[Houdini]

Is it absolutely necessary to have a mat at tao?

That depends.  Do you enjoy cratering from a great height above perfectly flat landings?

Also do any of you have some god tips

I'd love to help but Asians are mostly buddhist, pal.  Have you considered Italy?

There's a poster on here called Nibile, I believe he's a close personal friend of God, try a PM.

PS. Forget renting, take two mats.

[majk]

it's a backpacking trip I'm going on theres way i don't want to bring a mat with me.. maybe by a little one somewear in Asia. yeah i know that most places suck without a mat. maybe i will try Italy another time.. thanks fore the ansers! is there any one else that are going to Southeast Asia in October/ November.

[chappers]

dont worry about houdini!
i would suggest having a pad, i suspect that you can get one in bangkok (i think that there is a climbing shop in the siam centre) also outdoors shops in singapore (expensive). there are none for rent on tao. at the moment anyway, if james goes back, that may change.

there is some amazing looking bouldering in peninsular malaysia, there was a web page somewhere (search). i found some boulders on Tioman island, Malaysia that had not been climbed before, but nothing much of note. bouldering near to Nah Trang, Vietnam.

good luck.

[majk]

okay.. yeah I'm thinking of getting one in Bangkok, my pad that i have at home is way to big to travel with. a suppose that the gear is at least a bit cheaper in Thailand then in Sweden... thanks fore the tips, a suppose a just have to keep my eyes open when a travel around and then i will find some bouldering here and there, i hope:)

[richard]

Ok, If you look on www.simonfoley.com/climbing  I have updated the climbing shops.  Rock Camp is no longer in the Siam Discovery centre.   I have seen Beal crash mats at Rock Camp and  DMM crash pad at Rando Tec.  I don't know the prices, but I bet there more expensive than the UK. 
If you look on www.rockclimbing.com there is some info on two bouldering places outside of Bangkok.  The first is Saraburi, which is ok for a day, fairly sharpe volcanic rock.  I took James Pearson there the other month.  Its not that great.  The other place which is Sikkiu which is 3 hours out of Bangkok is really good.  The rock is sandstone.  The are a couple of topos of the area.
If you need any more help please get in touch.
 

[majk]

Hi guys. I'm at ko tao, now. I wonder if there is someone else off you how are here or planning to come. it would be fun to have a bouldering partner! I'm planning to stay for about a week here maybe more,you can get in touch with me through this site or my hotmail.
cheers/ Marcus

[runt]

hej marcus
hur ar laget?
Hope the trip is going well? conditions are pretty poor here, seriously thinking about a blowtorch
Going to post up some pics of the bouldering?

[majk]

Hej jo det ar bara bra med mig! but the bouldering on tao isn't as good as i expected it to bee.. its hard to find boulders off good quality. a have posted some pictures on www.resedagboken.se type in Marcus+Hanna n the search. then you can practise some Swedish to:)
a blowtortch! maybe a good idea?..

[Houdini]

Dude, I spent 3 months on that island - it's full of boulders with good quality climbing (and I'm the fussy type).  I've friends who have returned many times.

You need a guide (book) and a guide (human variety).  If you've neither you'll beaver in obscurity for weeks...  months...  Ever.

[lagerstarfish]

Dude, I spent 3 months on that island - it's full of boulders with good quality climbing (and I'm the fussy type).  I've friends who have returned many times.

You need a guide (book) and a guide (human variety).  If you've neither you'll beaver in obscurity for weeks...  months...  Ever.

Now look here old chap. Me and my Numerology pals have been trying to figure out your place in the multiverse based on your 2222 posts between 22/10 (22x1) [22] and 22/11 (1+1=2) [2222] over a 2 years and 1 month period (ie 22²) and now you have started posted again. Are you the new prophet of 2 or not? We salute your duplicity oh lord of 2.

