December 28, 2009

This would be our first day of climbing, so, of course, we started off with essentials - BREAKFAST! Man, was it good - a big (plate sized), fluffy pancake surrounded by chunks of banana and pineapple, topped with some light honey. With that and a huge jug of water, I was ready to face a day of climbing.

I got in 3 climbs before lunch - a 6a that I climbed clean was up first. I had wanted to do a lead on this climb, to jump in with both feet as it were, but Kevin, who had led it, talked me out of it, noting that it was not a very good lead, and that it might be better to get a bit more of a feel for the rock here than to focus on leading just yet. Climbing it, I was quite glad I had taken his advice. I was over gripping the rock, and the webbing and ropes that had been fed through natural features of the rock for protection, well, they had seen better days, likely a few years ago when they were placed there.

After this, we moved to a less busy, more isolated area to play around on a couple of routes. Here, I took a go at a 6a climb. I should have taken a rest at the halfway point, but I pushed on because it was flowing pretty nicely. Instead, I wound up taking a break hanging from the rope, temporarily just being a little too tired, finishing it quickly after this rest.

Then, it was the true struggle - a 6b that Kevin had led, and no one else had managed to get up after him. I gave it a go and made it a bit into where it starts getting difficult, and was about to fall, when I clipped my rope to the quickdraw so I wouldn't swing out. You see, this was a continuously overhanging climb, so any falls would swing you well out from the wall if you weren't clipped in to a closer anchor point. Well, I took a rest there, unclipped, then kept going a bit further, working the route. With a lot of determined effort, multiple attempts, and a lot of help from the rope, I was able to work the route, going higher and higher and eventually getting to the point where I could begin straight climbing again, and reach the anchors. It wasn't clean. It wasn't even pretty, but I made some hard moves and eventually got up there. But I don't think I'll try that one again.


After lunch it was time to get in my first full lead. I decided to start really easy, on a 4. The climb went really smoothly, with all of the clip points being in good locations, and all of the holds, although they had been rubbed smooth by many, many climbers using them, all holding me, when I realised something was not right. After some consultation, we determined that I had gotten off route by following some fresh ropes, thinking they might be colour coded for that route. I got back on the route and made it up to the final move, up onto a ledge, about 2 feet above where the last string I had clipped into was. Well, remember how I noted the holds were polished smooth? Well, these were not much different, except for being worse. I really did not want to take a lead fall here - I would fall at least 4-5 feet, plus any rope stretch, and I would likely smack into something, as this section was not quite vertical. So, I forced myself to start moving onto this ledge, which gently sloped, in its polished way, away from the wall. It was with eyes wide with fear that I slowly managed to get my kicking legs up off the wall and onto the ledge, where I could stand up, clip into the anchors, and be lowered back down to the ground.

Now, when I had gotten off route, I had come upon a beautiful crack, and it was in my mind while I belayed Sofia and Anton up this climb on toprope. I couldn't get it out of my head, and there was a dead easy access to it through the start of a neighbouring 6b climb. So, I walked up the start of the neighbouring climb, quite likely the easiest start to a 6b in the world, and engaged with this crack. It was slightly more than knee width, and deep. I worked my way up it with a combination of leg, foot, and knee locks with my right leg, while my left foot found some purchase outside the crack, and my hands mainly worked the edges. It was a load of fun to climb, with no pain as the rock was reasonably smooth.

Our climbing day ended shortly after this, and we wandered back to Phra Nang beach, where we saw the setting sun and grabbed a swim in the cooling water, cooling down nicely after climbing, while we watched the redness of the sun sinking behind the clouds and down the sky. We then headed home for Tonsai, which turned into a longer walk, along a rough, rocky trail in the growing dark, with only the ambient light and the light cast from my mini maglight to guide us, while lightning lit up the clouds above us a few times. Once we made it back, we grabbed a second shower for the day (beginning and ending each day with a shower works really well here), dinner, and then an impromptu fire show.

Today, I learned some important things. One of these is that I can actually handle heat pretty well, it's just the things that come with heat that make it unbearable; things like having to wear work clothes in it, sitting around in it (especially in vehicles), and inadequate ventilation. I guess it's a lot like cold that way... At home, I deal with cold pretty well, and here, I seem to be dealing with the heat pretty well too! :)

Tomorrow promises some more climbing, with at least another lead for me, some light caving and chillaxing in the afternoon, and then a fire dancing and slacklining show at a party at the Small World Bar.


December 29, 2009

Today was the first time I truly got angry in a really long time. Early in the morning, we went off to climb, meeting some neat guys who had come up from Michigan as we went. We chatted with them, I picked a 5 to lead, which led up to a 6c that they wanted to do. I wasn't quite ready to do the lead yet, so I got them to go first. While they were doing the climb, another group came and queed up behind Anton and myself. A guided group came through the cave to the area we were at and appeared to be gathered at a climb Kevin, Tammera, and Karina were working on, so they hurried through that climb, not wanting to jam things up. I waited and did some mental warmups for the lead, and one of the guides came and asked about the 5, as Top and Jason were mainly working the 6c half of the climb. I told him that there was a que of Anton and myself and the group behind us, and he left.

