proposal for blue mountains~!

hey guys n gals~

hmm... in the midst of many plans to go Krabi... a bit diao to bring this up but.... anyone onZ abt going to BLUE MOUNTAINS this hol??





tell me, how can u resist it? =P

kellY

Correction

Tink Adrian left sth out, due to his pure forgetfulness..."i'm sure"

Tarantula...As u all know tarantula is the biggest spider in the world...well it should be stronger n betta then 'spider', though this is yet to be proven...but one thing is certain...TARANTULA is harrier than anyone else...!!!!
Let me introduce to u... Adrian the TARANTULA!!!

Hmm...Seenbra or is it Sinbra? Cause was thinking tt since we have tiger=harimau, we shld have lion=singa to form a complete family of fierce mammals... Sandra is thus renamed as Sindra... (short form of Singa is Sin...), but being inventive and creative..adrian decided to apply his selective hearing yesterday nite n mistook Sindra as Sinbra.

Hence, in conclusion Sandra is renamed to Sinbra... :)

Nicknames

Seenbra.

The one.

The two.

Neh feng.

Harifen.

These are a couple of nicknames produced during the junior team's preparations for Pumpfest. We will cheer the participants using these names. Examples of situations to use these are:

Sandra takes a farnee fall
"Come on Seenbra! (read Sandra = Seenbra) We have seen enough, just flash it! (flash the route muahaha)"

Teck Chew takes a fall
"Eh! 'The One' is falling! Look at him look at him self-proclaimed 'the one' look at him. Habislah teckie..reputasimu akan terus terkecundang. Tiada perempuan akan menabur perhatian kepadamu lagi."

Li Ying flashes
"Whoa! Hot stuff and it seems 'The Two' is doing very well (in comparison to 'The One')."

Ning Feng climbs
"Neh Feng! We can see your nehneh! So strong that it looks like your firm jaw-line and defined back muscles!"

Harifen
Hoho back in Malaysia, we call tiger, harimau. Uh since Mei Fen is fierce, we will sub "Fen" into harimau. Thus this gives us harifen. Roar. Roar. Roar. Roar. Roar. Roar. Roar. Roar.

Back to my tutorials! The rest of junior team, your turns will come muahahas.

Campus

Echoing Junwei's words, seeing the comm this year reminded me of Lips, Rx and Eli in our first year of Boulder. Dunno how to climb, dunno how to judge routes, only know how to distribute singlets and print results. It was really more of a chore for me than something that I whole-heartedly wanted to be involved in honestly.



But I guess without that first Boulder I wouldn't be here today. No one knows this but for the past two years, everytime I get off bus 16 at Parkmall, my heart starts to beat faster and I can almost smell the excitement from way over there and I actually always run towards the competition site instead of walking at my usual leisurely pace. That's how much heart I have innit now :)



This year's Boulder is extra special because so many of the senior girls are graduating already. We'll have less time to gossip and go for long runs and of course, climb. But seeing the older girls like Serena and Rachel and Kelly come together to set routes and try routes and support old-timers at the comp, I took heart in just knowing that 5, 10, 15 years down the road, Boulder will still be THE place for old friends to come together to sweat, scream, and spend sleepless days and nights together. (Now all I have to do is find a boyfriend who doesn't have a birthday that falls on any of the 3 days and I'm all set! haha ok I'm kidding don't tell him!!!)



I wish I could download the snapshots taken in mind and post them up here so that you could see what i saw during those three days, because what I saw was pretty damn good. and at the end of the day, the only thing that mattered for me was having all you guys around.



(at this point I would add pictures of the team and the entire event for added aww effect but I don't have a digicam so team manager for next year can put that on your list for my present next year ok! haha and yes thanks for the present this year it was a pity i didn't have my pink singlet to match it with!)


Love you guys!!



~mei~

joys of competition

cannot tahan, got to blog agn about my first open comp, paiseh!!

We all started out as novice/intermediate climbers and during that time, I usually felt like quite a strong contendor for finals or medals. Flashing routes was the priority cos every attempt counted towards your ranking. Now in open, at my standard, it's totally different.

The routes are unflashable (sometimes even uncompletable as a project) to me as they are meant for climbers much stronger than I am. Yet I am feeling an even greater joy. The atmosphere during competition is really great as it is usually the highlight of the day. It's also really fun experiencing such hard routes cos the element of challange is greater than ever. It makes me want to climb harder and grow into a gr8 climber too like all those amzing ppl we saw...zaki, ron, jay, yam, hafizs etc..

Yucks

Unbelievably disgusting. He is one of the most senior climbers in the team and...there you go. Yucks. This photo is conveniently nicked from www.nusclimb.com. Do go there to nick more photos when it is ready. wuahaha.

Check out on how he is defying gravity the correct way with the words spreading across his chest in an acceptable manner...unlike..unlike our KL kia wuahaha..more wuahahahas :)

our fierce intermediate MEN!!!

check out their expression... esp our singha yap...

The Aftermath

Jus want 2 pen my thoughts here.....

Woke up 4hrs ago. Bet others did so too. Had lunch and met Yap(&SM),who's on his way 2 interview. Basically slacked e whole day.

