Located roughly 300 miles from Bangkok, Koh Tao is an island of divers and island hoppers surrounded by jungle and granite. The primary industry comes from scuba diving but a small subset of rock climbers exist on this green island paradise. Climbing on Koh Tao can be traced back to the first divers who arrived and saw all the beautiful, and occasionally sharp, granite that are scattered across the jungle.
Koh Tao climbing areas are varied in difficulty and aesthetic making it tough to describe a perfect climbing circuit to the island. There’s sport climbing as well as trad and a healthy selection of boulders scattered along the beach and throughout the jungle. The majority of climbers will arrive in Koh Tao with a rope and draws, leaving the trad climbing for only the most dedicated international travelers who carry a rack.
Koh Tao has a diverse history of guiding on the island with James March’s Zen Gecko being the first climbing guiding company on the island. Several other companies and even a climbing gym followed, now there are only two companies that guide rock climbing on Koh Tao.
Evasion Koh Tao runs a small shop with a bouldering wall and offers rock climbing as well as kite surfing and a few other sports. They primarily guide at Golden View, an area of over 30 routes developed by The Block, a branch of Evasion Koh Tao Outdoor Sports Agency. Florian Frangioni is one of the partners of The Block and can always be found bolting new routes and providing maintenance for the Golden View area.