Tag: Rock Climbing

Climbing @ Damai Wall, Batu Caves 3.2.2007

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.

Damai Wall was chosen because it has many 5C routes which are suitable for the newbies. Hon San said that one person actually said that all routes in Damai Wall are actually “5C routes”.


Hon San belaying


Ping the Belayer


Mosquito repellent- FULL POWER MODE ON


A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step..

For a person who doesn’t climb outdoor often, ‘leading’ “5Cs” routes were quite tough but doable. But climbing routes 5 – 6 storeys high is not my cup of tea. Further, climbing outdoor involves a lot of waiting.


The metal chain is the anchor, the only stable thing that holds you while climbing – provided its stable..


Me on top!


Picture taken from…

Halfway through climbing, it rained. Everyone had to run to take shelter. However, some people couldn’t leave the climbing spots as some were still climbing and belaying.

I took a nap after climbing. I dreamt that I fell off the cliff while climbing O___O

For more info on climbing in Malaysia, purchase Climb Malaysia by Climb Asia

Deltarovers Climbing Gym, Kepong. Kuala Lumpur

Last year, I met up with Ping, Fai, Carness, Yap and Amos at Delta Rovers Climbing Gym at Kepong to climb. It was my first time there.

Almost every corner of the gym is covered with a climbing wall. Even the ceiling, which is about 2 storeys away, has handholds!


The gym is mainly for bouldering. I dont recall seeing any walls to top rope.


Unlike the climbing routes in the other gyms in Kuala Lumpur, Delta Rovers has something different.

It has a swing. One has to start by sitting on the swing and swing towards two handholds and thereafter continue with the route.


Another unique route features a tyre on the last hold. After enduring a tough route, one has to finish the route by jumping towards the tyre and hang on to it.


Map to Deltarovers

Website: http://www.deltarovers.com.my
EDIT [30.3.2007] – Delta Rover Climbing Gym was destroyed in a fire on 28.3.2007.

Blaze destroys wholesale camping and equipment centre

KUALA LUMPUR: A one-stop wholesale camping and equipment centre, which also provided rock-climbing facilities, was gutted in a fire causing losses of up to RM5mil at Taman Kepong here.
The blaze started at about 8.30pm and spread quickly due to strong winds.

Two Vietnamese workers and at least 10 others who were carrying out their rock climbing activity managed to escape.

Federal Territory Fire and Rescue Department operations assistant director Md Ali Ismail said 30 firefighters in five fire engines arrived at the scene 20 minutes after receiving a call at about 8.50pm.

He said the firemen initially had a tough time battling the blaze due to low water pressure but the problem was overcome after several pumps were used to draw water from a nearby hydrant.

The fire was brought under control within an hour.

Md Ali said the fire could have started from the back portion of the premises, where two of the workers were staying.

“We were told that the workers were cooking in the kitchen and a fire started, causing the gas cylinder to explode.

“The workers tried to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher but the fire spread quickly,” he said.

Owner of the premises, Datuk Low Kok Chuan, 44, said that the top portion of the one-and-half-story building, which was also a factory producing the equipment, was renovated only recently.

Source: The Star Newspaper

Tonsai Wall @ Tonsai Beach – Rai Leh, Krabi.

I haven’t been climbing for the past month due to an injury I had while playing futsal. Recently, I just started climbing again. However, I have not fully recover from my injury and therefore, I couldnt do any hardcore routes. I guess I would not be fit enough to climb Tonsai wall @ Krabi :s


Tonsai Wall @ Tonsai Beach, Raileh, Krabi.

Continue reading Tonsai Wall @ Tonsai Beach – Rai Leh, Krabi.

Day 3 – Thaiwand Wall, West Raileh, Krabi

Thaiwand wall is located at West Raileh Beach. We have to hike through the jungle and climb up the hills to get to Thaiwand wall.


Yes..you can climb the ladder.