The next thing I knew, two of his colleagues showed up and lept on the route without pausing or saying anything, climbing fast and ignoring me when I began asking "What are you donig? there's two groups qued for this climb."

They ignored me and kept climbing, setting up their rope on the mid-anchor for the 5 and coming back down.

When they were both back down on the ground, I told them about the que of groups and they tried to make excuses that they didn't know, because nobody was climbing the bottom section. The original guide came over and started getting upset with me. At this, the group who had qued behind Anton and myself left to find an open climb and avoid this whole unpleasant mess of a situation. I stood my ground, refusing to back down on the fact that myself and Anton were next in line for the climb, and that the other group had left because of the shit that the guides had pulled. He eventually backed down, and I did the lead no problem. It was a nice, fairly easy climb, and a good one to build up my confidence in lead climbing, with lots of bomber holds, bolts and strings in the right places to clip easily, and a good flow to it. After setting up our rope on toprope with some locking biners, I got Anton to lower me and I cleaned up all of my quickdraws on the descent, then belayed while Anton top roped, celaned the anchor and ran the rop through the ring, then descended. The second he was down and untied, I cleared our rope out of there and moved to get into the que for a more difficult 5 to lead. I wanted to get another climb in, and I also wanted to get away from those guides and their group.

Reflecting on it, I realise that they've got a job to do and it requires them to provide a service to people who may not realise the ins and outs of climbing etiquette, and will get upset with the guides if they don't get in a certain number of climbs. I also realise that the guides and the shops they work for do a lot of work maintaining and developing the climbing areas. I also realise that, with that climb, it is entirely possible, and mostly safe, to work the bottom half of the climb while someone else is working the top half. I guess I'm just not used to that kind of time pressure being involved in climbing, being used to more laid back climbing, where people will let others jump on a climb they're on, will come together in groups, where, if the climb you want is occupied, you go work another route until it does become available. As a result, what these guys did struck me as a total breach of climbing etiquette, and really left a bad taste in my mouth.

The next lead climb was a more difficult 5. The start looked the most intimidating, with a very steeply slanting rock base, minimal holds, and the first bolt being about 10 feet off the ground. Well, after the group who were working the full route finished and cleaned up, I gave it a go. I clipped the first bolt fairly easily, being surprised by how good the holds actually were , and then flying up the next section. However, I wound up zigging when I should have been zagging, following a suggestion to keep right in a section I should have kept left, and working back and forth on much less positive holds to clip the last bolt and string. I was a little bit tired and dehydrated as a result, so I ducked into a cave after clipping the final string (mistake, I should have simply hung off it), got freaked out and couldn't refocus. Instead of being able to think through my next moves, all I could think about was that I was 2 feet above the last point I had clipped the rope, and that I would smash into the rock as a result if I fell. I decided it was not time for me to continue climbing that route, and so Anton lowered me down and Tammera was nice enough to finish the job and set up a toprope through some steel biners left in the ring. Anton and Sofia then did the climb and I decided I would give it another go, but just on toprope. I stayed on the right line this time, figuring out the next moves and how I could do it in the future.

In the end, I completed my second lead climb, 7/8's of my third, and was belayed up that route and then a difficult scramble wearing slidy sport sandals. From there, we made out way through a dark and semi challenging cave (with some beautiful sights) to Phra Nang, where we went for a swim, grabbed some beach and boat food, watched some really cool climbing, and called it a day. The cave was pretty warm and dusty, but a lot of fun with the right company, and led to a lot of really good photo spots on the far side.

After dinner, we got to see a pretty decent reggae and rock band and a slackline fire dancing show. Slackline is bloody hard, and the guy doing it was amazing, but when you add in the fire dancing, it became an absolutely amazing thing to watch. I grabbed a bunch of pictures of the show using some longer shutter speeds, which I'm learning gives a really neat effect for this kind of show, although I wish I could shorten it a little bit at times.

Tomorrow comes the next big adventure - deep water solo! Climbing over the water without a rope - when you fall or jump, the water is where you land.

December 30, 2009

One day before New Years, and we joined a deep water soloing trip. We showed up early at Wee's Climbing Shop/school, and proceded to try to sort through their selection of old DWS shoes for a pair that A)fit, and B) was in halfway decent shape. I finally settled on a stretched out pair of shoes that had the toes at least partway blown out on each foot, as they were the best I could find that fit.

Let me tell you, DWS completely changes climbing - it's more bouldering than it is climbing for height, because the higher you climb, the further you will fall, and the harder you'll hit the water. The first climb I did was a height one, but an easy climb, leaving me on a ledge about 10 metres over the water.`After realising I just had to do it, instead of thinking about it, I jumped, keeping my body straight (I thought) and holding my nose shut. My feet went in no problem, but it felt like a very strong and big somebody had just slapped my ass, hard, on both cheeks. The next climb I did there was much closer to the water, and I did a dive into the water from a small platform.

After playing around on a couple more of these routes, we grabbed lunch on a small beach and the boat guys showed us some of the bouldering problems there, which most of us took a stab at doing Thai boatman style - barefoot.