Read many emails & blogposts. Really appreciate the many thanks directed to e Comm. But team and Comm are like pair of chopsticks, so i'm really thankful myself for e much larger & enthusiastic team we ve tis yr.

Thanks for e hard work, effort, late nights/overnights, isolation wall-play, corny and some lewd jokes. Its really great to be working with all of you.

Dun worry abt event singlets, as Kevin has plans to print them. Would be fantastic if we could get 10 singlets each. But understand that this event does not come free. And our marketing gal-Jasmine almost single handly looked for sponsors. Futhermore, from what i noe, this event is still in the red. Even if one person ask for 1 extra singlet, its like opening a floodgate. This is jus one point, and I'm not in the very bad of moods to list down everything. Jus hope that we all have a common understanding that the Comm will do all to ensure Maximum benefits for team members, but some things are out of our hands.

Back to a more joyous note, i wanna congratulate all winners. In fact its all of us, cos the team won inter-tertiary!!! Lookin back at the videos of me climbing, i felt that i really needed a kick in e ass. I hope others dun think so, cos seriously, i was hoping to work e crowd in addition to boosting my confidence. So thanks to those that clapped, cheered and laughed at me. I believe Alvin played a large part in my success. I dun noe if he noes this, but i think he's one great climbing partner(sorry elisa!), other than Dbola. And thanks to all the route setters - e routes were g8 and i really enjoyed them.

Ok a bit too long liao. Zhuaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

charlene




falling!




chio bu?

Boulderactive

Too shag wit my project research...gonna drop by a minute to say a few words...

What i learned from boulderactive...
1) It helps to get enuf sleep b4 comp...approx 8 Hours...
2) Learnin to be in Zen mode wit a snap of a finger...*sounds dubious but hahaha...if u think u r in zen then u r in zen*
3) DON'T drink alcoholic beverages b4 comp...makes u more confident n u can perform wit a clearer mind *tried n tested...lolz*
4) And lastly...tpjc gals may be cute...but i still think tjc gals are cuter...hahahahahahaha...

~cheers~

Boulderactive was Gr8!

Hi guys, really happy seeing the team helping out so much during boulderactive even though we were all tired to the bone. It's super encouraging seeing everyone sitting/standing around the event site and cheering for each other! Many hands make light work and the senior team should remember having a much harder time last yr when all the juniors werent around *phew

And of cos congrats to our two super-performers Ningfeng(still single with firm jawline and defined back muscles) and Zhengxin (super zhuai on the wall) for making our day seeing nus climbers clinch top prize.

Hope everyone had fun..I sure did cos
1) F1 team was quite fun(clambering all ard the wall)
2) Route setting was the bomb when you see the commotion and excitement your route creates and finally,
3) route testing is shiok when u get to try routes that you will otherwise never get to experience.

;==================================
PS: ROCKMASTER intermediate men champion was ours, BOULDER intermediate men champion was ours will PUMPFEST intermediate men champion be ours too? JIAYOU to Caleb, Ningfeng, Teckchew, DJ Looi, Yap and Weimin --> do work hard and make it a tradition...lol

And welcome, our new addition to Men's Open, Zhengxin! Finally, NUS has a big grp of open competitiors.

WArning: DanGer!

The volume on Wall 1 is fuc$%g(censored) rough. Beware of skin getting left behind on the wall (me and ks are recent casualties)- wear long pants!

BOULDERACTIVE 2006: Defy Gravity

Hey guys!

Boulder is finally here. I've really excited about the comp and especially so since this year is my first in contributing to the competition routes. Hahaha... BEWARE! What's more is that this year's event T-shirts and set-up is even cooler than other competitions we've seen this year!

Anyways, the preparations will be starting real soon from Tuesday onwards. So we'll need all the help we can get over the next few days: tiles and matts need to be down at the site on Wednesday. More logistics will also be shifted on Thursday afternoon -- tables, power cables, chairs, paper, clipboards... All of these stuff will go to the creation of 3 solid days of competition to remember.

Do come down to the gym to help if you can k? You can give Adrian or me a buzz, and we'll letcha know how you can help.

Route-setters ALERT! We've got the schedule ready and will be contacting you really soon on the details. Bring it on!



JKLM

hi dudes

After boulderactive, there'll be soemething even more meaningful.. Getting into shape for krabi!!

This is what Rich Simpson does to get ready for a climbing trip.

Lots of volume..lots of endurance routes..lots of running

Boulderactive 24-26 Mar

Hi guys, remember to prepare urself for boulderactive..

1) Watch more videos, get yourself psyched
2) Don't boulder or do conditioning too hard next week as the time to push yourself is over - the next time is in the competition itself.
3) Do however climb light at least once or twice next week before the competition

just to mention an old tradition.. when u graduate, must buy new tiles for the gym!

We'll get many new tiles when the next batch (which is almost half the team) graduates :)

Nostalgic

Just feeling nostalgic about my vertical competitions. I've got something with vertical climbing rather than bouldering as most of my memories are forged from climbing events, not bouldering. Let me share them! (no you do not have a choice in this)

Rockamania 2003
My first competition and my first vertical competition. Still new to climbing. I fell at the 3m mark, ie even before I reach the 'paneled' structure of Temasek's Poly wall. I was wearing the club's shoes then and I fell because I did not know what a sit-in was so I just lunged for the tile, falling off in the process.

