Anna, Cris, Edmund, Ping and I made a long delayed trip to Batu Caves to rock climb. This time round with new comers Ken and Sam. It was Ken and Sam's first time rock climbing.
Since our last time outdoor at Nanyang Wall was quite enjoyable, we decided to head to Nanyang Wall again. However, it rained heavily last night and the place was slightly flooded. Further, many of the stalactites there were dripping water non stop hence many of the handholds and footholds were slippery.
We were the first group to arrive Nanyang Wall. There were hundreds of mosquitoes flying around attacking us. Nanyang Wall was not in good shape as one part of the wall was flooded, the second part had hundreds of mosquitoes lurking around and the last part was burning hot from the sun.
Cris was the first to test out the wall. He accidentally slipped after stepping on a slipper foothold. He got himself a blooded wrist.
and he got bird shit on his back..
The n00bs were next. It was quite difficult for them as they didn't have experience and not even indoor experience. Nevertheless, we managed to guide them and got them to do the route.
On the last occasion, someone put a little bird up on the tree. The tree is gone now. I wonder what happened to the little bird. Hope he RIP.
Few hours later, Nanyang Wall was filled with more climbers. This time with more girls that guys!
We moved to Comic Wall, which is another climbing wall next for Nanyang Wall. Comic Wall has numerous beginners routes but many of the handholds were quite sharp. It hurts like crap sometimes especially when you have a small sharp handhold and that's the only available handhold. Tunasing!!!
Comic Wall too has a fair share of mosquitoes. Thank god I had people like Anna and Ping to attract the mosquitoes. I think I didn't get any mosquito bite. wahha
The Soulizen couple, Cicak and Lai, were there as well. We managed to climb 3 routes together.
One of the unique attractions of Comic Wall is an abandoned Chinese temple. It's located inside a flooded cave. Nothing much is left in the temple except for some ruins. Bats have now claimed the place as their residence.
The temple ruins
Inside the cave..
Unwanted spectators
Ping's new found love.
We ended our climb early around 230pm, which is quite early considering that the previous occasion we climbed until late evening.
Not wanting to lose our new found skills from our Krabi trip, team Malaysia (consisting of Anna, Ed, Cris, Ping and I) headed to Nanyang Wall @ Batu Caves to climb. It was our first time there. Many thanks to Abner for guiding us there.
Nanyang Wall is one of the climbing spots around Batu Caves. I heard that some climbers pooled in their resources and bolted a lot of new routes. The area is strategically located. It's next to the main road and within walking distance from a commercial district. We parked our car at the commercial district and walked toward Nanyang Wall.
Unlike Damai Wall, Nanyang Wall doesn't have a public toilet. Those who wants to do their small business can walk deeper into Nanyang Wall. For big business, you got to head to one of the restaurants at the commercial district. Just buy a few sweets from them and I think they will be obliged to lend them their toilet. I recall there was once a friend who had to knock on someone's door to use their toilet cause they are no public toilets around. He said the toilet had holes all over the wall. HEHE
Most of the routes in Nanyang Wall are pretty short. However, the routes are quite technical.
View from top!
View from top!
Left or Right?
My favourite route would be the route called "Old Shoes Beware". As the name suggests, wearing old shoes to climb is not recommended. This route is only made of 4 bolts but handholds and footholds are mostly crimps. You need new shoes to ensure that your feet stays on the footholds.
Me belaying Ping while thinking how to free fall him later.
Hanging by the tip of my fingers and toes.
We spotted a small young bird by the rocks. I guess it fell off its nest and couldn't climb back up. I fed it with bread and even Mandarin oranges. Someone decided to put the little bird up a tree. He said other birds will feed it too. I hope I won't find a skeleton when I come back next time.
We had lunch at one of the mamaks nearby. The food and service were terrible. The boss was quite rude as well.
Me: Boss, I ordered maggi sup kosong. (plain noodles soup without any additional stuff)
Boss: yea, that's maggi kosong.
