Thursday, February 19, 2009

Laos Climbing Update


After climbing the wild limestone of Tonsai and Railay beaches, I was pretty sure that I had experienced the best climbing of the trip. But that was not the case!

We arrived in Vang Vieng after spending 6 sleepy days in Luang Prabang recovering from our Thailand climbing. I was pretty amped and ready to climb again! The day we arrived we went to the offices of Green Discovery which is a company that offers guided climbing lessons as well as simple "delivery service" to the crag. We were informed that they leave at 9am each morning and with that we were all prepared to go!! One small problem though....
Around 5am the following morning, I woke to the pattering of rain drops on the roof of our bungalow and although it dampened (no pun intended) my spirits somewhat, I held on to the hope that it would end before sunrise and dry quickly. NOPE!! Instead it just rained harder and harder and by 8am we had pretty much written the day off!
The next day though, we were off with Green Discovery to our first crag of our visit, Sleeping Wall. I had an awesome time on the roofs of Tonsai and was quite excited to see an incredibly steep roof with a number of routes available. Overall, Sleeping Wall is really good place to go with beginner climbers as there are a number of routes in the 5 and 6 range (french grading) in a corridor to right of the roof as well as a newer crag 200m to the left of the roof. Those who want more of a challenge on the steep stuff can be entertained for a couple of days on the roof .I was interested in a 7a called Spiderman which is a super-steep affair with awesome tufa pulling action!


Quick shake on Spiderman (7a)
Unfortunately, the crux was right at then end and I went for a couple rides throwig for the jug! At the end of the day, the routes had pretty much kicked my butt and I had to hang my head and walk away.
Our third day of climbing (yes I'm skippin the second day as I'm saving the best for last) was more of rest day for me. Robin, myself, Sam and Daniel (people we met our first day climbing and we climbed with most other days) went to Pha Dang mountain which has a great crag just on the left side of the mountain near the caves. The approach is a bit of a climb but the views are worth it! This is a beginner crag with fantastic 6a's and 6b's which are long and slightly overhung. Robin definitely showed her mad skills here by cruising the 6a and 6a+ and then came so close on the 6b! Although she hasn't been able to climb much on the trip, she still has fantastic technique which makes up for her lack of endurance. The tops of the routes provide breathtaking views over the valley and town.
The second and forth day of a climbing was a visit to the newest and by far the best crag that Vang Vieng currently has to offer! I will add that we found out about the other climbing outfit in town as well. Adam's Climbing Shop is a specialty company geared to towards climbers. There's nothing wrong with Green Discovery but if you're going to Vang Vieng with the intention of climbing hard, go to Adam's and they'll show you all you need to know as well as will hook you up with any gear you may be missing.
Pha Tang is a stunning chunk of limestone which lies 20 km north of Vang Vieng and is currently under the most development by a hardcore group of local and expat climbers. The current routes include anything from mild 5's all the way up to 8a+ but there is an endless amount of opportunity here! The rock itself couldn't be better! Beautiful tufas are all over the wall as well as bulletproof walls with only the slightest hint of an available crimp! The other highlight of this crag is the height. Multiple 30+ meter routes can be found in the 6c to 7c range which promises the enduro-crowd a good time. We enjoyed a couple of 5's and there is a fantanstic 30+ meter 6c which follows a perfect line on a slightly overhung face. Most of the routes are slightly overhung and require a bit more technical climbing than what is normally found in Tonsai. I played on another 7a and then a crazy long 7a+ (two pitch route but strung together with a 35 meter rope).

The 7a is a great line up a crack with multiple cruxes; one at the botton and one at the top.

Upper crux on ??? (7a)

I then tried what I was told was a 7b. This route had tons of "OOMPH" and had some crazy crimps as well as two dynos. Tried it a couple of times before I was completely spent! After we returned to Adam's we then found out that it was not 7b, but rather 7c+!!!! Actually felt better after that fact ;-)

Overall, I would definitely recommend the climbing in Vang Vieng to anyone who is thinking about taking a climbing trip to SE Asia. It is an awesome climbing environment and as Robin mentioned in a earlier post, we met some great people to climb with! With the development at Pha Tang, the routes at Sleeping Wall and Pha Dang, it is becoming a worthy stop. There is climbing in Luang Prabang too. One of the walls is one hour by boat along the river which has recently been rebolted and the other is a more beginner crag quite close to the town.

Stay tuned for more climbing updates when we hit up Ha Long Bay/Cat Ba Island around mid-March...

Adam



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