Rock Climbing in Railay and Tonsai

After trying deep water solo, checking out a few climbing areas, and gathering information from other climbers, we worked up our nerve to try climbing ourselves. We bought a 70 meter rope for 6200 baht and rented a guide book for three days for 200 baht. We searched Tonsai for Emile and Ellen to invite them along, but despite seeing a lot of familiar faces, we did not find them. So, we climbed on our own on Wednesday (October 28th).  

On our deep water solo trip we met an American couple, Alex and Sarah, who are traveling thru Nepal, Thailand and then to Vietnam before returning to Oregon. In Vietnam they’ll be teaching rescue and safety classes for adventure tour groups. Pretty cool. We bonded with them as they have wedding ring tattoos just like us. They went climbing on Tuesday and said their favorite climbing was at Thaiwand Wall, because of some awesome views. There also weren’t a lot of large guided climbing groups in that area. So, we took their advice and headed for Thaiwand Wall in Railay. 

When we left from Tonsai to Railay it happened to be closer to high tide than low tide, so we had to wade thru mid thigh water with all our gear (we learned to check tide times after this!). Then we walked across Railay West Beach to the far end and found a path with a steep, uphill jungle scramble to the rock face. It was quite the workout just to reach the climb, but it turned out to be totally worth it. There were awesome views of Tonsai, Railay East, and Railay West Beaches from the top. 

Part of the jungle scramble

Awesome views of Tonsai Beach to the left and Railay West Beach to the right

We started on a 15 meter climb with a 5 rating called Organ Grinder (pitch 1) to warm up. I led it, but the climb was a bit harrowing because it did not match the guide book description. It was supposed to be re-bolted with new Titanium bolts, but it was not. Brandon climbed it after me and was able to find the anchors a bit higher up, so we could actually properly clean the route. 

Brandon getting read to clean Organ Grinder

The second route we climbed was much better and probably our favorite of the day. It was a 25 meter 6a+ called Circus Oz/Lord of the Thais. Brandon led it, and I topped it cleanly. The views were spectacular! 

Our rope weaving up Circus Oz/Lord of the Thais

If you look really closely you can see me way up there cleaning Circus Oz/Lord of the Thais 

Right edge of Thaiwand Wall just past Circus Oz/Lord of the Thais 

Near this route we occasionally saw people rappelling out of a cave with guides. We discovered that the cave went all the way through the prominent rock face separating Railay West Beach and Phra Nang Beach! We ended up climbing through this cave from Phra Nang Beach on our rest day. There were ropes and ladders to use as well as light from Brandon’s phone. We didn’t have the equipment to rappel down, so we just backtracked thru the cave again. So fun! 

Brandon ready to enter the cave

Further into the cavern

View out to Phra Nang from inside the cave

It got dark enough in the cave that when turning Brandon's phone off this was the view with light from some cracks to the outside

The cave kept going and going 

A guide helping someone rappel from the top of the cave down the Railay side. This was our same view while climbing Circus Oz/Lord of the Thais! 

The last two climbs we did on Wednesday shared an anchor. I led the 15 meter 6a+ Primal Scream and was proudly able to get past the intimidating cruxes near and over a ledge. Brandon then topped it clean. It didn’t have as good of views, but it was a fun route with some corner features. 

Prepping to lead Primal Scream

An 18 meter 6b+ called Solution 41 shared the anchor, so Brandon and I both topped it. I was tired from doing the prior lead climb and the rock was really sharp on the route, but I eventually made it to the top. Brandon gathered a lot of beta from watching me try to route and was more used to the sharp rock type. He topped it cleanly with impressive skill. 

Working thru Solution 41

The rock here is limestone and has different features than what we’re used to climbing at the Red River Gorge. Instead of classic jugs, there are a lot of stalactite formations, columns where stalactites and stalagmites have met, pockets between columns, sections of sharp rock, chimneys, and smooth sections worn down by dripping cave water. It was definitely fun to experiment with and worth through the different features. 

We really enjoyed Thaiwand Wall

We picked up all our gear and headed down the steep jungle path using ropes to lower ourselves at some points. Stopping in Railay, we split the most amazing chicken kabob wrap and a strawberry milk shake to give us some energy for the trek back. It was low tide thankfully, so we didn’t need to wade to reach Tonsai for a shower and rest under the fans. 

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After taking a rest day on Thursday, we went out for another day of climbing on Friday. This time we decided to avoid crossing any tides and stayed in Tonsai. We easily found the Nest Wall, but it was in full sun, so we decided to return in the afternoon. After some searching we found Fire Wall and a 17 meter 6a+ called Up In Smoke, which was in partial shade. Brandon led it and I topped it with both of us stopping for a break at the crux. We learned not to climb routes in the sun; it was scorching and the black rubber on our shoes made our feet burn. 

