Pro-Sports

Looks like it’s official although there is still no confirmation on the new venue.  How sad…  I had such fond memories of the place…

The office will be moving to:

525, Jalan 17/13,
46400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Tel: +6(03) 7958 5152
Fax: +6(03) 7958 1710
Contingency number: +6(016) 202 1936

info@nomadadventure.com

Although the gym will be closing temporarily for now, the good news is that the pro-shop is having a clearance sale so you’re bound to be able to pick up some bargains - I think (depending on what Yuen Li’s idea of a bargain is, I guess). 

In the meantime, if you want to keep tabs on the news for the new Summit Gym site, you can add Nomad to your Facebook account.

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It’s been over two years since I’ve been to a climbing gym and three years since I’ve climbed outdoors.  Where I once used to be on top of all the latest news in the Malaysian climbing scene, a quick surf around on the internet has revealed that I am now sadly out of touch with all the latest happenings.

These are the changes I have discovered:

Climbing Equipment:

There is now an All Sports in 1Utama, and a newer and bigger UFL Outdoors has moved to Bangsar.

Climbing Gyms:

Summit Gym

I can’t remember where I read it, but I recall reading somewhere about Summit Gym moving their premises to a new location.  I can’t seem to verify the information since their website hasn’t reported anything of the sort.  Could be a work in progress - any Malaysian climbers out there able to reveal anything more about this?

Putrajaya Challenge Park

Located in Taman Selatan of Putrajaya, Presint 20, this project was undertaken by Blocx and a company called Zlgdesign.

It’s supposed to be a new national training center and international competition venue and the rock climbing section looks pretty impressive based on the pictures I have seen. 

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a website to the challenge park to find out more details about climbing there or whether it is even open to the public, although it sounds as though it is.

Sooka Central Designer Synergym

Sooka Central, located in KL Sentral has apparently set up a designer gym with twist.  It has a rock climbing center piece with beginner routes on autobelay that is available to all their members.  Now that’s a gym I wouldn’t mind joining.  Unfortunately, I’m not even sure if it’s open yet, or what the membership fees will be like, although I suspect it might be something pretty steep.

Perhaps I’ll just mosey on down there and take a look around?

Outdoor Climbing Areas 

Lost World of Tambun - Ipoh, Perak

From ClimbXMedia, I read about the new climbing area in Ipoh.  Located in Sunway Lagoon’s Lost World of Tambun, there are 27 routes bolted on limestone.  I had heard about this climbing area even while I was still rock climbing, but by that time I was tapering down the climbing activity, hence the reason why I never went to check it out.  It looks like a lot of developments have taken place around that area since as I’m sure Sunway Lagoon’s Lost World of Tambun didn’t appear overnight.

For more climbing areas in Malaysia, you can check out my old posts on this subject.

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I wrote this journal entry back sometime after our first trip to Krabi. I recall HB reminding me about a certain newbie who nearly decked him in a joking kind of way but I knew he meant it lightly. I wanted to remember it because I want to be as patient as HB was with me whenever I go climbing with a newbie.

My first rock climbing experience was sometime in 1994, or thereabouts. Even though I enjoyed the experience, I never went rock climbing again until some eight years later.

Of all the places I should kindle the spark of interest I had for rock climbing, it was in Malaysia. Since coming back to Malaysia to work, I had joined an audacious bunch of people from a local outdoor group called FYC (an open forum for the group exists on yahoogroups as “fycs”). We had been on numerous adventures together, some various hiking trips, running races, caving and the like.

Being an aspiring writer from an early age, many of my interests in these activities were inspired by my desire to write a book at some stage of my life. I have always believed that I should experience everything at least once so I would have the knowledge to write about it. This had been my primary motivation for joining the group from the first day.

As with any group of trailblazers, an adventure can only hold their interest so long as the experience continues to remain exciting. By this time, a few individuals were already impatient to move into a new sport. The topics of rock climbing and scuba diving cropped up a number of times. About that time, HB had returned from Perth and joined the group. He had a long history in both of these sports and was offering to share his experiences with us.

Recalling my first rock climbing encounter, I was quite eager to give it another go, so I hooked up with HB and arranged to meet up with him at the Summit Rock Climbing Gym. At that time, Summit was the only gym available within a convenient traveling distance.

HB was a burly man with a gruff disposition to match. I found him to be a little intimidating, though I’m sure in his own comportment, he felt he was friendly enough towards me. He took me through a quick refresher course on belaying and tying in my figure eight knot.

I don’t recall much of the evening except for a rather precarious moment when HB was climbing. He made a fifty-fifty move but could not secure the hold and I was caught surprise when the rope jerked through my hands and through the ATC belay device I was using. The rope had burned my hands so I could not secure the belayer’s end. Luckily a worker in the gym was in the vicinity and he grabbed the rope to slow HB’s fall.

