Loose bolts
A few days later Robert and Henrik returned to bolt the roof. Robert started up the first pitch and was terrified when he started pulling out the bolts when he was climbing the crux of the first pitch. It turned out the glue had failed to mix properly before hardening due to the high temperatures. Robert managed to keep it together and climbed without falling all the way up to the first belay station. Henrik took turns and climbed the second and third pitch plucking out the bolts as he passed them.

Finally it was time to give the 15-meter wide roof a try. By strenuously placing expansion bolts and slings Henrik climbed the roof and could drill five extra holes for gluin bolts on the way back in. Carrying only the failing Essve glue, they could not fix the bolts. A high-grade corrosion resistant expansion bolt will last a maximum of 5 years in the extreme Thai environment. A high-grade corrosion resistant bolt fixed with insulating epoxy glue will last up to 15 years. As expected the boat failed to appear on time and the duo had to wait two hours before the boat turned up bringing a magnificent rainstorm with it.

Time was running out and it was time to return to Sweden. We had to take a bite of the sour grapes and realize that if we wanted to complete the route we had to try to find time and money for a return journey.

Returning to Aonang, I found Robert waiting and knew that Henrik could not spare more than four days. For him it would be a quick in and out, so we would have to make the preparations. Robert and I planned for a first trip out to rebolt the pitches. We decided to start really early to be able to avoid the scorching effect of the sun.

At six-o-clock in the morning we found ourselves utterly alone on the beach. The boat man who had sworn to be on time turned up at eight with the excuse that his boat was still beached due to low tide. Thus we finally started climbing at about ten in the morning with the sun blazing on our backs. I was close to a heat stroke when I finally reached the second belay station. I started to haul the bag with water and food, which naturally got caught up in the overhang. Exhausted and feeling fried on the big chicken, I had to lower off and climb the overhang once again, now with the heavy pack on my back.

Irritation turned to desperation when we realized that we had hauled the wrong bag. We were now stranded without water or food to nurture us on our full day endeavor. The heat was unbearable but we didn’t want to quit so we lowered off to some bushes protruding from the wall and hung there for almost an hour to try to cool of. We then returned to the belay station and commenced to clean and bolt our way down the route. Robert lowered off first to drill and I followed placing the bolts. I heard the drill working regularly while I lowered off and glued the bolts with reliable Hilti glue.

When I returned to the ground I found a sulking Robert, who not only had dropped the bag with our bolts in to the sea, but also had managed drill through his pants into his leg. After bandaging Robert and diving to retrieve the missing bolts we managed to finish the bolting and return to Aonang.