[Houdini]

Ah - Starfish, excuse the delay in replying to your PM's but I've been busy elsewhere and haven't been bored for a while - and I only use computers to either find techno or cure my occassional boredom.

As for your Janus Theory, I fear you have either a) stumbled upon a reet pile (for I am number-blind) or b) are employing numerology to explain what my clinician has already diagnosed as bipolar disorder.

Que?  Oh yes, my dupliciousness:  There was never any doubt; I'll lie to you, honestly I would.

[lagerstarfish]

"and he shall be blind to the value of his number twice over" - go on deny that it's you; if you dare.
I have new hope in the H or H grade scheme now that I know you are number-blind. I assume this system will depend on actual facts as they are in the world rather than human quantification and psuedo-classification of the "Thrown". Fucking genius 

[Houdini]

I was gonna gash on ad nauseum on the merits of H8+ but It seems inappropriate here.  Let's keep this thread for Tao, as let's face it, only the adventurous will venture there, and most here will care more for the parking situation at Burbage North than for the intricacies of the Tao system - which dispenses with numbers altogether.

[Houdini]

[lagerstarfish]

Aye aye Cap'n Houdi !

[Houdini]

In addendum



Zone XIV      0705   AKA CFT-area

[runt]

happy new year marcus, was the ukb map any help??! if you're still alive hunting blocks in the jungle lets get an update, see you back in the fatherland

[Houdini]

Now then, four A1 moves to go in XII, EX

(steepness)



(very poor LH pinch, following seam nr top is crimp)



(for scale)



(aspect)



Go!

[Houdini]

C'mon travellers!

Hit me w/your Tao pix



Highspeed Broad Band - Lower Dengue Fever area.  F7-something.

[Houdini]

a have posted some pictures on www.resedagboken.se type in Marcus+Hanna n the search.

Marcus - that site is my worst nightmare.  Just awful to navigate.  Go on, be a sport and repost those pics here, would you?

I've gone all nostalgic for Tao.

[Jaspersharpe]

Look where my old mate Mr Parry is tearing it up at the moment...........

http://gazparryclimbing.blogspot.com/2008/01/koh-tao.html

.....I'm particularly liking his use of V8+.

[Houdini]

The Relic is fantastic, probably the steepest line on Tao.  V10?  Seems approriate, Pearson did it in minging conditions and gave it 8A.    The Flying Gecko nearby is also tres fine.

Gaz, if you read this try Mantis on the Big Brother bloc, a friend of mine recently did this and thought V10 for the powerful straight-up method (snatching up with L hand) and V11 for the technical method using a pebble out left and rocking up on ones R heel (my method - look @ me!).

Ha ha V8+ for M150?  That figures, March couldn't grade flour . . .   Down to VH then . . .

[Houdini]

Just read on Gaz's blog that Dengue Fever was originally given V10.  Which it wasn't Dan Yagmin - the 1st Ascensionist of the natural sitter gave it V9 for the bottom half and V5 for the top - making it V9 or V8+ if you care for that.  Dan having climbed in Heuco, didn't care for V8+.

James March graded it V10 w/ out ever climbing it.  But then he's graded some of the projects in the  Mountainside area as 8B!  Dude wouldn't know 8B if it raped his mother, murdered his father and sat down for a cup of mint tea and a few After Eight's w/ James after a game of Blackjack . . .

[stelios_kos]

 I've been to the island. I was there last year for 3 weeks. There is a lot of bouldering but...too many divers and tourists. If you want to climb near the beach you have to go early in the morning when the tide is off the coast. if you go in the mainland you have to watch out for falling coconuts. 

[Adam Lincoln]

Ha ha V8+ for M150  That figures, March couldn't grade flour

Too be fair, when i tried it i didn't disagree with the grade. When James did it there wasn't a big balcony underneath it making it a really bad fall now and also, now you can't swing off the moves, so much trickier now. Also, maybe Gaz had decent conditions, an he might eve have had a bouldering pad or too. Even still, V9 at least!