Scarred by the experience, I’m not sure if I would have gone rock climbing again if I had really decked him. HB took the fall extremely well and even checked my injuries when he reached the ground. He never once went off at me, for which I was intensely grateful.

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I wrote this diary entry sometime after I climbed climbed my first roof:

At some stage, when the guy behind the counter finally convinced us to rent the shoes, my first instinct was to wear a pair of socks. How bizarre that I should now look at climbers who wear socks with climbing shoes with a knowing smile and the thought, “newbies,” running through my head.

We went through a basic course on safety, learning how to belay and tie a double figure eight knot. Then we took turns practicing our belaying skills on each other before we were allowed to graduate to the rest of the gym.

Con, being the most experienced by a few times, explained to us about the grading system. At any section of the wall, we would see a number of coloured odd shapes fastened into the wall. These odd shapes were called holds. Con explained that to follow the grades, you had to climb only using holds of a single colour. Using all the different colours was the easiest grade.

My first rock climbing experience was probably not the most ideal because my crazy cousin was belaying me. On the first route that I climbed, I was so absorbed with the movements, that I barely noticed that I was going off-route (meaning that I was climbing a section of the wall that was too far away from the line I should have been following). Being new to the sport, my cousin didn’t realize she was supposed to alert me that I was off-route. I continued to climb until I reached a point some distance to the left of the anchor.

Since I didn’t know how to traverse back to the anchor, I called down to my cousin and asked for advice on what I ought to do. It was not one of my brighter actions because my cousin told me to let go. Stupidity outweighing my reasoning capabilities, I obeyed. I found myself performing a “Tarzan” as I swung the arch of a pendulum and screamed my lungs out.

As if that experience wasn’t enough, my cousin decided to subject me to further psychological trauma by lowering me off like a sack of hot potatoes. I think I was almost in tears by the time I hit the ground. Might you, I was particularly afraid of heights at that point of my life.

I guess recklessness must have been the order of the day, for I went on to climb a particularly tall section of the wall. I climbed ala “rainbow warrior” style, using all the coloured holds on the wall. It particularly easy, almost as if I were climbing a ladder, although the higher I went, the more my arms and legs started to shake. It was a common climber’s syndrome that was frequently referred to as the “Elvis leg” or the “sewing machine”. Perhaps I was tired, perhaps I was afraid, whatever it was I only managed to keep going because Audrey was shouting words of encouragement up to me.

I have a rather vivid image of Con climbing a route with an over hang (an inclined wall that leans towards the climber) and a mini roof (a horizontal section of a route). Even though he was struggling at the overhang, the rest of us watched on like fans gaping at a sports star. I also remember the thought running through my head at that point in time, “How on earth does anyone climb something like that? It’s impossible! You’d have to be so strong. There’s no way a girl like me could ever get that strong.”

Interesting thoughts from a girl who has finally learned to climb a roof and discovered that it is indeed very possible.

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Heh, I can’t believe I still have this. It’s a list of places to climb in Hong Kong, although I’m not sure if this list is still accurate.

1. Kai Tak East Indoor Games Hall
   30 Luk Hop Street; Phone: 2326-9940
   Exit A2 of Dimand Hill MTR Station, then walk for about 8 minutes to get there
   Hong Kong
   > Height: 6m.
2. Sam Ka Tsuen Leisure Centre
   4/F Sam Ka Tsuen Complex, 6 Lei Yue Mun Path., Hong Kong
   Exit A1 of Kwun Tong MTR Station, transfer mini bus behind the Post Office (approx. 5 minutes)
   > Height: 11m; Lanes: 6; Opening Hour: 8am-11pm.
3. Shek Kip Mei Park Indoor Games Hall
   City: Shek Kip Mei, Hong Kong
   290 Nam Cheong Street; Exit C Shek Kip Mei MTR Station, walk 10 minutes along Nam Cheong Street.
   Phone: 2784-7424
   Opening Hour: 8am-11pm.
   > Height: 15m; Width: 15m, 8 Lanes 
4. Shun Lee Tsuen Park and Leisure Centre
   Shun Lee Tsuen Raod; Phone: 2951-4136
   Exit B at Choi Hung MTR Station, then transfer bus route 26, 27, 29M, 42 or 95 to get there (only about 5-10 minutes ride by bus)
   Opening Hour: 8am-11pm
   > Height: 12m; Width: 14m, 7 Lanes 
5. “The Salisbury” YMCA OF HONG KONG
   41 Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
   http://www.asiatravel.com/hongkong/ymcasalisbury/
   > Directly across harbour from Central Business District In the heart of Hong Kong’s famous shopping district 
6. The University of Hong Kong Climbing Wall
   The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road
   (852) 2859-2111
   fax (852) 2858-2549
   http://www.hku.hk/climbing/
   15 m. height, 75 m2
7. YMCA Climbing Wall
   Tsim Sha Tsui
   Hong Kong YMCA, 3rd floor
   Corner of Middle Rd. and Hankow Rd.
   Hong Kong

