Nam Pha Pa Yai Camp - Thailand

WRITTEN BY SANDRA
After a short stop in Hongkong, where we do some cheap shopping for a new Skylotec climbing rope and a pair of 5.10 climbing shoes and where we ate the Hong Kong famous Dim Sum we fly to Bangkok, Thailand. A piece of my tooth broke off in China and needs to be fixed. Luckily the medical care in Thailand is known for it's expertise so after a week the tooth is repaired and we are set to go. We are going for ten days to Nam Pha Pa Yai Camp about 150 km north of Bangkok, close to Khaeng Khoi in Saraburi provence. It is conviently accessible by train and bus!



After a long train ride we arrive in Khaeng Khoi so we ask locals where the bus is going to the Nam Pha Pa Yai camp. Nobody seems to know, but there is one bus going out of town, and they explain to us with hand and feet and a lot of smiling where we should go. At the busstop there is a friendly schoolgirl that helps us out and writes for us something in Thai to show to the busdriver. While we are waiting for the bus, a car stops in front of us and a woman steps out of the car. With a gentle voice she asks us in fluent english where we are going "You must be lost!" We explain where we want to go, she looks on the internet, makes a phonecall, and then tells us we are on the right way. Very reassuring! I guess they don't see a lot of foreigners here! :) The bus arrives, and when the driver tells us it's our stop and we get out of the bus, we are not sure where we are. We are standing on an intersection and there are no signs or houses or people to guide the way. Just when we decide to start walking, another car stops with a friendly Thai couple. "Are you lost? Where are you going?" They had seen us on the road looking all confused and decided to make a turn to ask us if we needed help. They offer to give us a ride to the camp. As we load all our luggage in the car another woman on a motorcycle stops and asks where we are going. We are just amazed how helpfull everybody here is. She calls Ben, the owner of the camp to come to pick us up. 15 minutes later we arrive at the camp.
Nam Pha Pa Yai camp is a little gem in the middle of the Thai jungle. This ecological camp is owned by Ben and his wife Joy. Ben used to work in rope access in France, and build this camp all by himself. We are staying in the tree hut. It is a little cabin that hangs in the trees. It is the most cool place to sleep, since it is pretty hot here. It is also the home of a gecko that loves to shout in the middle of the night "GECKO!!!!" in the nice accoustics of the aluminium roof we sleep under. It is the only noise here, but pretty loud. It breaks up our sleep, but since he was here before us, we adopt him as our pet.

Every morning Joy makes us the most amazing breakfast with omelets, homemade bread, coffee and fruit. She also makes great lunches and dinner. The first night we arrived we even got homemade pizza. They try to have a self sustainable way of living, so they grow their own fruit and vegetables, and use only electricity of light panels. So Joy often cooks her delicious dinners with the help of a headlamp. Ben does not want power lines coming to the camp because he does not want to ruin the beautiful landscape, so electricity is in scarce supply but we only need it anyway to charge cameras and phones once in a while.




One of the great benifits of staying at Nam Pha Pa Yai is the close proximity of the rocks and the way you get to the crag. Instead of a long steep hike up a mountain, the way to access the climbing area here is by walking through the fruit garden of the camp and then ziplining across the river. An activity you would normally pay for, is here a way of accessing the climbing! Needless to say, the first time we zip line up and down ten times just for fun!




From the zip line you have a perfect view on the rocks, long and slightly overhanging limestone. The routes here are more of a technical nature. Small holds, vertical to slightly overhanging and Ben grades them old-school French so the grades are a bit stiffer than in Tonsai/Raylee or Chiang-Mai.







Ben convieniently hangs the latest topo always at the base of the cliff so the information on the routes is easily accessible. Some of the high lights of the routes we climbed are Sweet Lip 6c+, a gorgeous long tufa pincher, Stop Monsanto 7c+ a long and technical masterpiece and Jungle's Thai 7b+ another gorgeous route.
For more information, please see Nam Pha Pa Yai's facebook page.

Back in Yangshuo

When we get back from Getu and are in Yangshuo again, the first thing we do is eat Western food in  one of our favorate restaurants and get-togethers Kelly's. Kelly's is a little restaurant that serves Western food and Chinese food, without MSG, which is very rare in China! The owner Kelly is a very nice lady that knows all the climbers by name and speaks good English. Almost every morning climbers have breakfast and meet each other there. On rainy days everybody hangs out there. We are happy to be back and see some of our friends.

