Save Our Nation

2 weeks in beautiful Krabi..
the much needed getaway that i was wishing for. I spent the first week climbing with one group of friends and the second week with another. And in between, i had 3 days of 'time alone' to relax.

I got so tanned that i lost count of the number of times tourists AND locals mistook me for a local climbing guide.
Our last day at Tonsai we climbed the ultra classic Groove Tube 6a. The guidebook said the second pitch was good but rarely done due to the extremely popular first pitch. aila was all over this because she was starting to love the views that multipitch climbs offered.
Given how polished the second pitch was it apparently got some traffic. Below you can see an old restaurant which
After our rest day we got on a Tonsai classic 5 pitch climb called Humanality. It climbs right above the Freedom Bar on the beach, so it puts on a good show. The classic pitch is pitch 4 (6b+). As you climb up large holds on a steep face they suddenly disappear except for two large holds about 10 feet out of reach. As you look around for what to do next you realize a large stalactite is just within reach behind you. When you lean out to reach it you are left staring 300 ft down into the bar!
You do a few delicate and spooky moves and find yourself comfortably on the stalactite but then you have to move back on the face so you move up and around on the stalactite and reach back out for those large holds which were formerly 10 feet away. After that you have another great pitch of 6b and then rappel down straight into the bar.

In a classic Tonsai style my friend Rudy(guide from jakarta) arrived while we were on the climb. I knew he was coming to Tonsai but not exactly what day and he knew we were in Dream Valley 405 but that was it. He arrived, got a room, left a note for us at Dream Valley and headed to the Freedom Bar with some people he had meet on the way to Tonsai. They had just been asking him "How are you going to find your friend?" "This place can't be that big, I'm sure I'll come across them" "Hey I think I know that guy rappelling into the bar!"
Before we called it a day Aila jumped on the classic 6c Vikings in Heat. A steep pumpy climb which she struggled through but managed to onsite.