ah, back on the rocks again!
After 4 months hibernating due to monsoon season, today was the first day back out on the rocks. Eric text me yesterday afternoon - "Shall we go climbing?" The dry season's back, the rocks are in shade at this time of the year... hell, yeah! Let's go climbing!
I've been rock climbing a good 9 years already. Started out after completing university in Sydney, took up climbing with the persuasion of a hunk (oh, but of course it had to be a hunk!). I got hooked on it pretty quick; it's a sport where I could excel at my own pace, with no finish lines, no points to score, no competition with anyone except my own abilities. Out of interest in the sport, I'd even put up therockpod.com, a website with as much information on rock climbing in Malaysia as I could get my hands on. Hmmmm... which reminds me, better get those updates in soon.
I used to climb twice, thrice weekly when I first started out; now as the years have flown by, I've picked up more outdoor hobbies, and these days find myself stretched thin trying to keep up with all of them. Thank goodness rock climbing was something I could do on weekends without much hassle, since Batu Caves is just 30 minutes away from my home.
We decided on Damai (also known as Cave Rock) today - relatively easy routes, good to get the muscles going again after such a long period of inactivity. Oh but first, we stopped by Ho Choong Tuck coffee shop at Uptown for a little dimsum breakfast. Guess what I had? LB, this is for you!
Also had prawn siewmai, chee cheong fun (hongkong-styled), charsiew pau, and wu kok (yam dumpling). The three of us - Eric, Veronica and myself - digged in, but didn't fill our tummies to the brim in case we couldn't get on the rocks after that.
We reached Damai around 10.30. Geared up as quickly as we could, and to my great relief I could still fit into my harness... LOL! I was worried that I'd put on too much weight the past 4 months that I might've not been able to fit into my harness again. Thank goodness they were as snug as ever... or perhaps a little too snug now due to a slight "padding" all around me... *blush*!
After contemplating on the routes available, we picked Sweet Maria to be our warm-up route. Now, normally I would've just sailed up like a walk in the park, but this time, I was actually nervous. I'd not lead-climbed for awhile and I could feel a teensy-weensy flutter in my tummy as I tied the rope to my harness.
Up I went, setting up protection with the quickdraws as I moved along. I reached the so-called crux of the climb - this slightly bulgy ledge which I had to go under and over to the top to get to the next bolt. I gripped up as high as I could over the bulge, hanging on to the rocks as tightly as I could. Legged up with my right, but whooops... My hands felt shaky, I had to back down! I lowered myself a little, hung off my hands for a few seconds, then attempted the move again. This time I reached even higher, got my right leg up on the tip of the ledge, pulllllll... Yay! Got over the bulge! I could feel my legs doing the "Elvis" just a tad. I quickly clipped and continued to the top and anchored in.
I was doubly cautious of threading in my rope through the rings and doing the knots at the top; I had a slight phobia that I might've done it wrong, so I checked and re-checked my knots again before I called out to Eric to lower me.
Ahhhh... sweet relief to be on the ground again! Veron and Eric had a go at the climb on top-rope, cleaning the route (i.e. removing my quickdraws) as they went.
We lazed around for a bit before doing a second, easier climb. The butterflies were gone; I gained a little bit of my confidence back after that first route to lead again. Virgin Climb was definitely easier... phew!
After that, Eric and Veron decided to call it quits (the former complaining about aching finger joints, and the latter saying she was tired). I was still game for another climb, but my laziness got the better of me and we packed up for the day. It was already 1:30PM, time for lunch.
Despite doing just 2 routes in a span of 3 hours (if you were a climbing freak, you could fit in at least 10!), it was enough to satisfy our itchy fingers for now. People who know us and have climbed with us know that we talk and chill out more than we climb anyway, ha-ha! The picnic climbers, that's what we are.
It was a good feeling though, getting on the rocks again. Now that the sun is out, I guess it's time for me to come out of semi-hibernation and go outdoors.