Me: If it's maggi kosong, how come I have vegetable in my soup?
Boss: Yea, its maggi kosong. We added vegetable for you.
Me: O_O
Nasi Lemak Ibu . Com - website still under construction
For the first time, we climbed from morning till late evening - from 10am to 6pm. Usually we would pack our bags by the afternoon because it gets too hot. However, Nanyang Wall was quite cool throughout the whole day. Further, the atmosphere was quite fun as other climbers were pretty friendly as well. A group of climbers even loaned us their rope, which was fresh out from the bag. They were nice enough to let us deflower their new rope. Aah.. Fresh rope..
The rope got tangled. Need 3 fellows to untangle it.
A few of us decided to pack up early and hung around playing cards while waiting for the rest to finish climbing.
Best Belayer evaaa
Triple decker
Eddie hurt himself while descending from a route. He removed his runner from the bolt and jump down. He managed to lodge himself down safely a few times but... luck wasn't on his side..
GGed
To get to Nanyang Wall, head to Taman Sunway Batu Caves
In view that our climbing trip @ Krabi is just less than 2 weeks away, Anna, Edmund, Ping and I headed to Gua Damai, Batu Caves to refresh our memory on the safety procedures. Gua Damai was packed with climbers and we had problem selecting routes as most of the routes were occupied.
Wow, I didn't know you can actually book the entire Gua Damai..
Edmund
Frog
Guess what is this?
But we brought some kuih along and even set up a hammock to entertain ourselves.
Gua Damai also got guai lou..not bad, we're turning into a mini Krabi!
Raining..
GG-ed finger again.
After climbing 2 routes, it started to rain. Everyone ran helter-skelter. We had no choice but to adjourn our climbing session to Camp 5.
Due to an exhausting Saturday i.e. from Pushmore, Futsal and drinking, I had a hard time climbing on Sunday. While lead climbing a 6C route..
Me: I can do it!!
Belayer: YES U CAN!!
Me: aaaa rrr ggg hhhhh !!!!!! tuuuuunnaaasssiiinnggggg
I fell from the second bolt ended up scraping my arm on the rope.
Thereafter, I had some lovely white liquid oozing out from my wound. The pain started trickling in. This type of injury is quite common among climbers. We call it ‘rope burn’.
I read from somewhere that to treat minor rope burn injuries, the injured part should be placed under slowly running water and then covered with a clean, sterile, non-fluffy dressing.
But what I did was leaving it alone for few days. 2 weeks later, the wound was fully dried up and healed!
This entry serves as my third entry on climbing injury :D See
Since my toes kept poking out from rock climbing shoes, it was time for me to get a new pair of shoe.
It’s a well known fact that rock climbing shoes are cheaper in Singapore than Malaysia. The two places that I know is the Nuts, Friends and Krabs of all Sports Equipment on the 4th floor of Peninsular Plaza.
Other than rock climbing shoes, they also have runners, harnesses and chalk bags. This place is manned by a fierce no-nonsense one eyed uncle. Although he can only see with one eye, he could gauge my shoe size by just looking at my feet. I got myself a nice 5.10 shoe at a discounted rate!
The other shop is called Campus Corner at Capitol Building Singapore. It’s just next to Peninsular Plaza.
They have more than climbing gear. They also have a lot of camping equipments. You can check it out at their website at http://www.camperscorner.com.sg. You can get their Mad Rock shoes there!
It was almost a rewind of our last Tambun Trip. On last year's Hari Raya, we made a trip down to Tambun and Ipoh to climb and eat. This year's Hari Raya holiday, we made another trip to Tambun and Ipoh but with more fellow posers.
Yes, we ate more than we climbed!
Everyone started their journey at 5am from Kuala Lumpur. However, Ping , A and I were still in bed at 5am and started our journey at 10am after breakfast at Yut Kee.