Rock On 2003
One of the few lucky year ones who got selected to try out in Rock On. I fell early, about the 9th panel because I did not have the strength to pull a move. Inefficient movements too. The rock-on shirt sucks as they gave me a size M shirt, too small. They actually ran outta size L shirts, thus resorting to gimme such shit. A consolation was that I began to learn level two after Rock On. I've been climbing for almost a year now.

Get High 2003 (i think..)
Joined it despite discouragement from teacher-in-charge. The whole club was gung-ho about it as we thought no one was joining thus increasing our chances to win. Obviously, we were wrong. Fell because I was not mentally prepared to compete. Join for fun only wat.

French School Invitational Climbing Marathon 2004
A mad competition as it was held during valentine's day argh. We got a tsunami-ed boulder problem and two climbing problems. I fell in the 1st climbing route as I was afraid of making an unconventional move that requires gaston-ing and smearing on a flat surface, skipping a sloppy side pull in the process. Shall be daring to skip tiles in the future. Fell in the second route as I was spending too much time caressing the wall for its features. Gotto use features to go up mar..I feel at the 6th panel.

Rock On 2004
Really wanted to do well in this competition. Ended up 4th in novice finals. Missed the 3rd placing as I did not think of matching hand at a pink jug, rather I chose to attempt crossing hand. Shacked wat..so my mind was in disarray. Tried and fell. My best competition as it was my last time competing under TJC.

Rock On 2006


Fell at the 5th panel. My first open cat competition. Wore a polo tee to climb, another first time. The organizers could not churn out the event shirt on time. Fell because I slipped out and did not step on the bolt on the wooden panel as I did not know can step there. Looked gay during the fall as I was holding on to the rope.

Rockamania 2006
We'll see how.

selling

Petzl Sama harness going for $110 - quoted price(by SAFRA) is $150 although i think u can get it cheaper at $130+ at Allsports.

Of power and much more power

I had heard folktales on how Mr. Yam Choon Hian climbed
Strong and conquering foreign walls, averaging 8As, doing 8Bs for projects
NUS alumni happily married and happily being a father
And he is going to Thailand soon to finish up Jai Dum 8B in Krabi over a weekend (not sure how to spell..it is called 'black lungs' in Thai language)

Finally I saw his climbing style during Rock On
He has so much power and it seems nothing can deter that power
He does not have a formal coach in his undergraduate years
Kiat says he trained like there was no tomorrow
I feel that his power brought him up to that height while he was doing the route

I had never been an advocate in strength, climbing wise
Thus justifying my apparent relaxed attitude in training for power
Could it be that technique can bring you only so far for novice climbs
And power will form the dizzying heights where your climbing career will advance
With the technique forming the base of all those mad house energy
If you are strong as Yam, you can boulder sick problems
And again utilizing that power to climb hard core routes
I noticed that some local good climbers are not that accomplished in bouldering
Seems that climbing and bouldering are two seperate subsets all together
But Yam proved that to be wrong

The hardest part of being in a fork road is to decide which path to take
To be unnerving strong like Yam or good in climbing like Jups and Philip
Both climbing styles are (oh so) different
And there is open house at NUS later damn

Elation

Hahahaha...felt very happy todae...not because i fell early in the vertical comp...
I finally finished the 6B in CA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well i'm sure to some of u, u will be thinkin tt it's so easy or it's nth to be proud of...but for me it's entirely diff...
I tried tt route countless times in vain...n it became increasingly frustrating especially so when i always drop at tile 17...
But today i almost did the route without much struggles...well maybe cause i also didn't spend much energy duting the competition...
Regardless of tt, i'm quite satisfied tt i completed the 6B.
YEah!

Sorry to the finalists...i won't be able to make it down tml morning so here n now i wish u all the best. Climb hard n enjoy yourself!!
Tt's all for now...
Signing off...

P/S: Mental strength is EXTREMELY important! :)

Moving On Up

I experienced my first Men's Open vertical competition at Rock On, and I'm really glad to say that I had the priviledge of sharing it with all of you guys -- Adrian, Zhengxin and, of course, my brother (chong chu jiang hu). In fact, I picked up a few lessons on the wall today; thought I'd share them with you:

1. Route-reading can be incredibly simple. For me, I follow a standard similar to the points Zhengxin wrote in the previous entry -- rest points, clip points and positions, and the various cruxes and possible solutions. 5 mins is just about enough for stuff like that.
2. Mens Open isn't that scary. For real! The routes are always interesting and can vary in style and format from time to time. The qualifier route was said to have been designed for a quick ascent, and resting excessively would burn your energy out instead. I guess with more experience, I would be able to tell between routes that are more endurance biased vs routes that are better sped thru.
3. Mens Open is a professional category. Its conduct is simple, and strict. They are not going to change much over time, but the judge(s) can be quite picky about the various O/B marker. Of course, if you have a style of climbing that clashes largely with social norms (like me, with my exclamation on the wall today that earned me a yellow card), be aware that you might just cross certain social conventions unknowingly.