We learned our lesson and waited for shade on the routes further down the wall including the famous 25 meter 6a called Groove Tube and a 25 meter 6b called Boob Tube. Groove Tube was literally like climbing in a tube or chimney, which was really cool. It also had an awesome view at the top. I was able to lead it clean and Brandon topped it clean. 

Groove Tube with the rope running through and Boob Tube to the left of it

Anchored in at the top of Groove Tube

Brandon at the top of Groove Tube looking down on me

Awesome view of Tonsai Beach from Groove Tube

We then both climbed Boob Tube from the anchors at Groove Tube. It had some neat technical moves, but we both still had energy to do it clean. We then walked back to our bungalow and to Mama’s Chicken for a late lunch and a break to build stamina for one last climb. 

After lunch we returned to the Nest Wall, which was now in the shade, to climb a 22 meter 6b called Whacky Weed. Brandon led it and I topped it. We were both pretty tired, but enjoyed the multiple features of the route, including a ledge, scramble, chimney, arete, and slab. It was a good final route of the day. 

Brandon at the top of Whacky Weed

In the evening, we walked over to Railay at low tide to watch a gorgeous sunset. As the sun set we also saw a huge storm cloud over the Andaman Sea and spent awhile enjoying the impressiveness of the lightning and storm rolling in. To our disappointment, the cooling rain never hit Tonsai. 

Walking over to Railay at low tide

Railay Beach sunset

A great end to the day

Huge storm cloud rolling in with lightning flashing within it

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Saturday, we decided to get some afternoon shaded climbs in since it was our last day in Tonsai. We returned to the Nest Wall and Brandon began to lead a 27 meter 6a+ called Banana Hammock. Just as he got on the wall, it began to pour. Thankfully, we were under a huge, natural rock roof far above so neither of us nor our gear got wet, and Brandon was able to climb in the rain. I proceeded to cleanly climb the route as the rain stopped. A difficult part of the route was climbing a stalactite-like feature at a negative incline; the best strategy was to just keep moving. 

As we were climbing Banana Hammock, four climbers began setting up on the 15 meter 6b route next to us called Techno-Bug. They let us top Techno-Bug and we let them top Banana Hammock; it was a good trade. Techno-Bug had a lot of zig-zagging right and left often requiring wide leg placement. 

Our fellow climbers suggested a route that they had enjoyed on the other end of Tonsai Beach. Brandon still had energy he wanted to burn, so we traipsed over there. At Tyrolean Wall we found a 20 meter 6b+ called Missing Snow. The route had a nasty overhang start, but we were able to borrow a stick clip to make it slightly less intimidating. Brandon led it and I managed to top it, but we completed it with extreme ugliness. Our arms were shot from this being our third day of climbing, and when we’re fatigued we tend to stray away from the energy efficient, technical skills we need most. 

We returned to our bungalow ragged, but happy to see the fans on and ready to shower and enjoy dinner on our last night in Tonsai. In all we climbed 11 routes in 3 days...not too shabby! 

1. Organ Grinder - 15 m - 5
2. Circus Oz/Lord of the Thais - 25 m - 6a+
3. Primal Scream - 15 m - 6a+
4. Project 41 - 18 m - 6b+
5. Up in Smoke - 17 m - 6a+
6. Groove Tube - 25 m - 6a
7. Boob Tube - 25 m - 6b
8. Whacky Weed - 22 m - 6b
9. Banana Hammock - 27 m - 6a+
10. Techno-Bug - 15 m - 6b
11. Missing Snow - 20 m - 6b+

****P.S. I've used the French grading scale throughout this post as used in our rented guidebook. I've found this table helpful to translate between French and USA scales: 

Life in Tonsai

Tonsai Beach is an interesting place to visit with its eccentric, earthy, barefoot, bohemian, hippie vibe. The only two sources of income for the Thai people living here seem to be tourism and construction for tourism. It makes you wonder what this area was like before it became a place catering to rock climbers, most of whom are young and white Europeans, Australians, or North Americans. 

Railay Beach also caters to tourists, but much more high end. There are expensive resorts (expensive for Thailand) with electricity all day, nicer restaurants, families, and more expensive tours. It has a much more cultured, tropical holiday feel. 

Map of Tonsai, Railay, and Phra Nang Beaches

There are a few people on holiday in Tonsai, but most people are permanent world travelers. They travel til the money runs out and then find a job to make enough money to travel again. Some people have been here for months. They usually don’t have set plans, but just float around. To Brandon and I who dislike too much change and appreciate some structure, this life sounds like a constant nightmare. 

Catering to this gypsy, hippie lifestyle are several businesses. As aforementioned, rock climbing is a major source of revenue here. You can rent equipment, buy climbing book and gear, pay for a guided group climbing tour, hire a private climbing guide, purchase a deep water solo trip, and more. There are experiences for those who have never climbed and those who have been climbing for years. 