Then we go climbing again! It starts to rain a lot in Yangshuo, and the temperature is dropping now. But the good crags are sheltered from the rain, and lower temperatures mean more friction! :-)
So armed with warm clothes and rain boots we head to the crags again.

Me and Marcel have some unfinished business at Lei Pi Shan, one of the hardest cliffs in Yangshuo. The first time we came there, Marcel convinced me to go into this 7A, called "Crash and Burn". It is a slightly overhanging route, with crimps and pinchers and with multiple cruxes along the way. Every time I try it, the hardest part seems to move up. The final crux is to climb past the last quickdraw on a pincher and a little undercling with bad footholds and move on to a jug in order to clip it. Because I find it impossible not to grab the quickdraw as I climb over it we decide it's a good idea to remove the quickdraw so I can't grab it!
Although I never thought it was possible, on the last day on the last try, using this new beta i sent the route.
I also sent Pickpocket, which is my second 7A!

                                               Sandra on Face Route, a 6B+ in White Mountain.

Marcel on Riverside

 Marcel sents "One Love" a very hard 7C+ on the same day, so we can leave China with a content feeling. But we will definitely be back!

Getu

We are walking on the main road of Getu. Looking around it appears to be a commercial from the communist party. Farmers, working hard look at you smiling as you pass by. The sun is shining on the rice fields and everybody is having a good time. Women are working while carrying a baby on their back, and very old people with enormous loads on their back are walking around with a content smile on their faces.
We have arrived in Getu, the place where the 2011 Petzl Rock trip took place. It is supposedly a new climbers mecca, and we are very excited to be here.
The main attraction of Getu is it's big arch, a monumental cave that goes straight through a mountain, and after settling in, that's where we want to climb first.
The walk up is hard, the steps are steep, and I feel exhausted when I come up. When I look around I am really amazed. I feel like there must be dinosaurs living here! It has to be one of the most incredible places I have ever seen. The arch is 70 meters wide and 120 meter high. They say that one day, someone flew an airplane through it!
As we walk through the arch, I can feel raindrops falling on me. There are clouds inside and it's raining inside!!! It is really an amazing place….
When we start to climb in the Arch we notice how everything feels a little dirty. It looks truly amazing but the climbing is maybe not what we expected of it.
Sandra tries Sushisson 6b+, and after that Dragon Bolt 6c. The last route is very technical, but I manage to come to the top. Marcel climbs Capucine 7b on sight, and Dunman 7a+. The last route is really bizarre shaped underclings, and the steps are mainly friction. It is very typical for Getu.
In the following days we climb at various places, but our favourites are Banyang Cave, where Sandra climbs her first Chinese 6c, and Marcel red points and almost onsights several 7c's. Another favourite is Oliver's Crag and Wayangs Cave and of course Fish Crag, where I took this amazing picture of Marcel below. I also loved Rastaman Crag, where I onsighted my first 6c+!!! :-))) My goal of the trip, to climb 7a, is coming closer!
We finally stay in Getu for 2,5 weeks. We love it very much. The climbing is great and the people are really nice. In the beginning we are with about 30 climbers in the village because it is national week, a holiday for all the Chinese. But after that week we are only there with 9 other climbers. We eat together every day, the same Chinese dishes in the same restaurant, and after 2 weeks we are craving for different food. We look forward to going back to Yangshuo and eat burgers, pizza and meat!

First impression of Yangshuo, China

We are now in Yangshuo, a city near Guilin, South China.. Yangshuo is a fairly large town, much bigger then we expected. And we don't notice much of the communism. There is an abundance of shops and traders here, the prices are free, and you have to negotiate everything. Everywhere people are persuading you to come inside and have a drink. Capitalisme rules here, I would say!

 The shops here are open from early morning to late at night. Not that it matters, because our backpacks are so full there is no room for shopping. I guess that's good for us for a change! The food here is amazing. Every day we eat "bao-tse" some kind of steamed bun filled with meat, vegetables and rice. We haven't eaten dog yet (that we know) but we did eat stomach… yes, the translation is in fact "meat" as well! We ate it, but maybe I would't have chosen it from the menu if I would have known!

 The Chinese like to cycle and the lazy Chinese ride electric bikes. You see those electric bikes everywhere. Public transportation is also very cheap. We have rented a bicycle several times, and we also take the bus. This morning, when I arrived downstairs, Marcel's bike wasn't there anymore. Of course it gave me a fright, thinking it for stolen for a moment. When I went looking for it, it turned out… it was towed away!!! It was parked in front of the wrong hotel, so it got towed away….. luckily we didn't get a clamb on our wheel, just like you get in Amsterdam! :-))

 The scenery is really pretty here. Yesterday we cycled to the Dragon bridge, along the Yulon river. It was really beautiful, like we where cycling in an old Chinese movie. Ricefields, mountains, little villages along the way. We watched water buffalo's and farmers working, and children running with us while screaming proudly "hellooooo!!!" to us. Needless to say, we took many photo's along the way. 

