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 Wednesday,
January 24, 2007 By Sam Petri
On Nov. 30, 2006, a group of four climbers made the first ascent
of a 1000-foot vertical granite slab wall in Ton Lope, Cambodia.
The route, which they named “The Spirit of Monkwai”
(don’t ask), is located on Mount Phnom Bei Sambao, at 451
meters and about five kilometers from the Vietnam border in Southern
Cambodia with two variations.
The team included Jackson resident Tim Walther, 34, CEO of local
business training and development company Grand Dynamics, Inc.;
former Jackson resident Ryan Ernst, 36; Jon Siegrist, 21, of Boulder,
Colo.; and Josh Morris, 30, of Chiang Mai, Thailand. The group
met through living in Jackson Hole and climbing internationally.
Morris, owner of Chiang Mai Rock Climbing Adventures, first spotted
the rock face a year ago when he was traveling through Cambodia
with a group of students. This past November, the four-man team
met in Bangkok and from there traveled to Phnom Phen, Cambodia,
a city just north of their ultimate goal.
From Phnom Phen they took a cab ride to Ton Lope, a village of
no more than 300 people. They could see their objective in the
horizon upon arriving in the remote village, close but still out
of reach. Renting motorbikes in Ton Lope was impossible, but after
making friends with a few local men, the team suddenly had drivers
with local knowledge of the dirt roads. After a few days of double
riding down dirt roads and bouldering areas that proved productive,
the team discovered an overgrown footpath that led to their climb.
On the day of the climb, the team awoke at 5 a.m. and ate a quick
breakfast of rice and chicken. By 5:30, they were loaded down
with all the gear they’d need for the day, including the
must-have machete. On the path, the climbers encountered a group
of men that were burning out a section of jungle.
“We were told they were looking for diamonds,” Walther
said. They continued on, passing a shrine that “looked like
something out of ‘Indiana Jones,’” only to find
found that their footpath died out.
From there it was a full-on two hour bushwhack up hill through
the jungle, rising about 500 feet to the granite face. When the
team reached an opening at the base of the climb, they were able
to view their route from a vantage point closer than they had
ever been.
“We scoped a good route, but it was unbelievably run out,”
said Walther. “There weren’t many spots to place gear.”
The two lower sections of the five-pitch route were very doable
– a slab friction climb that took lots of smearing moves.
Managing to sling a few horns in the first pitch, Walther soon
found his rope running out, and Walther and Morris were forced
to simultaneously climb until Walther could make it to a nearby
tree to set an anchor.
Walther described the third pitch as “relatively easy with
small holds, slabby, probably in the 5.6 range and fairly run
out.” Ernst led the pitch with ease and the crew had a momentary
celebration as they looked upward toward the fourth pitch.
At this point the team decided to try two separate variations.
Walther and Morris climbed the left route they named “Diamonds
Are For Never,” referencing both the men they saw on the
approach and some second thoughts on marriage. Ernst and Siegrist
climbed the right route, which that they named “The Bofang
Variation,” a reference to Ernst’s last-minute Cambodian
climbing shoe purchase.
As Walther began to lead “Diamonds are for Never,”
he took the most direct line possible and placed his first cam
25 feet above the belay ledge. Continuing on another 15 feet,
Walther found a horn to sling and was forced to feel comfortable
with that. Climbing on and out of site from his partner, Walther
searched for areas to place gear but had no such luck. He now
found himself 50 feet above his last zone of protection; a fall
would mean at least a 100-foot plunge – not an option –
Walther pushed on. Finishing the last six moves on the 5.8 pitch,
he let out a primal scream of success that his partner answered
with, “Rope 1-0!” Walther had topped out with only
10 feet left in the rope.
As the four gathered below the final pitch, they unroped and
soloed the friendly final section. They reached the summit with
broad grins. “It has been a goal of mine to make a first
ascent in a foreign country,” says Walther.
About Grand Dynamics
Grand Dynamics, based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and with a brand
new division in Atlanta, Georgia, is an experiential training
and development company specializing in corporate retreats, business
consulting, and health and wellness programs. Serving performance-driven
organizations and businesses across the nation, Grand Dynamics’
programs are based upon the belief that individuals, teams, and
organizations are capable of transcending any of the challenges
that stand between them and their highest aspirations. Grand Dynamics
helps organizations overcome their toughest challenges, taps into
people’s sense of adventure, and pushes the limits of possibility,
producing bottom-line business results.
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