was the first guy to put the ladder there. lol

This post has been ranked within the top 50 most undervalued posts in the first half of Mar 01. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $3.46 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.

See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: Mar 01 - Part I. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.

If you are the author and would prefer not to receive these comments, simply reply "Stop" to this comment.

This looks like Railey Beach in Thailand where I climbed once, deep water solo