The journey to Ipoh was a breeze like last year. I guess most people were home by the first day of Raya. On our way, we spotted some devices to scare people from speeding. There was one cardboard with a picture of a police man holding a speed camera below a bridge. It looked like a policeman sitting underneath a bridge from afar. Another one was a mannequin in a police uniform up on a police tower. Those devices worked really well.
We stayed at the dodgy Tambun Inn again. Last year, I heard my neighbour moaning out loud in the middle of the night. This year is a little different. I had disco songs thumping all night long.
Immediately, after check-in, we went to meet the troops at the Lost World of Tambun. Anyone with a Camp 5 entry pass is entitled to a discount to entry fees. I Its around RM21 after discount. No discount is RM30. Before entering, a release form to exclude liability must be signed.
Probably the most photographed area in the park
Last year, we found out that we could access the climbing zone through a housing area. We could just park at the housing area and cross a small stream to enter the climbing zone. However, we found that the path has been barricaded.
Barricaded
Ping - like wearing underwear liddat.
Bahger Ping looking somewhere else while belaying!
Peeping Tom
Spot the climber!
Things you can do with a Milo tshirt.
Abner - what did you do last night..
Anna-Rina's topless short.
My shoes - damn bad shape.
After a few routes, we called the climbing session off.
On Sunday, Amos, Cris, Ping and I forced ourselves to wake up to head to Gua Damai to climb. Since Krabi is just 3 months away, Ping, Cris and I had to familiarize ourselves again.
Gua Damai has changed tremendously since we came last year in February. There's a grand entrance to Gua Damai now - with pathways and huts built around the vicinity.
Pathway for wheelchairs/trolleys!
3 years ago, the place was like this.
The old houses around Batu Caves were demolished and at one part, a playground sits over one of the old houses.
3 years ago, a monkey and rubbish sat here
Pool with stairways
3 years ago, no stairways!
Perhaps the only thing that didn't change is that the place is still infested with monkeys.
In view that Summit Climbing Gym has closed its door to the public, my climbing gang has no choice but to migrate to Camp 5 @ 1 Utama. No doubt Camp 5 is a nicer place, the entry is quite expensive and there are many rules to follow - written and unwritten rules. The written rules are everywhere.
Our playground of 6 years has finally called it quits. This was ended with a climbing competition dubbed "The last Summit Climbing Gym Competition".
Free shirt for climbers!
It’s been a while since we saw the gym filled with people. For the past few months, it was only few groups of regulars are seen in the gym. Looks like everyone came to bid Nomad Climbing Gym @ Summit Shopping Centre goodbye. It’s sad to leave this place.
Jangaaaan jattuuuhhh aaaa!
Score sheet - 20 routes to finish.
Fai - center of attention.
Tetek soon in the background and his "Pushmore.com.my" bottle
I arrived just in time to catch the men’s open bouldering competition with Ms. Canness joining the men’s open because there was no women’s open bouldering competition. She managed to wallop half of the male contestants.
Canness - looks like someone just cum chalk all over all.
As for non contestants, like me, we wandered around catching up with other climbers who haven’t been to the gym for ages. Many came with their dSLR to take pictures. Some of us ended up playing chor tai tee.
After the men’s open competition ended, the wall was opened to the public for the dyno and campus competition.
Exhausted..
[Credits to Lai]
Ping: Ha!
Ping: Hu!
The Summit Climbing Gym Crew
Anna-Rina, Bangxin and Fai managed to win themselves a medal. It came with a goodie bang with nice stuff.
With Nomad Climbing Gym closing its doors, we have no choice but to head to Camp 5 which charges an exorbitant amount for entry. Our alternative, Deltarovers gym, was destroyed in a fire last year. I pray that a new gym will come soon!
Climbing buddy, Tetek Soon and his friend, Jonathan started a gym by the name Pushmore early this year. It’s no ordinary gym - here you won’t find the ordinary gym machines.