Welcome to the fold! I may not be good enough now... but I'm sure I'll get there one day. See you at the top!

For this Saturday and Sunday -- Good Luck!

General:
Ø Most focus on the outcome of the comp. Some worry about falling off even before hitting the wall. Some worry about other competitors being better than them, or worry about others being in the ‘wrong’ category. The truth is, those that focus on the process of getting to the top will most likely make it to the top

Pre-competition:
Ø Scout out the wall, before isolation. (Eg for chalk marks)
Ø Familiarize with the brand of the holds.
Ø Anticipate the conditions of the environment, e.g. heat, rain, crowd noise, smell of the air, fear, stress, etc.
Ø Comfort: get and bring anything that u need to be comfortable during isolation.

Observation:
Ø Give entire route a quick glance to make sure u know where it’s going.
Ø Read the route from bottom to top. You can’t go where your eyes have not seen. (Bring a bino if needed)
Ø Similarly, u can’t go where your mind have not went; picture yourself going from handhold to handhold, foothold to foothold. Exaggerate your hand and feet movements for better memory.
Ø Time yourself for the observation. Dun read too long or too quick.
Ø Spot clip-in positions, where you can rest well too.
Ø Predict hard sections and try to recognize familiar sequences.
Ø Spot rest points.
Ø Try recognizing familiar holds.
Ø Estimate distances between holds by gauging them using hands and panels
Ø Memorize the route. (Or draw them out)
Ø Focus and Concentrate. Don’t get distracted.

Isolation:
Ø Schedule warm up in view of order of climb.
Ø Manage the stress. Can be naps, games, listening to music, staring into blank space, yoga, staring at gals, etc. Find out what works for u.
Ø Calm down and remember to hydrate yourself.
Ø Do something to take your mind off the comp 1st, then as your turn approaches, think about the comp. Psyche yourself!!! Feel yourself climbin…feel the tiles…the heat of the day…smell of e chalk…hear e crowd cheering….u concentrating on the climb……
Ø Have pre-climb rituals.(for eg, mine’s going to the toilet, then putting shoes the slow and firm way, shaking out, chalking fingers then blowing on it, closing my eyes for a while, a deep breath…..in that particular sequence for all comps.)


During the Climb:
(Do not think of these during the climb but remind yourself during isolation)
Ø Don’t over grip.
Ø Keep arms straight when resting.
Ø Keep breathing consciously and loudly. Lots of climbers tend to hold their breath when it comes to strenuous part of the route. Your body needs oxygen for reliving lactic fatigue and recovery!
Ø Avoid tunnel vision. Be aware of surroundings….in other words, look around; resist locking off with one hand and “wiping” the wall with the other in search of holds.
Ø Don’t think so much once out on the climb. Be confident and remember procrastination will only bring you down.
Ø Lingering waste endurance. Climb at your normal pace, but remain cautious.
Ø Alternate shaking your arms raised and arms down for a bit more recovery, every bit of it counts for your on-sight.
Ø Don't forget to clip in, trailing leg muz not go over unclip runner (not too sure abt this rule)

Conclusion:
That’s a huge chunk of information to digest, but I hope it helps. Everyone climbs differently, so what works for me may not work for you.


Adapted from THE JOURNEYMAN PROJECT.

side step or same hand same leg

Recently, I've been doing some boulder problems when sidestepping is impossible and the only way to execute the move is to do a same hand same leg (SHSL) movement.

So that got me thinking - when is it that I should side step and when is it that I should just go frontal with SHSL. Afterall, it'd be good to recognise the circumstances so you don't have to use trial and error during competitions (not enough time and energy!)

After thinking for a while I realised 3 conditions

1) When the foothold is too high
2) When the foothold is too far to one side. (eg going for a far right tile with right hand and the foothold v far left)
3) When is it a cut loose movement and sidestepping will create too much barndoor effect.


Haha v bo liaoz? This is how I spend my free time.

;============================================
I was also thinking about Endurance vs Power

I think that they are the antithesis of one other... ie you train power, you lose endurance. You train endurance, you lose power. Is it true? V sad if it is true..

Recently all i've been concentrating on thus far was finger and campus board. My power did go up so I thought the 6C endurance routes alrdy completed last time would be no kick right? Did some last min endurance this week and realised that - No I was absolutely wrong!

Dun think my technique deproved so it must be the endurance right???

Mind Games

Rock On
Onsight
Game on
That's right

For these few days
Keep spirits raised,
And trust within our hearts.

May mind winds still
While limbs we build
A form of light and glass.

Idle moments
For hours golden
We wait our turn to start

Eyes up
Chalked up
Our time at last.

One move
One beat,
One goal to keep.

One breath
One chance,
Cease each move within your reach.

Long rope
Long fall
Till the end of it all

One hope
One thought
This chance is all we've got.


JKLM

The day after tmrw

The tiles are coming down next Friday for Boulderactive!