Then, we hooked around to another spot for more DWS, this time, though, the access ladder got you to climb up 10 feet just to get onto the access pillar, from which it was another 5-10 metres to the start of the actual climb. Well, I watched a couple of people do the climb to various points, and then it was my turn to give it a go. I struggled up the rope ladder (which had only 4 rungs for all of the 10 feet), got onto the rock, and climbed up a little ways. I was reaching my comfort level and thinking about bailing into the water when I saw Anton coming up below me, right in the path of where I felt I might fall. So, I had to go higher. About 14 meters above the water, it was too much for me, so I told Anton, he got out of the way, I came back down about one meter, and took the plunge. This time, I could feel the water resisting my feet, pushing them up, and the slap on the ass was with a board. I definitely feel that my comfort zone for DWS is going to be massively overhanging routes where I don't have to climb too high above the water.

Overall, it was a good day, lots of fun and terror, and well worth the 700 baht I paid for the trip. Not only did I get to do my own DWS climbing, but I got to watch some amazing climbers in action, and some amazing courage on display as they climbed extremely high above the water and then proceded to drop.

Janaury 4th, 2010

Okay, it's been a few days since the last update, and the last one got stalled out part way through anyway. So, to catch up - we're still on Tonsai, doing a bunch of hard climbs (I led a 6A+ today, my hardest lead ever), and some other stuff. And, we've had a few adventures, one of which is prolonging our stay here by a day.

New Years was really awesome - paper lanterns were sent up floating into the sky, and we just generally enjoyed hanging out, playing on a couple of bouldery starts to massively overhanging routes in the dark, watched the fireworks with initial wonder, and gradual terror, as people began doing riskier and riskier things, firing them off, from hand, with the sparks going out just above the boats pulled up to shore. It's sometimes quite surprising we haven't heard about more serious injuries.

The next day, well, it was supposed to be a rest day for me, but I got talked into doing a climb, which I probably shouldn't have done, as it felt way harder than it was. For the rest of the day, I took a true rest day, swimming on the beach, getting a book to read, and playing around with my new hammock.

Another day of climbing followed, and then, yesterday, I went for the sunset snorkel trip. It was lots of fun to get out and snorkel around, but this was where the true adventure began. When we got to the first cove, the guide announced that, this being the largest trip they've done this year, they had not brought enough fins for everyone (but, thankfully, had brought enough masks and snorkels), so, I went the day without fins. Not a huge loss; I still saw some awesome fish, corals, and so on. And my red rasher t worked wonderfully to keep me the right temperature, and avoid sunburn, unlike the last time I'd gone snorkelling.

We hit a few snorkelling sights, and my waterproof camera passed with flying colours - pictures and video will be posted eventually. We even went past the last place we went on the DWS trip, and, with the tide in, the access stalagtite was now only about 5 feet above the water! I think I might have done that climb if the water had been so high before.

However, when it came to dinner time, we learned a bit more about the local cultural nuances. Dinner was supposed to occur on an island, with torches and the whole 9 yards. However, they hadn't counted on the tides. With the full moon, tides have been pretty extreme, and so, we wound up stranded on rocks trying to get to the island, with sea urchins all around the boat and hidden in the rocks, making walking in, in the dark, impossible.

So, we waited. And waited. And chatted with each other, trying to distract ourselves from what was going on. The boatman on our longtail, following instructions from the guide, was doing his best to get us all onto the island, in a badly overcrowded longtail boat (between 20-30 people on the boat). Eventually, we convinced him that a more sane course of action was to turn around and head back to the main boat, that we would be more than happy to eat there instead of on the island. It was at this point that we realised that plan B's don't exist here. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence that Plan A is not going to work, they will still struggle to do everything they can to make it work, to get to the island in this case. The levels of perserverance are amazing, but in this case, life endangering and completely unnecessary.

We made it back to the main boat, ate a wonderful meal, and then were on our way to the night swim - swimming in the dark in an area with phosphorescent plankton. This was an amazing experience - you would move your arms and see stars light up in the water around them, or kick your legs and see your legs light up beneath you. As I said to one of the girls on the trip - I wanted to enjoy that wonderful experience, and not let it be tainted by the negative experience of getting stuck on the rocks, so I enjoyed it!

Today is Tammera's last day in Tonsai - tomorrow, she flies back to Bangkok, then on back to BC. We let her take us to even more interesting places than normal for climbing - climbing on a wade-access island in the morning as the tide was coming in, having to balance our gear on our head for the upper-chest high wading back, then, through the cave to Taiwand Wall, where we met King and chatted with him (one of the locals who developed climbing in Tonsai and Railay), and then went off to another wall where I did my hardest, and sketchiest lead climb yet - a 6a+ (approx. 5.10c) that I did hanging on the gear only once. Tonight, we're going to be having a big going-away party for Tammera, hanging out on the Porch, and having a good dinner, our last one together as a large group.

I figure I've probably got one more day of climbing here in Tonsai with all of these wonderful people we've met, and then we'll probably start making our way North, to Chiang Mai, Sukothai, and Aythaya. I look forward to all of the new experiences and people we'll meet.

Hoping everyone's doing well,

Chris