Gear up, guys. It's rock climbing season once more!
p.s. Apologies to the readers who aren't familiar with rock climbing - I didn't quite explain the jargon and it's quite hard to follow if you aren't familiar with the sport. I could write a few more posts talking about it; there's just too much to say in just a single one! Hope the links to the glossary pages helped!
p.p.s. No photos of myself in action, sorry. Can't really take self portraits when I'm hanging on for dear life with both hands now, can I? *grins*
Technorati: adventure, rock climbing, food
I've been rock climbing a good 9 years already. Started out after completing university in Sydney, took up climbing with the persuasion of a hunk (oh, but of course it had to be a hunk!). I got hooked on it pretty quick; it's a sport where I could excel at my own pace, with no finish lines, no points to score, no competition with anyone except my own abilities. Out of interest in the sport, I'd even put up therockpod.com, a website with as much information on rock climbing in Malaysia as I could get my hands on. Hmmmm... which reminds me, better get those updates in soon.
I used to climb twice, thrice weekly when I first started out; now as the years have flown by, I've picked up more outdoor hobbies, and these days find myself stretched thin trying to keep up with all of them. Thank goodness rock climbing was something I could do on weekends without much hassle, since Batu Caves is just 30 minutes away from my home.
We decided on Damai (also known as Cave Rock) today - relatively easy routes, good to get the muscles going again after such a long period of inactivity. Oh but first, we stopped by Ho Choong Tuck coffee shop at Uptown for a little dimsum breakfast. Guess what I had? LB, this is for you!
lormaikai!!!
Also had prawn siewmai, chee cheong fun (hongkong-styled), charsiew pau, and wu kok (yam dumpling). The three of us - Eric, Veronica and myself - digged in, but didn't fill our tummies to the brim in case we couldn't get on the rocks after that.
We reached Damai around 10.30. Geared up as quickly as we could, and to my great relief I could still fit into my harness... LOL! I was worried that I'd put on too much weight the past 4 months that I might've not been able to fit into my harness again. Thank goodness they were as snug as ever... or perhaps a little too snug now due to a slight "padding" all around me... *blush*!
After contemplating on the routes available, we picked Sweet Maria to be our warm-up route. Now, normally I would've just sailed up like a walk in the park, but this time, I was actually nervous. I'd not lead-climbed for awhile and I could feel a teensy-weensy flutter in my tummy as I tied the rope to my harness.
Up I went, setting up protection with the quickdraws as I moved along. I reached the so-called crux of the climb - this slightly bulgy ledge which I had to go under and over to the top to get to the next bolt. I gripped up as high as I could over the bulge, hanging on to the rocks as tightly as I could. Legged up with my right, but whooops... My hands felt shaky, I had to back down! I lowered myself a little, hung off my hands for a few seconds, then attempted the move again. This time I reached even higher, got my right leg up on the tip of the ledge, pulllllll... Yay! Got over the bulge! I could feel my legs doing the "Elvis" just a tad. I quickly clipped and continued to the top and anchored in.
I was doubly cautious of threading in my rope through the rings and doing the knots at the top; I had a slight phobia that I might've done it wrong, so I checked and re-checked my knots again before I called out to Eric to lower me.
Eric on Sweet Maria
Ahhhh... sweet relief to be on the ground again! Veron and Eric had a go at the climb on top-rope, cleaning the route (i.e. removing my quickdraws) as they went.
We lazed around for a bit before doing a second, easier climb. The butterflies were gone; I gained a little bit of my confidence back after that first route to lead again. Virgin Climb was definitely easier... phew!
Veron on the rocks
After that, Eric and Veron decided to call it quits (the former complaining about aching finger joints, and the latter saying she was tired). I was still game for another climb, but my laziness got the better of me and we packed up for the day. It was already 1:30PM, time for lunch.
Despite doing just 2 routes in a span of 3 hours (if you were a climbing freak, you could fit in at least 10!), it was enough to satisfy our itchy fingers for now. People who know us and have climbed with us know that we talk and chill out more than we climb anyway, ha-ha! The picnic climbers, that's what we are.
It was a good feeling though, getting on the rocks again. Now that the sun is out, I guess it's time for me to come out of semi-hibernation and go outdoors.
Gear up, guys. It's rock climbing season once more!
p.s. Apologies to the readers who aren't familiar with rock climbing - I didn't quite explain the jargon and it's quite hard to follow if you aren't familiar with the sport. I could write a few more posts talking about it; there's just too much to say in just a single one! Hope the links to the glossary pages helped!
p.p.s. No photos of myself in action, sorry. Can't really take self portraits when I'm hanging on for dear life with both hands now, can I? *grins*
Technorati: adventure, rock climbing, food
posted by may at 4:10 pm
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