The Crimp that Stole Christmas. Climbing in Krabi.

When we planned our big trip away, both Aaron and I agreed we needed to spend at least 6 weeks in Krabi, Thailand to climb the infamous rock formations. It was almost a surprise the time had come around so quickly, and that we were both headed to the south side of Thailand to catch a boat over to the peninsular. We’d read mixed reviews about the return of tourists after covid so we were half-expecting Railay to be deserted. 

The long tail boat over to Railay beach from Ao Nang is one of the best boat rides I’ve ever taken. With a backdrop of beaches, blue sea, small islands and humongous pinnacles sticking out of the rock face, they made my jaw draw. Flashes of orange, black and beige shoot through every one of the rocks and of course those are the bits you get to climb! We were both brimming with excitement, we couldn’t wait to get started. 

Our enthusiasm made up for our climbing fitness – 6 months of cycling and almost a year of zero climbing meant our first day on the crag was a little frustrating for us both. I was suffering from an acute fear of falling and Aaron was annoyed his fingers weren’t as strong as required for the harder routes. We both spent a good amount of time laughing at our attempts at several ‘boulder starts’ on some of these 6a beach routes and at the amount of sweat that occurs as soon as you step onto any route. 

It was also in these first few days that we carefully mapped the movements of the large climbing groups that ran day tours with 30-40 people and made a note of the tidal influences at some of the crags. This information allowed us to plan around the large groups and ultimately ended up in us climbing at 7am. We beat the tide, the groups and the sun – I’ve never been so keen to leap out of bed early!

The rock is immaculate and it was an absolute joy to climb these routes. The limestone offered up some top class holds that had me exclaiming at almost every move. The contrast to UK rock was almost unbelievable – no more feeling around for something slightly less sandbagged (terrible), rather, moving up to a perfectly placed hold. Aaron was fired up and ran up all the easier routes, ready for us to start tackling the harder stuff. After 3 weeks, both of our climbing had significantly improved.

During our time we met many friendly climbers, and even had the pleasure of joining them. We met Paddy pretty early on and for a week we became the three musketeers, making our way through all the 6b and 6c routes Railay had to offer. Our most memorable day is when we ventured to The Keep, a crag found around the the corner of a bay, accessible only at low tide. We climbed over rocks, through narrow gaps in-between huge slabs and fended off swarms of mosquitos. After scrambling down a steep section, we popped out on a ledge overlooking the East Beach of Railay. The view was stunning and we watched the boats (noisily) motor their way around the bay. 

Our favourite climb of the day was a 3D climb that spiralled it’s way up and out onto several huge stalactites. Turning around 20m up and stepping out onto a hanging rock was quite the experience and it took some courage to make the move! But we ended up doing this beast twice – at 35 meters of uninterrupted climbing with views of the whole pinnacle, it was a must!

Soon it was time to move over to Tonsai beach, the preferred climbers’ hangout spot. It is but a short trek through the jungle or scramble through the low tide rocks but it seems not many people make the journey over. It’s a lot quieter and more relaxed than Railay. One golden sand beach sweeps across the large bay, with slabs of limestone framing the sides, all full of climbers making their way slowly up the 60m cliffs. Tonsai is a climbers playground, you can climb right on the beach on big cave overhangs, or venture 5 minutes into the woods to start up long, fun routes. It was here that Aaron and I climbed our first multi-pitch together. 

Beauty and the Beast (6a+, 6a+, 6b) and Big Wave (6a+, 6b, 6b, 6b) were our highlights of the climbing trip. Two absolutely stunning multi-pitch routes, we had huge smiles on our faces as we worked our way up, admiring the expansive views across the bay. For Beauty and the Beast, the route started on sharp slabs rock, battling some greenery and mosquitoes until popping out at a mini cave to admire the view. The final pitch, ‘the beauty’ was a white knuckle assent with us both pushing to our limits as we tip-toed around stalactites, out onto exposed rock using tiny holds. I took the lead and with much encouragement from Aaron (and my sheer stubbornness to get to the anchor that I could see), I managed to reach the top. The views from 75m looked like they were straight out of a magazine and we both hung around at the top until we could see the rain coming in. A not-so-quick abseil down, we celebrated in the Legacy restaurant and were shocked to see that we’d been out for 5 hours! 

On our final day, we started early to conquer Big Wave (6a+, 6b, 6b, 6b). Alternating lead, we motored up the first 2 pitches and thanked the stars that we had dodged the rain that was forecast. We were both exhilarated – true to it’s name, the climb was big. It finished with a steep overhang which looked pretty daunting from the 3rd anchor point. Aaron took the baton and muscled his way up the pumpy final pitch. I followed with a display of strength and speed climbing that surprised us both and we rejoiced at our success. The abseil down was just as fun, with epic views and a huge feeling of accomplishment. It really was the perfect end to our climbing trip.