Here are Alvin's top 5 things to do in the gym before then

1) Link the 100 move 3X 6Cs
2) Red point Hanlin's new 7A on the Sun Moon wall
3) Red point KS' old 7A on the Sun Moon wall
4) Complete Jups' and Wilson's 50 Move '7B' (a bit impossible for most of us..haiz)
5) Complete all uncompleted Boulder projects

;==================================================
BTW, Dun PRAY PRAY! i got 10/12 possibility of becoming an Open finalist this rock on!! Adrian, you also!!!! Cos heard from jups tt there are only 12 competitiors in Men's Open...BWAAAHAHHAHAHA

*all together* BWAahahahhaaHAHAHA

overtrained!

fingers raw like uncooked eggs..ouch!

Btw I think adrian is the only one who believes his equipment are alive and can talk to each other. If my pair of V10s were alive, he's in pain now cos he had a training accident and had to be stitched up in hospital.

v10s: That alvin, think he is v smart and downsize me until he has to expend so much energy just to put me on. I'm a slipper i'm supposed to be easy to wear hello? Now he has tugged on me so bad till I split and the tear widens every trg, argh and im only 1 mth old.

Luckily, the kind and lovely lady, eli stitched me up with needle and black thread with her gentle hand. They say scars make a man so I guess i'm one now.

After training conversations

An After Training Conversation between Adrian's shoes: La-Sportiva's Cobra and Five Ten's Anasazi

As with normal conversations, this except is ridiculously vulgar. After all, they are Adrian's shoes :)








Cobra : Dammit Anasazi, you stink! It has only been 5 months and you stink!
Anasazi : Studdup Cobra. You are just jealous that you are not used lately!
Cobra : That's no-
Anasazi : Nehnehneh I got you nehnehneh Cobra is jealous bwahahahaha
Cobra : My rubber's just worn out..it got smoother that's why..
Anasazi : Nownow..you should be happy that Adrian picked you as his 1st shoe
Cobra : Yeah..but he picked me because I complimented his orange chalkbag!
Anasazi : Man, Adrian has good colour coordination..he's the best!
Cobra : Yeah but you still stink! You are stinking the damn room! Argh~~
Anasazi : Hiak..*sniffs at his armpits* gosh I really do stink! *walks to window*
Cobra : No matter how much you air yourself, the stench stays dude
Anasazi : I wonder y I stink so bad..issit becoz I'm a velcro & you are a slipper?
Cobra : Not sure..I know is that I used to hug Adrian's feet tightly when he climbs-
Anasazi : And thus not giving any space for moisture to accumulate?
Cobra : Yes! That is so-
Anasazi : What kind of stooopid theory is that??!!
Cobra : Anyway I feel Adrian's going to buy another new shoe!
Anasazi : Gosh that hensem guy is taking climbing seriously..
Cobra : Yeah..I think he wants a La Sportiva's Venom. He says it is good for tile tipping..
Anasazi : Omg! We are getting another hensem shoe as a bruder!
Cobra : Shh! Adrian is coming! Quick play dead!
Anasazi : Oh shuddup..
Cobra : Dammit you are-

Adrian : All the best for the competitions and remaining mid-terms!

Climb On!

For those I won't see till Rock On, all the best for this weekend's event!

Meantime, keep those muscles warmed ... get enough rest before your comp (remember rockmaster?) and give it all you got on the walls on Sat (and Sun)!

We'll all be there to cheer you on!

My turn next weekend *stress* ... Haha ...

some thoughts

Hihi, been talking to zx recently of our improvement specifically and also the juniors and here are just some of my thoughts formed at the end of the day.

1. The best way for long term improvement is to do more routes. Routes routes routes...This is especially important for Novice climbers to lay down their foundation. Also would be very good to do more vertical climbing.

2. Short term improvement is achieved fastest by strength gains, ie fingerboard, weighted trg etc. But it is as mentioned, short term. Must be done regularly and not just when trigger happy.

3.Plan and write down a strength programme which works for you and stick to it. eg. ZX likes to do lock-offs cos his lock-offs are his 'weakpoints' (of cos, weakpoints are relative). I like to do campus board and fingerboard cos my finger strength is low.

3. Trg partners motivate each other positively (or also negatively). So of course find a positive trg partner lar!

4. Set short term goals (ie achievable within one or 2 months) and of cos, achieve them :)

5. Set Long term goals (ie to be as strong as that senior or that dino)

6. Enjoy climbing at all times. If you feel sick of it, sit back and take a breather.. Maybe you need to rethink your personal goals in climbing? Mine is to travel around and climb as much rock with as many people as possible (with 2 big trips in mind). It's also my reason for trg so hard right now.

I also find competitions quite exciting and motivating- (enjoy your time in novice and intermediate Categories!)

SMU Wall

Their wall's almost done. Bouldering gym looks very unique. Check it out. Hope to be there soon!


Wall Structure in Sports Hall


Panels in Sports Hall


Wall almost done! Looks quite high from here leh....


Bouldering Gym


Bouldering Gym


Bouldering Gym

Krabi

FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T BEEN TO KRABI, PLEASE DON'T GO TO KRABI.

The place is so beautiful, you will always yearn to return time after time.

The crags are so amazing, you will feel cheated when you climb on plastic.

