Climbing in Phuket: A short break in Koh Yao Noi

Koh Yao Noi is a small island located between Phuket, Phang Ngan and Krabi.

From Phuket, the best way to get there is to drive up to Bang Rang Pier and from here take a long tail boat or a speed boat up to the Manoh Pier. From Krabi, the embarkation port is called Ao Thalene. From both departing points, the price will vary from 120 THB to 200 THB and every 30 minutes there is a boat running up and down from 6h00am to 4h00pm.

Since the climbing area is located on the extreme north on the island, it is necessary to rent a motorbike, and drive for 20 minutes through some scenic hills surrounded by rubber plantations and wild forest. Do not be surprise to meet monkeys, snakes or monitor lizard on your way!

Once you arrive at the end of the road, you can safely leave your bike at the parking of the Hotel Paradise Koh Yao Noi and from here start a nice and easy trek! Do not forget to bring loads of water to drink...you will be sweating a lot!

Climbing in Koh Yao Noi is absolutely great! Most of the routes are protected with super safe Titanium Bolds and the quality of the rock is super!

The two most famous areas are surely The Mitt and The Grateful Wall, however, since the first one is indicated for strong harms holders and second one is reachable only by boat, I would suggest The Bee Wall, or The Breakfast Wall instead.

The Bee Wall starts with a 6a+ and a 6b next to each sharing the same anchor and it goes further with an amazing second pitch of 7a+.  The crag continues with two more 6c and one 6c+ all of them around 25m.

More information can be found in this database however the best idea is to buy the local climbing book!

Climbing in Krabi: Discovery Ao Nang!

If anybody talks about climbing in Southern Thailand, the mind immediately goes to the climbing meccas of Tonsai and Railay!

Nevertheless, this time I went out just to discover the new crag called Spirit Mountain located in Ao Nang on Chong Plee district, only 5 minutes driving from Ao Nang downtown and 20 minutes from Krabi.

The crag stays in shade until 1pm however if you have loads of water and you manage to resist the peak hours, it gets again better from 4pm till sunset. All the routes are bolted with titanium bolts and vary from 5a to 8a however you can find also many of them equipped only with threads…be careful!

The access is super easy, you can have a look to the pictures below.

The crag offers a 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.

On the picture below, Khun Supranee top roping Ego Free Zone 6a+

Climbing in Phuket: First Climbing Session

On Saturday 16^th FEB I have proudly ran the first Phuket Climbing Session.

Considering that at this stage it would be too difficult to follow up too many beginner and considering that I still have a limited number of climbing shoes, I could not invite too many people therefore we were only in 4: 3 strong and motivated beautiful girls, and myself.

As always I gave them a short introduction about the philosophy of climbing, about the big difference between indoor and outdoor climbing and most important, the concept of movement, which in such a small climbing wall is definitely essential!

The result was impressive! I think there is some potential here….enjoy this short video footage and join our next session.

Climbing in Phuket: The wall is ready...

As everybody knows, Southern Thailand is surrounded by rock!

Krabi, Ao Nang, Tonsai, Koh Yao Noi, Koh Phi Phi are definitely rock climbing paradises well known all over the planet.

However if you you want to climb during the week after working hours and you live in Phuket, you'd better find a solution because there are no climbing walls at the horizon...

Considering I am exactly in the situation described above, the only solution I had was to find my own way and therefore...I built my own boulder wall!

I developed the idea of building a small boulder wall inspired by the experience of my good friend Jean Verly whom from a dusty climbing room in his home in Hanoi ended up setting up and managing the first Climbing Gym in Vietnam.

I am not that ambitious, however I am happy that I made my small dream come true and I am glad to invite you to contact me if you fancy share some movements with me!