Our planned climbing trip on Railey was rained out. Unfortunately, it was the same day  the Phuket crash happened. The rain that day was torrential.

We made our way to Koh Phi Phi by ferry and like the rest of the Krabi Province,  limestone cliffs and karsts were prominent. On the second day on the island, we found a  climbing shop and enquired about climbing with them. It was 1000 baht for half a day of  top roping on Tonsai Tower. They said to come back at noon.

Nicey and Mel Rose weren’t feeling to well that day. Something to do with drinking Blue  Lagoons the previous night!

Nicole and I grab a quick bite to eat before heading back to the climbing shop. Although  Phi Phi’s town is very small, the narrow streets seemed like a labyrinth. We found a  tour company who said they were heading towards the Spidermonkey Climbing^[1] shop. Yeah  sure that must be it. Little did we know it was a completely different climbing company.  No matter, Spidermonkey had the exact same deal: 1000 baht for half a days climbing on  Ton Sai Tower. The owner Naomi and our guide Boy were friendly and accommodating.

While gearing up we met another Naomi who was from Perth. She was new to climbing. We all walked towards the tower and had to scramble 50m up a gully from a large tree at the waters edge.

The walk in was very hot. Luckily, once at the start of the cliff it was in the shade. Boy took us to an area called Tonsia Right where the grades begin from 5 up to 6b with several multi-pitch routes thrown in.

Boy offered me the first climb: Jug City, 5+. A 14m sport route with lots of big holds, hence the name. I lead this with out any dramas but enjoying the magnificent views over the bay and town of Phi Phi. I setup the top rope for the others to follow. Nicole did really well and cleaned it despite her 6 weeks of non-climbing. No nervous laughter or even a giggle was offered. However the same can not be said of riding elephants

Naomi was next and this was her first ever climb. The start was a little shaky but this was just beginner nerves: learning to trust holds and more importantly your belayer: will he catch me if I fall? Naomi did regain her confidence and proceeded to make her way to the top!

Meanwhile, Nicey and Mel Rose had spotted us on the cliffs from the beach far below. They decided to scramble up the gully to meet us at the base.

We moved onto the next climb: Stir Fried Water, 5+. This was a 22m route with a small overhang pass as its crux. Boy lead this and as he did pointed out a crucial hold on the crux that would otherwise not be so obvious or seen from the stance below.

We all cleaned this climbed too. Even more spectacular views were experienced despite only a 8m gain in height from the previous climb.

The guide book^[2] converts the 5 climbs to a 19 Ewbank grade. Hmm, definitely wrong. The grade 5 climbs we did were more like Ewbank 14′s.

Urban Crag recommends Spidermonkey climbing for your climbing needs on Koh Phi Phi, Thailand. The guides are very knowledgeable, experienced and friendly. Their shop front also has some good Black Diamond gear on sale, cheaper than Bangkok. I ended up buying a couple of souvenir shirts though.

References:

1. Spidermonkey Climbing website.

2. Tonsai Right guide.