Entry

Thai Yourself To The Ropes

Apr 9th, 2007 09:57
Harish Kohli, http://www.awimaway.com

Rock Climbing
Rock climbing and Thailand may not be things that are linked in your 
mind, but Railay, near Krabi in southern Thailand, is a centre that 
attracts climbers from all over the world, from beginners to experts. 
Railay is an isthmus, reached by long-tail boat, with towering cliffs 
falling into the perfectly clear turquoise Andaman Sea. Mangroves and 
mud flats hug the coastline.
Rock Climbing Schools
There are several climbing schools offering a range of courses, from 
half-day to three-day or more, and prices normally include not only 
all equipment hire – ropes, harnesses, bolts, chocks and packs of 
chalk (to help hands grip slippery rocks) – but also climbing boots. 
The instructors are highly skilled; some are even recognised champions 
at the sport. Ribboning up the cliffs are more than 700 bolted rock-
climbing routes, all put up since the 1980s, capable of providing 
practice and training to climbers at all levels of skill.
Thiland Cliffs
The cliffs vary in height, beginners being gently eased in on a cliff 
a mere 50 metres tall. No doubt about it, however, rock climbing is 
counter-intuitive and requires not only strength and agility but also 
gritty determination. Jamming your fingers into a small crack or 
clinging on to a tiny ledge and then taking pretty much your entire 
body weight on your hands is not something that comes naturally to 
most people. Fear of heights is another contra-indicator: if you’re 
not happy on the top deck of a Channel ferry, it is possible you’ll 
balk at being virtually self-supporting some metres off the ground.
Views Of A Mountaineer
It doesn’t always follow, however. The late great Eric Shipton, who in 
the 1930s and 1940s was Britain’s number one mountaineer, said that he 
felt uncomfortable looking over the viewing ledge of a skyscraper but 
thought nothing of teetering on the edge of a mountainside infinitely 
higher. Why might this be? He couldn’t explain it. Perhaps it’s 
because when you climb a rock or a mountain, you familiarise yourself 
with it; you make it, in a sense, your own; you know where its 
difficulties lie. Nothing of the sort with a building, especially if 
you have whizzed to the top in a high-speed lift. 
Climb Or Watch
So, back to Thailand. With expert instructors and a perfect array of 
safety equipment, the worst that can happen to a wary beginner is 
being made to feel a bit inadequate. But if you do, you’ll be in good 
company, because there are lots of people who go to this secluded 
haven not to climb but just to watch. And there are plenty of nice 
places to do it from – beach hut hotels and small restaurants on and 
around the beach. 
You can get to Railay by flying non-stop from Heathrow to Bangkok and 
then take another flight to Krabi, from where it’s a short and 
inexpensive ride on a longboat. The UK-based operator AwimAway (020 
7430 1766, www.awimaway.com) offers activity and adventure tours to 
far-flung destinations for individuals and corporates. AwimAway can 
organize corporate incentive programmes at these islands, where you 
can organize a conference or just chill out, party, unwind or … train 
for the Olympics on a sun-drenched shore, on a ski slope or in the 
soothing scenery of a silent wood.
Harish Kohli
http://www.awimaway.com