The food is so good, you will often reminisce about it during hunger pangs.

The memories become infused into your fantasy and reality... and you understand why climbing is more than a sport... and you hunger for more crags coz you realise they are more than just places on earth.

route reading

Here's an article to route reading on planetfear:
http://www.planetfear.com/article_detail.asp?a_id=217

In response to 'novice' on what to look out for in route reading, there are several points I noted during the last vertical competition (Climbatopia at SP)

1) First observe how the whole route runs
2) Find where the crux is and figure out the best sequence (or ask others)
3) Look for rest spots (esp before crux)
4) Figure out good positions to clip in. (otherwise you will invariably on the wall try to clip in too early)

but of course i am a novice climber too so u cant trust me too much on this :) Experienced climbers wanna comment?

SRC Website

Hi guys, the new foto we took is out on the nus team climbing website!


Meanwhile, do train hard and climb hard during rockon/boulderactive/rockamania so your name will be listed on the website! (cheap thrill...)

hmm

juz realised that i've been doing some of my fingerboard trg wrongly..

Moon Climbing's fingerboard trg plan

endurance god?

Yday at CA, rachel told me that she saw HAfiz doing the 30 move endurance routes 6A,6B+,6C+ forwards and then backwards continuously.. (not sure if he did the 7A also)

This is his 30 min ARC.

We use FFA (free for all) tiles, bridge to rest and sweat like pigs in heat.

He is SHEN!!!

Solo-ing in Croatia!

HEY HEY...

Do pple (girls) do this in Krabi? Haha... would be an interesting sight. But they seemed to have scarily fair legs... liked they have chalked them or something...





For my ambitious friends who have thought of deep-sea solo-ing... A reminder of the consequences of missing that dyno... or failing to stick a crimper... But it's amazingly tempting as well...

Been doing finger and campus board like crazy these few days to train up my finger power and also many pushups to strengthen my injured left shoulder. Currently feeling v fatigued from overloading my body but hope to peak by boulderactive. My wish is to top one route!

Also in a bit of dilemma whether to join pumpfest novice cos it feels v wierd competing with my juniors on Top rope.. *sweat*.. But prize money is attractive :D

Hill Street Char Kway Teow

Supposed to go TJC to climb today but fate lah. Cannot go so ended up at yishun again argh. Was calculating what I missed when I missed out on climbing back at college.

What I missed out:

• Climbing at TJC and meeting up with old people
• $2.00 Hill Street Char Kway Teow!
• $0.60 Cheng Tng
• $1.80 for eight items of Yong Tau Foo
• $3.00 of big Cuttlefish rojak
• $5.00 of tiger prawn noodles
• $1.50 of fat aunty's Mee Pok!
• $0.50 for big cup of cin-cau/barley/pineapple juice/water chesnut
• $2.50 for (a lot of fishball) noodles
• $2.00 of white carrot cake

But on brighter side, this is what I gained in Yishun for $6.30:

• Tanned arms
• Tanned LEGS
• Tanned neck
• Tanned face
• Tanned feet
• And finished the easy yellow route which I did not finish ah-hahaha

Anyway heard Teck Chew took the wrong bus to TJC hahahahahahaha he ended up at Bedok market, near Tanah Merah there hahahahaha poor thing Yishun was packed too argh

wow what a nice place to climb! it's called totem pole, in aussie


Also in aussie (nice legs)


Blue mountains

Before Krabi.................BINTAN !!!

Will be MIA again due to Loss of sight for a few days.....

Yishun and Gear Review

Here's the obligatory post of Yishun. But to make things different, I will bundle in a gear review too.

Yishun was strangely empty today..no TJC climbers but there are some MINDEF commandos and they have spanking new gear! They brought slings by drums and most of them have new ropes but it is incomparable to the Ocun's Mescal harness!

The Ocun Mescal Size (Small)

The Ocun Mescal has a body hugging fit (but then all harnesses should be body hugging) and despite its inadjustable leg loops, they strangely did not pull my shorts up upon sustaining a fall. This is very good as sometimes when people stay indoors for too long, they tend to develop fair legs and it is not stylo lah. Things will be worse if the fair legs are hairy legs argh.

Futhermore, the sun is not that hot today. Good thing to climb in that weather but bad for tanning purposes. The Lim bruders did not have any shirts on argh but that is not the point! The point is the atmosphere during today's climb was pleasant. We have bruders throwing stones and little juniors following suit by throwing stones. Tried routes too but endurance was not there and lack balls to execute certain moves.

Upon a fall, I had expected the harness to jerk on my jewels as it is small in size (the harness is size s, not the jewels argh). But somehow, the leg loops did not do that and I fell with a really relek feeling. The gear loops are a bit old school as it uses plastic but at least it is not as stiff as other harnesses' gear loops. The velcro bit at the waist is good too as it does not come undone easily. This is good as I was belaying heavy people and the harness clings on to my body.

