News from Thailand

Updates about Thailand's fantastic sport climbing potential

March 2000

Thailand's fantastic limestone cliffs have glossed many front covers over the last couple of years.
Here's an update of what happened this season.

Restyling
Shamick and Sam Lightner Jr. are rebolting many of the crags on the peninsula with long-lasting resin bolts.

New sector
Wild Kingdom Wall is the newest addition to Phra-Nang's long list of quality crags. Located in the jungle, it was officially "opened" in February. There are about ten routes graded 6b - 7b.

For all
New routes on the rebolted Fire Wall, graded 6a-6b.

New routes
Cat Wall: a 7b+ and a fantastic 7c+.
Ton Sai: two 7a+, three 8a's, one 8b, one 8b+ and a similar graded project.

Rebolted
All sectors at Andaman Beach (Ton Sai, Dum’s Kitchen and Tyrolean Wall) have been perfectly rebolted.

Bouldering
Princess Cave is being developed for bouldeing. About ten new problems have been climbed in the small cave to the right of the main wall.

News in general:

Improved road surface, in part, from Phuket airport to Krabi.

New "Intenet centers" on Phra-Nang beach.

Price changes: the boat from Ao Nang to RailÃ©h now costs 40 Baht instead of 30 Baht.
Small stalls now offer cheap BBQ's, while bananas and pineapple can now be bought at many crags.

Krabi airport is now operating one flight a day to Bangkok: Bangkok-Krabi departure, 9:10 am. Krabi-Bangkok, departure 10:10 am.
Ao Nang is just 15 mins away. Taxis cost between 300-500 Baht.

'Pet friends'. Monkeys and squirrels are multiplying at a worryingly rapid rate.

Nicoletta Costi on Asia's Shadow, 8a+, Dum's Kitchen - Phra-Nang photo Nicola NoÃ©

Attention
There have been a number of climbing accidents due to loose rock, lax belaying and unreliable bolts, some which were placed recently.
Try to avoid routes with normal bolts; resined bolts and threads seem to be O.K.

A detailed article about climbing in Thailand appeared in our Italian section