Rock Climbing: No Ropes, Pure Freedom
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.
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!
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 :)
First climb, on top of this big candle-wax like stalactite is a great spot to rest and appreciate the amazing scenery.
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.
Climbing to the top!
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.
That concludes today's climbing adventure, thanks for reading.
great photos!
wow, looks like a lot of fun. I wonder who was the first guy to put the ladder there. lol
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This looks like Railey Beach in Thailand where I climbed once, deep water solo