Spirit Mountain is a little rocky hill located in Chong Plee, only 5 minutes
driving from Ao Nang, in the province of Krabi, Thailand
This little climbing gem is currently gathering more and more
visibility among the climbing community both because its super easy access, and
also because the very nice mix of climbing styles and grades, which make this
crag a perfect spot for beginners, a very inspiring habitat for intermediate
climbers and a great playground for expert climbers.
The first routes were put up by Michael Weitzman (Mike), Fred Hamann and Frank Bush back in 2009 major developments continued for the whole
consecutive year, but it actually never stopped until present days.
Michael Weitzman, has been
based in Ao Nang since more than a decade, and has been involved in about
50routes in total out of 70 routes currently established in Chong Plee.
JW Sweeden (Jonas) has been putting up most of the routes on the mainland
during the very last two years while Swedish
Simon put up a very nice sector on the backside of Chong Plee.
Other important names involved in the development of Chong Plee
are Martin Roberts who established
the best hard routes and supplied loads of titanium bolts, Bob Elder who bolted Exfoliation and Superstition, Lawrence Kerrs and Leif Backstrom whom worked
closely with Mike as well as Vincent
Naidu who helped with the bolting and gluing during the first two seasons.
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| Climber @ Michael Weitzman |
At the moment, all around Ao Nang mainland, there are about 95
routes in total, including those at Vinland
which was established by Greg Collum
and Mike Ho over 10 years ago and
many new projects are just waiting to be rolled out.
It is imperative to highlight that although different people have
helped with some little donations, all
the routes were bolted using personal funds coming directly from all the
guys mentioned above.
At the moment a new are is under development however due to the lack of funds the project has been frozen and as mentioned in my previous article, it is now our turn to give a
contribution.
Either if you are a local climber based in Phuket, Krabi, Bangkok or Chiang Mai...or either you are a living abroad and you planning a climbing trip in Southern Thailand to enjoy these fantastic limestone, we will need your help!
Please stay tuned and support the upcoming Chong Plee – NewBolting Project Fundraising!
Either if you are a local climber based in Phuket, Krabi, Bangkok or Chiang Mai...or either you are a living abroad and you planning a climbing trip in Southern Thailand to enjoy these fantastic limestone, we will need your help!
Please stay tuned and support the upcoming Chong Plee – NewBolting Project Fundraising!