BYou only need to spend two days on the weekend for such a climbing trip. But practice with indoor climbing and exercise your body to be flexible before conquering the steep cliffs of this beautiful bay. Different from the sweet, romantic look when looking with your eyes, feel the sharp and roughness of each stone slab here that nature has polished into vivid shapes to enjoy the sea and sky of Ha Long in a completely new and extremely impressive way.
When you first start climbing on the sea, you may need a lot of equipment to get started. In addition to a pair of specialized climbing shoes for rock climbing that you can buy at Vietclimb Hanoi or Push Climb Ho Chi Minh City, other equipment needed is a belt that is securely attached to the rope with a buckle. In addition, you will need a helmet, chalk to prevent slipping when gripping the rock, and hooks to hold the rope to hooks available on the cliff if available. Advanced climbers will only need shoes to get started.
Jean Verly, a long-time climber and director of Vietclimb, shares that you can be a complete layman and still participate in this sport, because besides climbing, you can relax on a kayak, enjoy the scenery, and socialize with friends.
Coming to Vietnam in 2005 when rock climbing was a completely unknown sport in Vietnam, after conquering many dangerous cliffs in Europe, Jean found that Ha Long Bay was the ideal place for this sport: sedimentary rocks, cliffs, rocky outcrops and majestic scenery. So, together with a few friends, Jean came up with the idea of organizing rock climbing on the sea in Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba Island every weekend.
Each discovered climbing route will be divided into many climbing routes and divided according to a certain level of difficulty. For professional climbers like Jean, it seems that each new climbing route only makes them more excited, and there is no longer a concept of difficulty or ease. However, all feelings of fear and muscle pain will quickly pass when you stand on the towering cliff, witnessing the peaceful and beautiful scenery of Ha Long Bay, taking in all the wonders that nature has carved on this sea as a trophy for the conquest of the cliffs and overcoming yourself. The best thing is to let yourself feel the cool sea breeze embracing your body and falling freely into the sea. All energy and all feelings seem to burst out at the same time. Surely, each time you experience like that, not only the nature of Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba Island is discovered, but also the corners of your soul are revealed and opened up.
A typical weekend climbing tour follows the following schedule: departing from Hanoi by car at 5-7am, arriving in Hai Phong at around 7-9am and taking a speedboat to Cat Ba Island to begin your journey of discovery with lots of fun activities: kayaking, swimming, climbing, enjoying seafood and having fun with friends. You usually have to row by hand to the foot of the cliffs and caves to start climbing. The cost for each trip like this is around 1,250,000 VND including transportation from Hanoi to Cat Ba, boat rental, and food and drinks.
In addition, at Vietclimb, you can explore street sports such as skateboarding, BMX, rollerblading, wall climbing, artistic cycling, hip hop, acrobatics, artistic football, martial arts, graffiti painting. Especially, before conquering rock climbing on the sea, you can freely practice indoor rock climbing at Vietclimb and learn from the experience of veteran climbers.
Vietclimb
No. 40, Lane 76 An Duong, Tay Ho, Hanoi.
Phone:0949342281 (Vietnamese, English)
E-mail:thanght@vietclimb.vn