Tetek Soon
On Saturday, Yaacob, Cris and I took up the challenge. We started off with some mild warming up e.g. squats and rope skips. We had also the opportunity to play with kettlebells, some sort of weight that is shaped like a cannon with a handle. Holding and using a kettlebell requires certain guidance. And it’s bloody heavy.
Medicine balls.
After our warming up session, we tried their workout of the day (WOD). Everyday Soon and Jonathan will come up with a new workout to kill us. On Saturday, we had to pair up and go through 10 minutes of tyre flipping and PushBreast (pushing 2 kettlebells up in the air).
PushBreast
Soon - check out the muscles.
After 10 minutes, I almost died. And for 2 days, I felt like I got run over by a truck. Another friend said he couldn’t eat for 2 days.
AWESOME!!! I can’t wait to get there again!
Pushmore is having a promotion for first timers – first timers get to try out for free. Just bring a pair of sneakers. Their workout of the day is posted on their website and blog. The workout usually last less than 1 hour.
If you’re a fat ass and needs to lose loads of pounds, Pushmore is the right place for you.
400km from Kuala Lumpur, the state of Perlis was never known for their rock climbing activities. But last year, the Mammut expedition team set up climbing routes at Bukit Keteri and Gua Kelam. A video of the process can be seen below.
My one and only indoor climbing gym will be shifting to a new premise soon. With Nomad Climbing Gym gone for few months, the only choice we have is Camp 5 - which charges an exorbitant rate for entry. At the moment, Nomad Climbing Gym charges RM14 per entry while Camp 5 is RM25 per entry. I heard that Camp 5 will be raising their entry fee to RM28. It's like paying cover for a club!! And club comes with a complimentary drink!!
To be fair to Camp 5, they have excellent facilities and a nice toilet for patrons to use. In Nomad Climbing Gym, they do not have their own toilet. We have to use the public toilet to wash up. I have to put my leg in to a basin to wash my feet.
Camp 5 hasn't been on top of our favourite hangout place as there are many gym rules that we had to adhere to. In Nomad Climbing Gym, we can, among others, go topless and play silly games. In Camp 5, we gotta be prim and proper. Bloody Posers.
Nomad Climbing Gym has been my playground for the past 4 years. It's sad to see it go.
No..Ping is not shoving the bottle up Mikey's ass.
In conjunction with Nomad Climbing Gym's departure from Summit Shopping Centre, they will be holding a climbing competition on the 10th of August 2008.
It starts at 10am and ends 6pm - 10am - 1pm is for top rope competition, while 2pm to 5pm is for bouldering. RM 10,000 worth of cash and prizes to be won. The categories are as follows:
- MEN Top Rope
- MEN Bouldering
- WOMEN Top Rope
- Novice TEAM event (3 pax mixed)
It's a good chance to see Malaysia's best climbers and bid Nomad Climbing Gym @ Summit farewell.
I had a little accident while bouldering. I was cleaning this simple route for n00bs. While on the last move, I took a plunge from the top and was sent crashing down the mattress. Unfortunately, there was a gap between the mattresses and my right feet slotted nicely into the gap.
In the process, I hit my heel on the floor.
Immediately after crashing down, all eyes were on me…
Me: NO PROBLEM!!! MOUU MAN TAIII!!
Few minutes later…
Me: argghhh…GG already…damn pain..
On the next day, I had limped my way to and back from Court.
I went to see my company doctor on my bruised heel. Doctor said I ruptured an blood vessel.
Me: Do you think I’ve broken something or fractured something?
Dr: Noo…if you did, you wont be able to walk here.. it will be extremely swollen..
Me: OK..as a matter of precaution, I think I should go and do xray..
Dr: Sure
Me: Can I do it here?
Dr: no but I will send you to another Clinic which is 5 minutes walk from here
Me: O_o I think I’ll pass, I don’t think I can walk there!!
In conjunction with the Hari Raya public Holidays, my climbing gang (Amos, Angeline, Carnes Bangxin, Fai, Mikey and Ping) and I made a trip down to Lost World of Tambun to check out their rock climbing facility. It’s around 2 hours from Kuala Lumpur.