When we arrived at the hostel "Climber's Inn", Lilly the owner took us climbing on a nearby crag only hours after we arrived. That's what i call a warm welcome...  Climbing here is great! After a hard start because we needed to get used to the rock here, are we back in shape. We have been to Moon Hill twice already. This is a climbing area with rock in the shape of a half moon. You have to climb 700 steps in order to get there, but it's worth it! :-) On the stairs two old ladies sell ice-cold cola and mango juice. One is 56 and the other is 73 years old! Every day they climb all these stairs. Marcel went climbing with a South African man named Herman. Together they climbed "Moonwalker" a 7C. I climbed a very pumpy 6A+ and a 6B. The gradation is by the way a little harder then we are used to, but maybe we also need to get used to the rock a little more. We also went to White Mountain, one of the major crags here. This is a huge wall with a big steep section. On Moon Hill we also met a group of Chinese tourists. They where from a different part of China and did not see so many foreigners yet. "May I take a picture with you?" times 30 ;-) We will be famous! :-))

We Are On Our Way!

By the time you're reading this message we are probably sitting in an airplane somewhere between Amsterdam and Hong Kong. We're very excited that the Trip Has Begun and we promise to keep you posted on our adventures (if the The Great Chinese Firewall permits us).

New climbing gear arrived!

The mail today brought a much anticipated package: our new climbing gear from our sponsor DMM has finally arrived, just before we're heading to China! DMM is well-known for it's excellent craftsmanship in making the safest and lightest carabiners and they are one of the few companies who have not off-shored their production factory to the Far East.
Because of their weight, DMM climbing equipment is often used by trad climbers. Considering we're going to have to carry it for the next 10 months we're very glad to have joined the DMM team! DMM sent us quick draws consisting of the Alpha Trad and Spectre 2 biners with a 18cm dyneema sling, two Renegade harnesses and some Belay Masters and Screwgates. 
Here are some iPhone photos taken from our roof terrace overlooking the centre of Amsterdam. It's a really cool view up there, but i'm looking forward to waking up with a nice mountain view on the other side of the globe :)

Climbing 9A made easy

Remember the days when "sticky rubber" was invented? All of a sudden those seemingly impossible friction walls were climbed by climbers wearing Boreal Fire or PE shoes. Climbing technology kept on improving every year, quick draws and ropes became lighter, training methods were improved... and now there is the ultimate technologic advancement to conquer the last unclimbed vertical walls!

Participating in a challenge for the American Air Force where the objective was to create innovative climbing equipment to get people over a 90 foot vertical concrete face, the Utah State Univerisity was the clear winner with "The Personnel Vacuum Assisted Climber!". 

I wonder when this apparatus will be small enough to take with you on the rocks :-).

(from: Hightech Edge)

Short visit to Font

Beginning of april we took off for a few days of bouldering on the beautiful stones of Fontainebleau. It has been quite some time since the last time we visited the forest and it was a joy to be back! We visited Gorges d'Apremont, Franchard Cuisiniere, Petite Bois and Restant du Long Rocher but both of us were not in the best of shape so no big numbers were crushed. The weather was perfect and we met up with quite some friends, Font is a very social experience!

Robert-Jan in Egoïste, Gorges d'Apremont

Sandra in 20 blue, Gorges d'Apremont

Focus on the crux..., Gorges d'Apremont

Marcel in Clin d'Oeil, Gorges d'Apremont

Arnold in Big Jim, Petite Bois

Tenerife Night Climbing

A few weeks ago we hooked up with the guys from Team Rasclat to go bouldering in Tenerife. Here are some photos of our Bouldering at Night session. 

The overhanging cliffs of Arico

Climbing photo wins climbing wine

The Dutch rock climbing and boulder magazine BLOK (Bl.ad o.ver k.limmen) runs a photo competition on their website. Sandra decided to send in one of the photos of our spring 2011 Kalymnos trip, and guess what.. we won two bottles of "Climbing Shiraz" :).

The winning photo, featured on their website and in the BLOK magazine, shows me climbing Kerveros 7a in sector Spartacus, a very aesthetic route with lots of stalactite features and a marvelous view.

Climbing in Kalymnos