For rest days from climbing there are other options. You can do all types of yoga by donation in the rafters of a bar or on the beach (Brandon and I tried this!). We’ve seen at least two different massage places that people who aren’t too sunburned spring for. At low tide people trek over to the much nicer Railay or Phra Nang beaches for an afternoon. There are several hikes in the area. Kayaks are popular to rent on nice days. 

Enjoying a rest in the shade on Pranang Beach. At low tide you can walk to the island in the right of the picture and behind the boats

There are food longboats at Phra Nang Beach

The sidewalk goes thru a cave on the way to Phra Nang Beach

Thick, coiling vines around the cave

In part of the cave

Phra Nang Beach at low tide on a cloudier day. The cliff at the beach is popular for guided climbing groups. 

And, of course there is the nightlife. Tonsai’s four major bars colorfully light up at night. At least two of them have slack lines for balance practice and some people have pretty impressive skills. One bar is distinctly reggae in its atmosphere with reggae music blaring, Bob Marley displayed prominently, and free bongs all around. We've had a chance to try Singha and Chang, classic Thai beers. 

Viking Bar complete with a slack line between those blue columns

Restaurants are a big source of income here, because travelers do not have cooking facilities at their disposal. If we did have a kitchen, it would probably still be cheaper to eat out than to buy supplies and cook ourselves. Thai pancakes, fruit shakes, curry soups, and noodle and rice dishes are common. Many places have more Westernized dishes, like fried chicken sandwiches and burgers, but they’re still not quite Western. Thus far we have not gotten sick, but we usually order really hot food that has been boiling or meat that has been visibly cooking. The only thing we do on our own is breakfast which consists of apples, peanut butter, and Nutella that we brought with us from Australia. We also picked up some delicious coconut crackers/cookies and bulk water from the mini-marts in town.

Wherever you go, if you want to enter a business, you take your shoes off first, wipe your feet on a rug, and walk around barefoot inside. We noticed this in Phuket as well. Some climbers walk around everywhere without shoes. Crazy given the state of sanitation here. 

Eating at the restaurants is a great way to meet fellow travelers. Everyone swaps climbing stories, which was really helpful in building our confidence to climb and find good rock walls. Camaraderie is high, though it is hard to climb with other groups of climbers. People seem to form their climbing group clique early on. We would like to climb with some climbers better than us, but they already have their groups. People also compare restaurants and their accommodation, which was of course invaluable to us with our ant experience. 

Speaking of ants, there are all sorts of critters here. Mosquitoes are particularly bad at dawn and dusk; the climbing shop even closes for two hours at dusk to flee from mosquitoes. Monkeys are more plentiful in some areas than others. Kittens are everywhere around the restaurants; some of them are missing their tails (not sure why?). We’ve amusingly seen a kitten and monkey playing together. Thankfully we haven’t seen a snake yet, and I hope we don’t ever see one. An American couple we met has seen a cobra and even something similar to a komodo dragon! 

Brandon enjoying food and cat company at a restaurant

Brandon and I would consider ourselves long term travelers, but compared to travelers here we are not. We also do not have the same hippie, anything goes philosophy. Admittedly, I have had trouble adjusting to this place and Thailand in general. We just came off such a great experience in Melbourne, which probably makes it harder as well. Not that we haven’t had fun here. Deep water solo and rock climbing have been incredibly awesome; there have just been a lot of lows too. I wouldn’t normally consider myself high maintenance, but the climate, new atmosphere, continual decision-making, sanitation, and critters take a toll. When you’re hot, sweaty, itchy, dirty, and worn, you just want to be home. 

Deep Water Solo

For those of you who don’t know, deep water solo is climbing over water without ropes. You don’t need a rope because if/when you fall, you fall into deep water that should easily break your fall. We were excited about doing deep water solo because it’s hard to find where we live (though we did try to do some at Devil’s Washtub in the UP this summer). And well, falling or jumping into water off a climb sounds fun. We also needed something fun to get us past our ant fiasco.  

The deep water solo trips from Tonsai seem like a great deal. For 700 baht (less than $20 USD) per person you get a 5 or 6 hour (depending on tide) climbing trip with longboat ride, lunch on a beach, water, snorkel gear, and climbing shoes included. We were ready to test out the day and see if it really was a great deal.

In the morning our group of nine looked through a pile of old climbing shoes to find a good fit for the day. You don’t want to use your normal, nice climbing shoes for deep water solo. Climbing shoes aren’t meant for water and don’t dry well in the humid, hot climate. Brandon grabbed a pair that was small enough for my small feet. When I tried them on, I was surprised to find a toad hanging out in the toe of one of the shoes. After I shook it out, the shoe fit just fine. Brandon managed to find a reasonable pair as well.