Each team member also had their fair bit of climbing, good lah like that everyone happily happily. There is also a progression towards vocal climbing too as climbers scream, holler, coach throwing a shoe at me -.- great cheering, some ghost stories and stone throwing. Although I was a bit shacked (fair people get tired easily from climbing) it was a good atmosphere. Plus the Safra kia who always suspek I forge my guardian's signature is not working today wuahaha

Syok lah today haha I can focus on my weaknesses for Rock-On and the harness is syok. Like it is super comfortable. Nice color too. Good value for money. The best part is (get ready for mushy part) the team's strength and spirit is imbued in it, makes me feel that I am not climbing alone. Yeah. (",) Thanks people!

KRABI... in the words of our 神... *SLURP*. Going to start a countdown...

NUS Climbing Team Photoshoot -- 200206

and today...

Girls getting ready..they took really long







Rock chicks (literally... lol!)

outdated rockmaster fotos

fu qi xiang!

A Matter Of Trust

Climbing and falling are inevitably related. Falling and trust, I find, are also intimately linked in the same way.

With faith, you can climb.

With trust, you can fall. And know that you'll climb back up again.

It doesn't matter if it's a crimper/sloper deadpoint just 3 panels off the ground or a lateral throw to a juggy ledge 15 panels up. If you can't trust your belayer, you're already half-way to falling.

Life seems to hold a similar truth in many other things too -- without belief in your foundation you're likely not to get far, but without a trust in life, you're even more likely not to live at all.

Your belayer makes a big difference when you're up. Your mind does the rest.


JKLM

balls vs no balls

Yday at Yishun was a very fun day for me as I did many climbs on many different routes.

Anyway, regretably, I found myself in the same situation as Junwei was in just a couple of months ago... ie 3 clips above the last runner and trying to clip in to the anchorpoint with trembly forearms.

In that split second, the thought flashed through my mind..to attempt to clip in on the end jug and accept the probabilitly (stacked against me at 99%) of falling (a v long way I might add) or to put my arms over the top edge of the wall and clip in relative safety.

Alas I have not as much balls as junwei :( I chose to pink point!

I have another recollection at Ton sai Wall in Krabi trying to redpoint Lion King (since i hangdogged my way up the first time). Anyway there I was trying to clip into the anchor (no top edge to pull myself over this time) and yet unable to hold on any longer due to extreme pump...of course fall la!!

Got to work on my resting and clipping and endurance and footwork ..alas - wat a long list.

Dr Topo Videos

For those who are still not sick of climbing videos, the links below (my choices) are taken from the website forwarded by june kiat. Right-click to save as. Natural climbing rocks!!!

http://drtopo.mysite4now.com/movie/alphabeta_big.mov
http://drtopo.mysite4now.com/movie/baldy_big.mov
http://drtopo.mysite4now.com/movie/holy_big.mov
http://drtopo.mysite4now.com/movie/orford2_big.mov

of acid and robots

more 'science of climbing' stuff to read ...

How was ur feb 14th?

http://www.8a.nu/eng/articles/forearms.shtml
http://web.8a.nu/articles/ShowArticle.aspx?ArticleId=774

and a climbing robot developed for NASA by climbers ... cool s**t ...

TJC

climbing in TJC is shiok!

They have a nice vertical wall with fun routes plus a cool mega roof and even the bouldering section is well laid out and planned.

so jealous..... *Green eyes*

Dynamic Belaying

http://www.planetfear.com/article_detail.asp?a_id=216

An interesting read ... Alas, something which I would like everyone to practise someday ... when we have unlimted access to some descent high wall ... nothing beats taking the falls and catching them right to put all those words in the article into proper perspective ...

"My life in your hands, and your life in mine" ... Do you trust your belayer?

After-Training Reflections

This after-training post contains a hell lot of self aggrandization, ego boosting statements, biased prespectives, and everything that Adrian Looi will usually sprout outta his mouth. Stop reading HERE if you do not suscribe to his polarized point of view or you don't like him or you don't think he talks sense.

Today's friday's training under Yap and Ke Sheng is immensely satisfying for me (hullo loyal readers who suscribe to my perverted point of view wuahaha u are the man). I rarely sweat a lot during boulder sessions and it is even more difficult for me to keep focus during training due to my..*what is your dirty mind thinking about omg*

I did three boulder projects, one route of which was assigned by Yap. Satisfying! No I am not gay but I finished one route with extreme grace yahahaha..yeah..gimme more ahhh.. oh man..although I cant start the other two routes at all -.- Maybe it is due to my leg or maybe I need to familiarize to a new move.

Oh yeah the gym contained the right number of people today. Plus it is actually airy in the gym but! This gives you no reason to come on friday hahaha

Then one by one the alumni came. One by one and again it is satisfying! After they arrive, we went up to do finger training (no do not think dirty here either). Super nice timing. Finger training was syok as I learnt something about campusing from Ke Sheng that I never put into practice. Plus my aiming was good as proclaimed by Ke Sheng wuahaha. And it was even more syok! A beautiful lady actually peeked in during our training!

Giving you time to digest and to imagine how breath-taking she was.

Training was wrapped up with an endurance route..haha although i did not climb for hyper long already, i still went quite far during the route. Love today's training as I was disciplined to keep going at routes, it was not so packed so I can keep trying routes and I actually sweated during today's training.

Words cant describe my joy now. Alright study time!

