Climbing on Cat Ba Island (Ha Long Bay)

We are now back in Hanoi after 10 days of climbing on Cat Ba Island, which is in the south part of the famous Ha Long Bay area. Ha Long Bay is known for the thousands of limestone karsts jutting hundreds of feet out of the water. Most people who visit this area take a single or multiple day cruise through the bay doing little else other than sitting on the boat watching the islands go by. But climbers see this area in a bit of a different light. A couple of years ago, a climbing video was released which featured Deep Water Soloing (DWS) in Ha Long Bay. DWS is fast becoming a very popular aspect of climbing due to the lack of ropes or crash pads! Since the video, Ha Long Bay (and Cat Ba Island) have become a destination for climbers looking to try out DWS. The only thing necessary, obviously, is deep water. Most of the established routes tend to finish anywhere between 15-20 metres in height and the only way to get off the wall is to jump. Therefore, the tide must be quite high in order to avoid smacking the ground under the water.

Prior to our departure, I was quite excited about the DWS as we had a great time doing it while climbing on Tonsai (in Thailand). But we were informed by the local climbing shop that the tides in Ha Long Bay during the spring season are generally lower than the summer and that DWS may not be possible. But there has been quite a bit of route development on Cat Ba Island over the past couple of years and that was enough to solidify our travel plans.

Limestone karsts visible from one of our beach climbing areas

Getting to Cat Ba Island is a travel experience within itself. From central Hanoi, it requires a taxi to the Luong Yen bus station, a bus to Haiphong, a transfer to the ferry, a ferry to Cat Ba, and then another bus to Cat Ba town. Luckily, it is a single company that runs this service and the transfers were seamless and the whole trip only took 4.5 hours (which for Vietnam is quite impressive). Upon our arrival in town, we immediately went to the only climbing outfit on the island, Slo Pony Adventures. This is a true climbing shop run by a couple of Americans, Eric (Pony) and Slo, who have done all of the work developing the crags and working with the local interests to ensure access. Eric was injured recently (not from climbing) while back in the US so we didn't see too much of him; Slo was our primary contact during our entire stint on the island. A HUGE thanks to Slo Pony as they helped us find a great place to stay (Bay View Hotel), get a motorbike for the entire visit, and pointed out all of the great climbs in each of the crags. They've even printed a guide book for all the bolted and established DWS routes. Anyone going to Cat Ba for climbing or just to check it out should seek these guys out as they will help you organize whatever you require and will make sure you don't get ripped off.

The primary route climbing is at Butterfly Valley, which has a collection of 25+ routes which are graded from 4 to 8a+. This variety of grades ensures that there is some climbing for the beginner all the way to the super strong! The limestone is pretty solid and offers a vast array of holds including giant tufas, stalagtites, huge huecos and razor-edged crimps! During our ten day stay on the island, we climbed at Butterfly Valley for six of those days. The land owners offer a fantastic lunch each day of fresh ingredients from the market (required to order before heading to the crag in the morning) and there's so much food that it takes some serious effort to get back on the wall afterwards! There's a gazeebo to eat in as well as hammocks for a quick post lunch nap if necessary. Not having to go find lunch each day is a huge bonus and allowed us to maximize our time climbing.

There were some great routes in the 6a range such as "Mother Butterfly" (6a), "Rome to Hanoi Express" (6a), and "Argentina" (6a+), which both of us enjoyed! Most of the routes were at least 18 metres long and provided for some awesome exposure. Right next to "Mother Butterfly" is a 7c+ called "Flight of the Bumblebee", which has a super easy start but then kicks into some harder climbing at the mid-section and then the last couple of bolts are a full on boulder problem with terrible underclings, haneous pinches and a dyno to the finishing hold! I worked this route a bunch and fell on the dyno quite a few times before finally sticking it and ticking this one off.

An area in the centre of Butterfly Valley has a collection of amazing routes which I spent some working. "I Enjoy Myself" (6b) follows a perfect line straight up to a pretty hard mantle crux; a good warm-up before tackling the more challenging routes. I worked an awesome route called "Prayer of the Mantis" (7b) just to the right of "I Enjoy Myself". The key feature on this route is a perfect arete that required some slapping and serious body tension! The bottom also has some serious ground fall potential so Robin was kind enough to pre-clip the first two draws on the way down from "I Enjoy Myself" (that's true love)! I sent this after a day and then was able to move onto one of the nicest lines in the area. "Hippie Banana Tree Killer" (7b+) is a route which has just about every type of climbing involved. A balancy boulder problem at the start leading into crazy, acrobatic roof followed by some huge deadpoints after the roof and then some sustained pocket climbing to the anchors. After placing the draws and working out the sequences, I tried this route a bunch of times and only once came close to the redpoint. I was a bit disappointed not to send, but it'll be there for next time!!! Below are some pics of Butterfly Valley.

Robin on "Mother Butterfly"

Adam on "Prayer of the Mantis"

Adam resting before the crux on "Flight of the Bumblebee"

Adrian (SloPony employee) setting up for the dyno on "Flight of the Bumblebee"

(which he stuck...)

Slo workin' his new project...

On one of our rest days, we decided to rent an extra bike and take a tour around the island. There's a great loop with a couple of side roads out to different points on the island. Driving around the island allowed us to see more of the beautiful mountainous terrain and we quickly realized the untapped climbing potential of the rest of the island, beyond Butterfly Valley. At Gian Luan harbour on the northern end of Cat Ba, the views of the karsts out in the bay were pretty good. There's little development here but that is changing rapidly. I imagine that in a couple more years, this point will be a major entry point of tourists coming to Cat Ba from Ha Long Bay.

Robin posing on our island tour

On our last full day on Cat Ba, we took a boat out to Lan Ha Bay to do some climbing at Tiger Beach on one of the karst islands. The boat wound its way through inlets and around islands until we reached our destination and then we took a kayak to shore. The routes were fine but it was clear that we were some of the first climbers of the season on this particular rock; I'm pretty sure the next climbers there will appreciate the cleaning job we did. But it was the scenery that was the highlight of this excursion. There was a slight fog due to the intermittent rain and it gave the islands an atmospheric, prehistoric feel, like we were right out of Jurasic Park! I was waiting for some pteradactyl to come swooping out of the sky!

While it was unfortunate that we did not get to do any DWS on this trip, we still had a great time! With a bit more sun, Cat Ba would have been perfect but we can't have everything! It is a place I would love to go and visit again. By that time, the guys from Slo Pony will probably have more routes bolted and more DWS established. So that's it from the climbing side of our trip. I'm pretty sure the next time I touch rock will be back in North America (Red River Gorge Easter Trip???). But who knows...there may be a quick hit to some boulders in Seoul???

See everyone soon back in Canada!!!
Adam