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jistaffo
Nov 9, 2010, 10:34 PM
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Hi! I am going to Thailand in January and will be around the SE peninsula until March when I come back to Thailand. I was really hoping to get some good climbing in, I have heard Tonsai is the greatest. I don't have gear (except harness and shoes). But I can help out however possible. I currently climb at a 5.9 level...so anything like that is ideal!
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jistaffo
Nov 24, 2010, 3:39 AM
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Where would you recommend staying in Phang Nga Bay, I am on a budget?
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guangzhou
Nov 24, 2010, 4:03 AM
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phang_nga wrote: jistaffo wrote: I have heard Tonsai is the greatest. Nope, plenty of places just as good if not better. If you want a Lonely Planet zombie, cookie-cutter experience, then by all means, go to Tonsai.  Phang Nga Bay and Phang Nga Province are just as good and you don't have to deal with crowds, noise and posers.  Khao Sok National Park is awesome if you're into trad.
If it's your first time in climbing in the area and you have no partner, go to Tonsai. The climbing is excellent and you won't be disappointed.
Like all places, they is more climbing to be had for sure, but you can't beat Tonsai for convenience and finding partners. A guidebook will also help you maximize time spent climbing versus time spent looking for climbs.
phang_nga You want to promote the bay, write a guidebook so people are roaming aimlessly. Of course, that will remove the solitude you're seeking. Visiting climbing area in Asia without a guidebook means a lot of lost climbing time.
Me, when I go on a climbing trip, I want to maximize my climbing, nothing else. Seeing the local countryside is anice bonus, but it's not the priotity. When I travel without a partner, I want o go where climbers are so have someone to climb with. (I never hire guide on perosnal trips, but I do bring a soloist when getting off the beating path.
My wife and I will be checking out some climbing in Borneo in March.
Eman
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phang_nga
Nov 24, 2010, 5:20 AM
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jistaffo wrote: Where would you recommend staying in Phang Nga Bay, I am on a budget?
Tons of budget bungalows all along the east coast of Ko Yao Noi. Google 'ko yao noi bungalows' and you'll find plenty of info.
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phang_nga
Nov 24, 2010, 5:27 AM
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guangzhou wrote: phang_nga You want to promote the bay, write a guidebook so people are roaming aimlessly. Of course, that will remove the solitude you're seeking. Visiting climbing area in Asia without a guidebook means a lot of lost climbing time.
Phang Nga Bay is in a couple of the guidebooks. The Mountain Shop wrote an entirely new guidebook for climbing in the bay a couple of years ago. You can contact The Mountain Shop through their website http://www.themountainshop.org/?content=page&id=2 Mark is responsible for doing most of the bolting in the bay. He's a pro at designing routes and making them safe. He uses expensive titanium glue-ins for most bolts. He's spent a fortune in the bay... all to help others with very little in return.
There's enough climbing in the bay to where I'll always be able to find solitude. I like pointing out that Krabi is in not the only place to climbing and I wholeheartedly disagree that people who climb there won't be disappointed. You don't speak for all climbers. Some (many?) of us try to avoid the places like you promote. I'd rather not climb than climb in Tonsai.
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guangzhou
Nov 24, 2010, 6:34 AM
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I don't think I've ever promote3d an area to be honest, I just don't think Tonsai is as bad as you say.
Based on climber's magazine around the world, I would say loads of climbers agree.
As for climbing places of the beaten path, I doubt the climbers who post here have been further off the path than me. You say the climbing is bad in Tonsai, thousand of climbers every December disagree with you.
Pros return there every year to climb. Yes, they climb other places in the region while on their Asia trip, but they all return to Tonsai time and time again.
If I lived in Phuket, I would explore the area much more, but my trips to Southern Thailand are limited in time, so I go where I can maximize my time on the rocks.
Do I plan on climbing other areas, sure, I plan on meeting you and climbing at the climbing park you keep mentioning.
Do I like crowds, no, not really, do I like the climbing at Tonsai, yes, it's excellent. If I'm travelling solo, I can find a partner. WOuld I move to southern Thailand to climb and live there exclusively, not a chance. China and Indonesia are more appealing to me.
Want to climb off the ebaten path with crowds, come visit me in INdo. I can take you to adozen Granite Walls between 800 and 2000 ft with one or no routes on them. If you prefer Basalt, I can take you to a 1000ft of Basalt crack climbing that resemble Devil's Tower.
Get over yourself. Tonsai has excellent climbing. The things that were established for tourism makes the area very convenient, the loads of climbers that are there to climb make it is to find a partner or two every single day.
Want to avoid the crowded cliff, you can, you just have to do wall with 15 to 20 minute approaches instead of 5 minute approaches. Eagle Wall comes to mind as a place to escape climbers and have a spectacular setting/location.
Like you, I don't like what he guides do there, but it's there business not mine. Like you I wish they were a few less tourist, but those tourist make it easy tof ind any kind of food I could possibility want and make online reservations before I arrive.
Off the beaten path, we can compare who's visited off the beaten path more if you want, but something thing tells me I wander and roam much ore than you when it comes to following rumors of cliffs and possible climbing. http://www.climbing.com/...ste_-_reader_blog_1/
Is Tonsai my favorite climbing area, no, not by far, but but it's not on my list of places not to climb again either. Generally, I avoid crazy season and enjoy myself loads. Yosemite, it has it's problems, but I love climbing them too.
My least favorite thing about climbing on Tonsai is the sand. The routes are excellent, so I put up with the sand.
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phang_nga
Nov 24, 2010, 10:32 AM
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"Get over yourself" Really?
I'm trying to turn folks onto places that are just as good to climb and where they don't have to put up all of the 'turn-offs' associated with climbing in a mass tourism destination.
Climbing magazines are never bias and I'm sure they're never influenced by anything other than what's absolutely best for the climbers. I know how a lot of magazines work. It could very-well be that they go to Tonsai because it's easy, not because it's the best place to climb.
Put the rock in Tonsai somewhere else and I'd probably climb there.
I don't really want to climb with or meet you, thanks anyway.
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guangzhou
Nov 25, 2010, 12:42 AM
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phang_nga wrote: "Get over yourself" Really? I'm trying to turn folks onto places that are just as good to climb and where they don't have to put up all of the 'turn-offs' associated with climbing in a mass tourism destination. Climbing magazines are never bias and I'm sure they're never influenced by anything other than what's absolutely best for the climbers. I know how a lot of magazines work. It could very-well be that they go to Tonsai because it's easy, not because it's the best place to climb. Put the rock in Tonsai somewhere else and I'd probably climb there. I don't really want to climb with or meet you, thanks anyway.
Not climbing together should be easy to arrange.
As for climbing if the rocks were somewhere else, you are correct, What do I know, I've done two day approaches on ox pulled wagons to get o cliffs. Those cliff I brought a partner, because chances of finding one there were slim to known.
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