6-25 Railay Day 4

After four days in rock climber's paradise, we finally made it to a beginner's course in the morning after a quick relocation to a new guesthouse called Anyavee. It was much nicer and only 500 Baht per night. We were accompanied by new friends Vanessa and James to Hot Rocks climbing school in 'downtown Railay', which is simply an alley with 2 bar/restaurants and 8-10 shops. At hot rocks we met local climber celebrities/instructors Jane, Toto, and Tex. Jane is the current national champion for competitive rock climbing. She normally doesn't teach new climbers except when friends are in town. Vanessa was a world traveler who worked for a non-profit that did work related to the tsunami. She's been all over the world and was happy to be settled down in Railay for 2 quiet months. James was a 40-something world traveler with a colorful past. I believed most his stories, especially the ones involving binges on drugs and alcohol, but the story of his past as an investment banker was a bit in question. We naturally gravitated towards them because of their personalities and great conversation. Vanessa and James had met Jane the previous month and had climbed twice before with her, so we were lucky to join up with them today. Jane is a real sweetheart and was very helpful and enthusiastic about the day ahead. Toto was another Hot Rocks instructor who also happened to be Jane's boyfriend for the last 8 years. Tex was a small chiseled guy wearing a variety of tattoos and an infectious smile. We had seen him the day before at Phra Nang with Vanessa, Scarlet, Stewart, and James. He was crawling across a horizontal overhang....upside down with hands and feet glued to the ceiling like a gecko! He's incredibly soft-spoken, but is a real joker and ladies man. He's even got a few mesmerizing magic tricks up his sleeve. While climbing, Tex would yell words of encouragement and advice, but often his advice was in the form of a deceptively innocent metaphor between 'the rock' and 'the woman'. Tex should have his own T-shirt on 'the rock' and 'the woman' -- similar to the ones stating 10 reasons why a beer is better than a woman. Vanessa at one point was clinging on with all her effort, only to lose all concentration from one of Tex's ambiguous comments, sending us all into laughter. Unfortunately the ambiguous comparisons of the rock and the woman are a bit too racy for this blog.
One by one, we climbed up a 30 meter route on the 1,2,3 wall at the South end of Railay West. It's a really popular beginner's wall that has a small pocket at the top where you can sit and enjoy the views. I was surprised we all made it up, from the ground, it was very intimidating. After the third climb at 1,2,3 we were drenched in sweat and our hands & forearms ached. We skirted the cliffs up into the jungle for our second set of climbs for the day. We fell silent as Vanessa attempted her first lead climb up a very difficult section. We all let out sighs of relief as she made it to the top. Lead climbing is an advanced skill due to the risk of injury and added task of clipping in. In lead climbing, there is no rope above you to immediately slow your decent if you fall. You instead clip in the rope to existing anchors on the face of the rock as you climb, exposing you to nasty cuts and bruises if you fall the 5-10 feet to the next anchor you've clipped into. We all had our grips give out on some of these routes, which were rated 6a and one 6b. After short rests, we all resumed climbing and eventually conquered the routes. We got to see Jane and Toto climb a few routes and they made it look incredibly easy. Each move was deliberate and they seemed to flow up the rock. I was still feeling pretty good after my 3rd climb and was doing really well so Toto climbed up a fourth route and set up the rope for me. It was the 6b route, which is an upper-intermediate difficulty on a scale of 4-8. At about 18 meters up, there was an overhang with no solid foot or hand holds and the pitch of the rock forced you to lean out backwards, further straining your grip and footholds. All I could do was 'palm' and pinch a few minuscule grips. After 2 failed attempts, I tried a few different moves and was able to slowly inch my way up and on top of the overhang. Even with fingers and calves on fire, the adrenalin and feeling of accomplishment rocketed me up the final 8 meters. It was an awesome climb and I returned to Earth met with high fives and big smiles. Chris mentioned to Jane that he'd like to spend a month here with her learning to climb and getting back in shape. Jane thought he was goofing around but after 3 days here, I knew he was serious. If I had the opportunity, I'd jump at the chance.
We were dead tired after climbing and the associated adrenalin high, so we got some lunch at a beach side restaurant and chilled at the resort pool.
Not long into our relaxing soak, a familiar face appeared. It was Jeffery Carter! After 2 months in South America & the Galapagos, he still had it in him to take a last-minute flight out to join us for a month. Jeff recently was awarded "teacher of the year" at Folsom High School, the same school we all went to. Thanks to the economy, Jeff not only received the standard summer pink slip, but had to deal with the reality that there might not be a budget for his art teaching position the next year. He had to decide that summer if he wanted to substitute teach 1day per week over the summer or extend his travels into Thailand. It was an easy decision. Mike and I had a double and single bed in our room, so Jeff joined us. With Jeff's enthusiasm sparking new life into us, we gave him the Railay royal treatment. That night at Chok Dee's we added Jeff's drum skills into the mix, so it got a little crazy.