Thank god for the natural path, otherwise we would be lost in the jungle. But it was sometimes confusing. There was once I ended at a place where someone took a shit. He/She left tissues on the ground. 😛

Continue reading Day 3 – Thaiwand Wall, West Raileh, Krabi

Phranang Temple @ Krabi

At Phranang beach @ Krabi, there’s a small temple which has hundreds of wooden phallus. Some are as tall as 5 feet, some are so thick that the only living thing would use it is a female elephant. Also, some are so small that you could just pocket them home for personal use. It is said to be offering to the sprit of Phranang who resides in the cave.

Continue reading Phranang Temple @ Krabi

Camp 5 Climbing Gym @ 1 Utama

View of Camp 5 – from outside

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.


Wall for Lead Climbing (Lead Climbing – where you have to clip the rope on to the runners (clips that are attached to the wall)

There’s a huge indoor lead climb wall. I tried unclipping the rope from the runners. Wahlao, it was so bloody scary.


Bouldering Wall – climbing without ropes. Loads of power needed.


Powerful Men

Tight area to climb. The metal bar looks dangerous. I always have this image of myself falling on to the metal bar…landing between my legs on the bar!!
Other than the indoor lead climb wall, one should check out the auto belay device. It’s a small device fixed on top of the wall. All the climber needs to do is clip himself/herself on the rope connected to the small device and climb. In order to descend, all the climber needs to do is let his hands go and put his weight on the rope!


The Auto Belay Device


Hundreds of Handhold and Runner

Speaking about ropes, the ropes in the gym are dynamic ropes which means that the ropes will expand upon pressure. It’s not so good when belaying a heavy person. Cris crashed into me after he fell. He would have missed me if the rope didn’t expand!
As for the routes, they have many types of routes but many of them are not for beginners.

However, such state of the art climbing gym comes with a heavy price. The entrance fee for adult is RM22. Rental for shoes and harness is RM7 and RM5 respectively.

More info @ http://www.camp5.com/

White Wall @ Batu Caves

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.


Ahh..white wall at last!


Creepy stuff..


Something is among the trees….can you spot it? 😀

By 1PM, it started to rain. Everyone scrambled their belonging and fled the scene. Getting down wasn’t easy as well. Since it rained slightly, the treks were already slippery.


ciao the scene!


Going thru the garbage dump again


This place reminds me of Amsterdam.


Damai

Fortunately, the rain stopped as soon as we reached Damai. We hung out at Damai for a while. Some were bouldering and some went to disturb monkeys. But suddenly, it rained heavily. Once again, we had to fled the scene.

It wasn’t a good day for us!


Monkey: Kiss ma ass.


Monkey not happy


Road to the unknown..


Ping on a journey of discovery


Karat & I

Rock Climbing @ Batu Caves II

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.

We started off with an easy route. Everyone managed to clear it. Pet Pet Lin struggled for a while but in the end, he finished it. Bravo!

Then we proceeded to another route, which was about 30 metres high. It was bloody tough. Out of the 9 people who tried, only 2 made it to the top. Further, the wall isn’t entirely flat. There are loads of boulders around. Hence, whenever we fall, we would end up swinging out from the wall. It was pretty exciting though. We could see a good view of the area. However, once the rope pulls us back to the wall, we would end up crashing into a tree.

Another thing worth nothing is that the villagers around Batu Caves are friendly. One of the villagers was happy to let Wai Keong to use their toilet. However, Wai Keong felt uneasy cause the toilet has many holes around the wall. I hope I don’t see Wai Keong’s face in any toilet fetish VCDs. Then, when we were about to leave, a bunch of Malay girls greeted us with, “Gong Xi Fa Cai!!” (A greeting for Chinese New Year). Hon San replied, “Sayanggg Sayanggggggg” (Darling… Darlingg). The Malay girls giggled non stop.

We ended the day with juicy mushroom Swiss double cheese burger…oOoohhhh.. orgasmic…

Rock Climbing @ Batu Caves

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.

Continue reading Rock Climbing @ Batu Caves