We were fortunate to miss the balik kampung rush. The drive was pretty smooth.
Lost World of Tambum is actually an entertainment park, with water park and “dry” park with all sorts of rides. The entrance fee to Lost World of Tambum is RM22 (for adults).
The entrance
The climbing spot, which is located at the back of the entertainment park, is located within a valley of lime stones with lakes scattered here and there. We were also fortunate to be spared from the scotching sun as the place is shaded by the natural rocks.
My friends have been telling me that Fitness First is giving out free Spiderman tickets for those who entered this challenge. The rules were pretty simple, complete the route within 20 seconds.
Last Saturday was the last day for the public to join the challenge. Melvin forced me to go O_O Nevertheless, I want to win 2 Spiderman movie tickets.
The route was pretty simple, 5C. It’s like climbing a ladder. However, I was told that the handholds were pretty slippery. Fortunately, a friend was working there, he loaned me his chalk.
It’s been more than a year since I climbed outdoor. Thank you Hon San (frequent commenter AHLOKKOR) for providing us with the gears and guiding us.
This time round, Ping and a group of outdoor newbies (Abner, Eddy, Roland, Ben, Maylin, Lai and Cicak) climbed at Damai Wall. The surroundings at Damai Wall have changed considerably. The houses around there were removed and many of the monkeys were long gone.
After the establishment of the new climbing gyms at 1 Utama (Camp 5) and Kepong (Delta Rovers), the population of climbers in Nomad Climbing Gym @ Summit Shopping Centre has dwindled drastically. Nevertheless, my friends and I are still loyal supporters of the Gym.
Recently, the management of Nomad Climbing Gym @ Summit Shopping Centre removed their old bouldering wall (wall for climbing without ropes). Now, they are at the midst of building a bigger and better wall. It comes with a roof!
It was the Asian Xgames which interests me into rock climbing.
So this year round, it’s held at Sunway Lagoon, a popular theme park in the Klang Valley. The place is humongous and as such, I had to take a long walk to get there. Admission is free but you need to get a ticket first. Digi customers can obtain a ticket at the counter for free.
Other than an international rock climbing competition, it also has inline skating exhibitions and also motorcycle daredevil show.
I finally climbed at the much anticipated Camp 5 rock climbing gym. The place was brand new hence the walls and handholds were rough.
However, getting there was a problem. Since Christmas is approaching, the queue to get into 1u shopping centre’s car park was few miles long. But we had a better idea. We parked at the housing estate and walked to the shopping centre.
Traffic Jam!!!
The Walls.
But since the walls are brand new, our limbs were prone to be scraped by the wall.
Camp 5, a new rock climbing gym will be open in 1 Utama in August.
It boast a state of the art gym with climbing walls as tall as 30 metres. (!!!). Cant wait for it to open.
Camp 5 has set up a promotional wall @ 1 Utama, nearby Starbucks. It's just a small bouldering wall. Admission is free and you can even rent shoes. However, you would have to sign a liability waiver form.
My friends and I tried the promotional wall last week.
Loads of people were watching us climb. It some how felt like a circus. Some people even clapped when someone completed a route.
Most of the spectators stood beside the wall and some were standing on the balcony on top.
Then..while climbing..one of the staff said..
Staff: OI OI OI!! SKIRT SKIRT!!
Me: ??? What? Skirt???
Everyone looks up.
Then I saw this girl wearing a short skirt standing on the balcony.
This morning, the usual climbing gang, couple of new members plus 2 photographers and I went to climb at @ Batu Caves again.
This time round, we went to White Wall. The journey there was tedious. We had to park our car at Damai before trekking up the steep hill into White Wall. The path was slippery and we even have to trek through a garbage dump.
Garbage dump...euw..
A sohai threw a motorcycle here..
Hiking up...