http://www.hongkongclimbing.com/general/walls.html

http://www.hongkongclimbing.com/

http://www.rockclimbing.com/routes/listState.php?CountryStateID=115

http://www.vectormap.com/eng/english.htm

Those were the days when I would do my homework before flying into a new place. Homework wasn’t preparing for my meetings or getting ready for the real reason why I was in town - business. Homework was so I would know where to go to get my climbing fix.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Just reminiscing about the old climbing days, I found some pictures taken during a trip I made down to Brisbane back in 2004. I can’t remember the name of the gym but it was located quite close to the city. For a listing of rock climbing walls and gyms in Queensland, you can check out this site: Indoorclimbing.com - Queensland. It doesn’t look like the gym I went to is listed though.

While taking a ride on the cat I also saw some people climbing a wall facing the river. It looked pretty cool but it also doesn’t appear to be listed on Indoorclimbing.com - Queensland. It was my first time in Brisbane so I can’t even say where that crag is located but I was planning on checking it out the next time I went back there. Well, so much for that.

Anyway, I took some pictures in the gym that I did manage to check out but they’re mostly of me climbing and very little about the gym. These shots are truly poser-worthy and I’m sure the other posers would approve. Although the gym is quite small, there is a boulder cave and some neat overhangs with lovely jugs that anyone with a bit of upper body strength can negotiate.

Sigh… Sometimes I really miss the good olddays…

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My first ever “roof” project was at Summit Gym. I believe this was one of the competition routes that was left up. Thin Man, Holdbreaker, Simian Boy and I were working on it in December 2003. I think Thin Man was the only one to red-point the project before the holds came down.

Roof climbs are great because you don’t smack into the wall when you take a lead fall. This one was also nice because the holds were so big, you could fit your whole hand inside them.

Check out the pictures which are unfortunately a bit dark because the lighting in the gym isn’t great and none of us had a camera that could illuminate the gym effectively for a good shot.

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Brandi’s workshop started at 10am on a Saturday morning.  It was quite a task to wake up so early as I had to follow the hubby to work first before he could drop me off at Camp5.  We were house sitting for my in laws and I didn’t want the long drive home after our movie that night.

The session started with some warm up exercises just to get the joints moving and to minimise injuries.  We followed these with some stretches by hanging on jugs on the walls.  I was starting to get pumped by this stage, and I was sweating from the heat of the sun blasting through the full glass panels at the lead wall.

We went down into the boulder cave and Brandi took her through a series of exercises to gauge the level of our abilities. 

The first exercise was on a slab requiring us to traverse from left to right using only our feet and our left hand.  The right hand as allowed to palm the wall, but not use any features or holds. 

The second exercise was a repeat of the first but using our right hand instead.  The third exercise - yup, you guessed it - hands free.

I had to thank Coverboy for his extensive lessons on the importance of foot-work and balance, for I made it through this section fairly easily.

The next exercise took us to the “high ball” wall - my least favourite area in the entire gym because I’m scared of heights.  I tend to freeze when I get to three quarters of the way up, unless the holds are just bomber. 

Brandi wanted to test our ability to handle slopers so she gave us the problem in the picture above that SN is working on.

I bombed at the orange hold because I got scared.  I was pretty sure I could hold it, but fear got the better of me and I refused to let go of my right hand until my hands were so pumped I couldn’t hold on any longer.  Even though I knew I could fall safely from that height (as I did when I jumped off the first time), I still couldn’t overcome that stupid thought that I would rather jump down deliberately rather than allow myself to fall making a move.

Move that orange boulder one meter closer to the ground and I am almost certain I would have committed the move.  Whether I would have succeeded or not, was a different question altogether.

The fifth exercise required us to do a relatively simple boulder problem and find as many “hands free” resting points as possible.  The trick was in finding the “hands free” resting points - which is obviously a handy skill to have up your sleeve.  I think the most anyone managed to find was about 13.

Core strengthening exercises dominated the rest of the morning up until lunch.  The first of these required us to hold onto two jugs at the base of a roof.  We had to lock our arms and swing our legs up to kick two spots on the roof - first with the left leg, then with the right leg and then crossing over with each leg.  We had to repeat this twice.

Needless to say, only AR, a.k.a. the man, managed to do repeat the example that Brandi had demonstrated.  And since she succeeded quite easily, her next task was to hold her foot on each hold for a moment before letting it drop.

