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To wit: When the tsunami devastated Southeast Asia at Christmas in 2004, flooding Railay and ravaging the sister climbing area of Koh Phi Phi, Lightner mobilized climbers to pitch in with the reconstruction and created the Rally for Railay Fund, which eventually raised $100,000 to help care for orphans left by the natural disaster.
Lightner bought his first property at the Railay Beach Club, a rai (the Thai equivalent of roughly half an acre) of oceanfront land, for $137,000 in 1993. Since then, he’s traded up to his current home, which he designed himself. Approximately 100 yards from the sea, the home is built largely of mahogany and teak, with intricate carvings of Buddhist scenes and deities. It’s modeled after traditional Thai homes, with the majority of the living space—including the study, kitchen, and master bedroom, complete with outdoor rain shower—off the ground. Surprisingly, the entire structure is open-air. “Everyone thinks they want air conditioning here, but it’s more pleasant without it,” Lightner says. A huge veranda is the focal point of the house, used for naps in the sun by day, Thai massages in the afternoon shade, and cocktail hours once the sun has set.
“Fifteen years ago, if I had known I wouldn’t make a cent on this property, I would still have bought it, if only for the profound ways this place has affected my life,” says Lightner. “When you figure up the equity of owning in a place as spectacular as this, then add in all the good times I’ve had here, it would have been stupid not to buy here.”
With just a day left before I return to the U.S., Lightner asks if I’d like to climb Lord of the Thais, the route he considers the finest he’s ever established. The next morning, we hike through the jungle up to the base of a 500-foot-tall fang of bone-white limestone called the Thaiwand and rope up to climb. Below us, I can just make out a few early-morning sunbathers spreading their towels on the gently arcing ribbon of white sand. The man who put Railay Beach on the map leads the way, singing at the top of his lungs as he climbs and floating through difficult moves on perfectly formed pockets with the lightness of an untethered helium balloon.
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