By the time we reached the hill, we were already exhausted. Further, it was bloody hot as well. The wall was hot, our shoes were hot and it was full of mosquitoes! There were not many easy routes as well. Since there were many of us and we had only 2 ropes, we had to wait a long time for the others to finish the routes as the route was tough and long. Fortunately, we had a 5C route to climb.
There is a climbing wall built inside a house in Kepong Baru in the state of Selangor.
Anyone can walk into the house to climb provided that one cleans up the place after use. The owner spent thousands of Ringgit to setup the wall and crash pads. The owner owns a climbing gear shop nearby the climbing house. Please pay a visit!
Guy, Mikey, gMing, Ping, Wai Keong, Yong Lin, Cris, G-wan and I made another outdoor climbing trip to Batu Caves.
This time we headed to Red Wall, which is nearby Gua Damai. Red Wall is just a small rope-topping wall. We had to climb through bushes and trees to get to that place. Further, before we got there, a bunch of monkeys were having hanging out there. They ran after seeing us.
This time round, there were no mosquitoes or fleas. Flies were abundant though.
After weeks of planning, Celyn, Mikey, Guy, Eugene, Ping, WK, Florence, Cris and I went outdoor climbing.
We reached the place about 1030AM. We had to climb early cause if we don’t, we would be baked under the sun.
Batu Caves is divided into few climbing spots. There are Nyamuk, Damai, Volleyball and so on. One has to drive through narrow village roads to get to the climbing spots. We had to be very careful, if we bang into a child or a chicken, we would have to speed to the nearest police station as villages would be chasing us with pitch forks and knifes. There were many cases where villagers burn motorist’s vehicle or beat up motorist after they killed a child or a chicken.
Our first destination was Damai, a nice limestone climbing spot. It’s easily accessible as it just few steps away from the car park.
Well well, I bought myself a kick ass rock climbing shoe. The rubber is really good, really useful when I want to smear. No more god damn gym climbing shoes!
If you guys want to buy cheap climbing equipment (in Klang Valley), just drop me a note. I'll give you the guy's number.
Ping and I went to watch the bouldering competition at The Summ1t Cl1mb1ng GYM. The routes were amazingly tough, especially the routes for the men's open!!
The best part of the competition wasn?t watching people bouldering. The best part was the sight of Chinese and Malay climbers sitting together watching people climb. Everyone was cheering for everybody, regardless of race. Malaysia boleh!!
Skins will peel off, skins on fingers get rough, unable to grip anything the entire night and muscles ache the next day but yet, this extreme sport is enjoyable. The feeling of being able to grab a bendcrete and hold on to it is absolutely satisfying. Further, being able to bring myself up to the top was even better!
It's been a month since I started...super body is 10% completed!!
My classmates, Fe0nna and Mei followed me to Summ1t. They wanted to check out the place but refused to sign up for wall climbing. They ended up sitting on couch while drooling at the muscular climbers
After paying RM25, I slipped on my climbing shoes (it?s tight and one size smaller) and harness (nylon belt for the waist and a pair of leg loops for the thighs).
Firstly, I had to go through a 15 minutes course given by Stephanie, one of the instructors on how to tie the ropes and belaying (when someone is about to descend from the top, a belayer holds on to the rope in order to coordinate the ascend). Ascending was pretty hard for me as I am an acrophobic (person who has fear of heights). I didn?t dare to let go of the rocks and let my back fall back. There was once I lost my balance and hit the wall and Stephanie, my belayer was lifted up in the air with me. oOoOOoo.... my ballsssssss? They were squeezed by the harness?oOoooooh?
Mikey then taught me the basics and introduced me to bouldering. Oh my god, bouldering is so frustrating. It?s so physically challenging. Despite the fact that Mikey and his friend gave me an easy route to go, I couldn?t finish it! GAHH! No fear.. I shall go again this Sunday? Anyone wants to join me? :D
Furthermore, Bouldering was fucking tiring. By the end of the day, my arms were hardened and I couldn?t even grip my hands! But I shall let the end justify the mean, super body here I come!!