Brandon tired from the ants, but ready to leave for deep water solo

We walked to the longboat with our climbing shoes in hand and rode to our first island climbing area. We had two guides with us. One managed the longboat and the other commandeered a kayak to ferry us from the longboat to the rock wall. This was nice because the drier you are the easier it is to climb. After falling in the first time though most of us just swam back to the start and climbed up again. 

Sitting in the longboat getting ready to climb

Kayaking out to the climb

Brandon heading to the rock with the guide

There was a rope ladder hanging down from the climbing area at the start of the climbs. After getting up the ladder and onto the rock there were a few routes to choose from varying in difficulty from 6a (5.10a supposedly but felt like a 5.9) to 7c (5.12d). Brandon and I quickly conquered a few of the routes and moved on to harder ones. Our confidence for doing land routes was increased by actually trying out the rating system and figuring out where our skill level was. My favorite route was a long 6b (5.10c) traverse route where some of the moves required some creative problem solving. 

Making it up the ladder

Brandon, Ellen, and Sarah climbing

Traversing

Getting higher

Traversing

Climbing further up

No hands

Chilling in a rest spot

Trickier part of the traverse

Using those long arms and legs

If the route was easier and we didn’t fall off we jumped down into the water from a height of anywhere from 3 to 8 meters. You do need some technique with jumping/falling, especially from higher heights. You want your feet first and your arms at your sides or all the way above your head. Essentially, turn yourself into a pencil. If you don’t, you’ll have some nasty bruises on the undersides of your arms; we’ve seen a few people walking around Tonsai with these colorful souvenirs. We managed to avoid this and had a great time!

Katie cliff jumping

Brandon cliff jumping

After climbing, jumping, and swimming for a few hours the longboat took us to a beach on the island where we had a delicious lunch of chicken fried rice and watermelon. We took an hour break where we ate, snorkeled, and enjoyed the sandy beach. One of the guides attracted tons of beautiful yellow and blue fish in the water with a piece of watermelon. Brandon and I were able to swim and snorkel around them as well as see some crabs and other fish. It was wonderful.

Chicken fried rice for lunch

Eating and resting

Watermelon eating fish

When the hour was up, we all piled back into the longboat and went to a second climbing area. This island had a really cool giant stalactite feature and much higher, more intimidating climbing. Brandon was the brave soul who volunteered to climb first. He climbed up at least 20 meters making everyone except the well-seasoned guides nervous. He enjoyed the view and then down-climbed a little to about 15 meters up before taking a spectacular jump off. A few more people were inspired by Brandon’s performance and climbed. The guide even helped one guy make it to the stalactite. I managed to make it up the ladder and onto the rock. The ladder climbing was more difficult than the rock climbing. Though I was more nervous than Brandon and didn’t jump from as high up, I was still the only girl to jump from the rock. That’s my small bragging right from the day.

Brave Brandon being the first to climb the very, very tall cliff 

Climbing the ladder was the most physically demanding part of the climb

Scaling the rock face

So high up! Fearless. 

Brandon's gigantic jump off the cliff 

Katie reaching the top of the ladder and the rock

Tentatively moving away from the ladder to find a good place to jump off

Katie jumping off. Not as high as Brandon, but still the only girl to do it!

Second area we climbed. It's a lot higher and more intimidating than it looks. 

After those who wanted to tried the more intimidating rock climb, the group consensus was to head back to the first climbing area and do those climbs a few more times. It was a good way to end the trip before returning to Tonsai. We arrived back in Tonsai feeling very pleased with our deep water solo investment and wondering if they took trips to other areas so we could do it again. It was truly an awesome experience.

The trip was also a great way to meet some fun people and quiz them on their experiences in Tonsai thus far. As you can imagine we asked just about everyone about their accommodation. One couple was happy staying in a nice cement and tiled bungalow near the paved road for 350 baht per night and was kind enough to let us look at it. It sounded like they had electricity longer than we did on the hill as well. On the way we looked at a few bungalows ranging from 150 to 300 baht per night. Then we checked out a few more after seeing the couple’s bungalow. They all seemed nicer than ours. We ended up choosing a bungalow nearly twice the size of our old one with a queen and twin bed, two fans (!!!), and a better shower and real sink for 300 baht (less than $9 USD) per night. And, most importantly no sign of ant or other critter infestation. We picked up our bags and moved out of our bungalow without reservation. I’m happy to say that so far the extra investment has been well worth it!

Our new neighborhood

Our more secure cement bungalow

Inside of our bungalow. Much more spacious and brighter. 

This has been our best day in Tonsai thus far what with deep water solo, a new bungalow, and Mama’s famous chicken in our stomachs.

Mama's Chicken Restaurant

The famous chicken of Mama's Chicken

***Note this was written about events on October 26th. We didn’t have internet access to post this on the actual date.