UKC

'The Dragon will not let you pass easily,' I read that in the tattered new routes book whilst sat in the bar in the tiny village of Mukut and kind of ignored it; the warning surely wasn't applicable to me. This village on the southern end of Tioman Island off the coast of Malaysia is dominated by the twin granite peaks of the Dragon's Horns.

Shudder!

Lovely piece! LMFAO all the way through and thinking, `so glad it happens to the gods as well as to mere mortals'

A good honest account of when things go wrong. Boring to just hear about a climber's successes!

Epic, and very well written - thanks for this!

The first mistake was clearly early in the day when Mr McClure promised himself 'a muesli bar' for breakfast. Had he got a full English down, he would have been much better placed to perform this punterdom later in the day.

Hi steve, first of all, it was nice article to read. Great that u are safe and have an epic but unforgettable adventure on the horns. Ive met you on ur visit loooong time ago, I think its 1998 when u came to malaysia for a tour of xtreme sports sponsored by benson and hedges. I was on the tour as well.Ure on dreadlock then. I just want to let u know that there are routes up the dragons horn year 2000(trad with bolted anchors) and i led the second ascent year 2002. The line scale the center of the rock with cracks and overhanging rocks prior to the one u climbed. Its totally different surface from route naga and damai sentosa .If u ever decide to come again. Do keep in touch. Safe climbing bro

Brilliant article.

Great piece this... sounds horrifying!

That sounds a bit too exciting.

I was on Tioman just before Steve and really enjoyed the place and the climbing. I hope people are not put by this account. Naga, the route Steve did first, is a very recommendable 6b (~E2), still a bit dirty on the first half of pitch one but otherwise on very sound, well featured, granite. I’ve written a few notes on ukb for anyone who might be interested in the place (NB the penultimate paragraph!): 

https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,29579.msg570171.html#msg5701...

Congratulations on your adventure Steve When DaLiu told me you're alone there to climb Dragon I was hoping you'll find some partners....I know. Almost impossible in Mukut.  Damai Sentosa is, in fact great route for Horns initiation for stronger climbers, however if you only had partner I would strongly reccomend our 2016  Fever Dreams (7c, 250m) on Mumbar cliff. It has the best pitches I ever climbed in the massif. Polish Princess on the other hand is semi-trad adventure on airy pillars. It is totally prepared for repetiions (7b/+? or 6c/A0).

Can't see how to add photos here so I created a little photo addendum to Steve's story on my FB.

Cheers!   

The Directissima (6c) at Kilnsey is pretty minging wet today, if there is anyone wanting to do some 6c down climb training in preparation for this.

I think the phrase that comes to mind is: "F*&@ that for a game of soldiers!"...

Ha, yes, you are right! Full English would have been better. Tough to find out there though, closest bet is a pancake! Noodles doesn't quite cut it!

Wow, what a good read. And very glad you made it back safely to the ground. We also had our fair share of Tioman epics during these last years. The weather is so unpredictable and the location so remote that it makes it a real adventure, even on easy climb. We took a good amount of time to document the climbing on the island and also participated to make the place a little more safer with Titanium bolts (thanks to DK as well for developing so many routes on the horns). For those interested with climbing in this extraordinary area, you can refer to the ressources on our blog: https://tinyurl.com/ydgwcu3y

Exactly what I was thinking! The event pit even happens to the best!