The rest of us were given a slightly easier task where we had to hold two jugs and extend our legs out towards a vertical wall.  For twenty seconds, we had to walk our feet around the wall.

In the picture above, S was working the second exercise, but I think you get the idea.

The group watched Brandi attentively as she demonstrated how to make the exercise harder and easier according to our body lengths.

Then we each had to take turns practicing the exercises.

After this, we broke off for lunch, where I pigged out heartily on a hotdog and waffles with ice cream.  I was a little embarassed that everyone kept noticing how much I was eating.  Perhaps I ought to have guessed by then that something in my system was up…

We came back to Camp5 feeling rather sleepy with full stomachs and digested our food as we watched a few hardcore climbing videos.

In the next session, Brandi demonstrated how to make dynamic moves and dynos.  By this time, my left arm was starting to feel a pull and I had to sit out for the rest of the session. 

SKT was nearby watching and after describing the problem with my arm, he recognised it instantly as muscle fatigue.  Much to my chagrin, rest was the only cure. 

I talked to Brandi a little after that about strain injuries, especially the elbow problems I had been getting.  It appeared to be a muscle imbalance issue and all I needed to do was work the opposing muscles on my forearms by doing wrist curls in the opposite direction.

There were more discussions at the end of the class, but I missed out because J had bought tickets for the Da Vinci Code at 6:15pm instead of 7pm.  Apparently, they went through the basics on circuit training, among other things.  I’ll have to get the details from AR.

This was the group that took part in the class, with Brandi in the middle and three of us missing.

Photos are by courtesy of Anna Rinna - and once again I didn’t ask for permission before stealing them.  Sorry for the abuse of friendship, Anna.

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The day before Brandi’s class, I decided to do a spot of “light” climbing with C. I hadn’t been climbing for a whole week and I didn’t want to appear too rusty the next day.

After a few top-ropes, we went over to the boulder cave. I spotted a black boulder problem that I knew C could complete. With a bit of spurring on, C was soon sitting at the base of the problem. She made the first move in her first attempt after a little beta. She was fine until she saw the dynamic move. After some hesitation, she dropped off without trying.

“Get back on where you fell off and try the move,” I told her.

She moved slowly, but she got back on. She shuffled around a lot before she attempted the move. Her left hand touched the hold but the grip was not firm enough to keep her there and she fell off. I knew at once the thoughts that had flitted through her head before she made the move. It wasn’t a lack of ability – it was a lack of confidence.

“Do you know why you didn’t stick?” I asked. C stayed silent looking at the hold. “I bet you thought before you made the move, ‘Is she out of her mind? It’s so far. I’ll try anyway, but I really don’t think so.’ You didn’t think you could make it, but when you touched the hold, you were surprised, weren’t you?”

She laughed sheepishly.

“Try it again. You’ll get it this time.”

And she did.

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I got to the gym at about 4pm on Vesak Day. Being a public holiday, the car park at 1U was a madhouse with cars bumper to bumper as they scouted around for the smallest area capable of housing their vehicle. You know it’s bad when you start to see cars parking illegally in non-designated parking spots.

It must have taken me about half an hour before I finally made it inside Camp5 and caught up with P, E and J. A and J were there, too, loitering around in the top-rope section which was somewhat unusual for them. They gave the perfect excuse about not having a rope to lead, then became somewhat chagrinned when I told them I had a rope in the car that I had just lent to AT.

There is something about climbing in the presence of many people that makes me nervous. The last time I felt this way was when I was climbing at the Summit Gym Competition years back. There’s a hollow in the pit of my stomach and a weakness in my limbs as I look up from the base of a route. Anxiety clouds my mind and I feel uncertain about the routes that I know I can send.

I seem to prefer the quieter days in the gym when it’s just me, my belayer and a few friends. Those are the days when I am not embarrassed to attempt anything because I’m not afraid to fail. There are no eyes to judge me, but only the friendly eyes of my friends that serve to spur me on to greater heights.

Perhaps that is what is so appealing about bouldering in a group. As each member of the group takes their turn to climb, the rest offer an intense aura of support and encouragement that envelops the climber. That feeling of team spirit is not unlike the warm fuzzy feeling of a “feel good” movie. You feel it regardless of whether you complete the problem or not.

Bouldering has a completely different feeling to the isolation of climbing – where you are too high to connect with anyone else. You can rely only upon yourself as you meditate your emotions in an effort to control your own mind.

Bouldering and climbing - two disciplines as different mentally as they are physically. Not unlike the concept of Ying and Yang. The practice of both has a synergistic effect in augmenting your climbing abilities. I would even venture to add that you are only half complete as a climber with one discipline under your belt and not the other.

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