Bouldering in Hampi (india)

This is where we are headed this December http://www.javu.co.uk/Climbing/Articles/Hampi/







Make urself free and start saving now!

NTU's wall

For those going to NTU for the opening of the wall, here is a preview of their wall. For those injured, unable to make it for the opening, busy, midterms, etc etc, here is the wall. (Picture thanks to NTU's training coordinator haha)

I've got "IT"

"IT" can bring a grown man to his knees

"IT" causes swelling

"IT" causes prolong pain

"IT" is a sprained ankle.

Man... to have one sprained ankle in the team is bad enough, talk about two now; that's bad luck.

People, watch yourself.

Be careful.... very careful. OH yeah. nearly forgot, for those that have forgotten, and manage to see this post in time, GO BUY TOTO. 10 MILLION!!!

Playing It Safe

Heya peeps,

Just thought I drop a note to all regarding training and climbing in general. Hope I don't sound too much like a wet blanket; just a little worried that we loose our focus during this busy period of training, school and competitions.

1) Please exercise caution when you guys train. We have about 6 good weeks to competitions; while we're busy chasing grades and trying to improve, please do remember to GET ENOUGH REST. You will improve more quickly if you push hard and rest well, instead of taking longer breaks when you have finger or joint pains.

2) After 3 years in climbing, I've learnt a few things about our bodies -- improvement takes time. Sow the seeds now to reap the benefits later. No point rushing it and risk injury. If you wanna do campusing exercises upstairs but your fingers feel wonky, don't risk it by rushing it. Finger injuries have been known to delay and disable progress. Besides, there's plenty that you can do to climb better. Knowing how to is already one way in itself.

3) Plan your training progress well. Avoid frustrations and burn-out by spending some time thinking about your climbing or discussing with other climbers. 6 weeks is a long time.

Sport climbing is an extreme sport nonetheless because of its risks. Sometimes, I think that the greatest risks in this competitive sport is our overwhelming desire to evolve from mattress-grub to chalk-pro. It all takes time. So stay alive to see yourselves fly, ok?


JKLM

to each his own

Recently, the training intensity has upped quite significantly. Trying madly to keep up with Mr ZX, I did lots of campus board and other physical conditioning but I realised that my body cannot take it (cos I can't recover in time).

If anyone feels the same way, just tell the ICs during trg and maybe u can relax and do some ARC instead for that day and come back stronger the next session. Don't always need to follow the prescribed trg plan ea time!

team harness

The team has 3 ocun harnesses meant for us only .. i keep one and t-loaned 2 out to the juniors. Then last week, I realised that i wasnt holding on to it and didnt know where it was?!!!

OMG I thought, if it's lost i'm going to be $60 poorer. After 1 week of worry and asking around, i've FINALLY FOUND IT!! Eli was holding on to it all the time and she was the first person I asked!!! tMD!!!

NTU Rock Gym Opening

Eat. Sleep. Climb

Anyone interested in going for NTU's Rock Gym Opening Ceremony this Friday??
It's 7pm at NTU Sports and Recre Centre.

Pass the msg around ya.

Kevin

level 2 course tmr cancelled... or NOT?

... not that i am looking forward to have the level 2 course tmr. but i was indeed quite sad that it was cancelled. either becoz many ppl cannot make it or ppl prefer yishun to having a boring level 2 course in ca... haha..

just to say.. level 2 course is boring, definitely not as fun as yishun. but it is an essential knowledge to have. i dunno how many of us here think that attending level 2 is a waste of time. coz personally, i used to think so + it's expensive.

maybe we will never be able to display the skills we learnt in level 2 in our whole lifetime...( very likely esp for me, coz i dun like to lead climb, i dun do much vertical too.) but still, as a climber (or boulderer...to be exact), i believe it is something we must know. something that we should learn correctly and not just having bits n pieces of the knowledge. at least then, we wont be laughed at by the yishun guy, who took away our runners becoz he say we dun have level 2 ( even though we knew what we are doing and we are safe, right kaiyin n lips??)

anyhow, i dunno if the level 2 course we are attending now, conducted by our coach will give us a level 2 cert. but it is still a full course conducted free. i hope ppl will appreciate it somehow. and a cert will be better of coz.

cheers...

continued....

so now, is the course cancelled?? enlighten me pls??

**very confused and dunno what is going on .....
.... anyhow, no right to be angry at anything... coz i know nothing... haa it rhymes...

Please Enjoy Training !!??!!

Erm, its 01 Feb liao. Left with one month of true solid training. (March is for fine-tuning??) Very fast.

Its really shiok, to see that ur training had paid off. One case in point - Liping. She comes real very early b4 each training. Most times, when i just arrive, she's already at the fingerboard. And she doesn't leave early too! Feng told me no motivation, no fingerboard. I feel that motivation comes from within and from people like Liping.

I've been doing fingerboard and hangboard for e past wk, and its satisfying to feel urself improve. I couldn't do systems last time, but now, i feel my lock offs are a little better than b4. Now its time to add weights. (Who wanna join me?)

Team training can only do so much, as it has to take into account everyone, space and time constraints. No one knows you best except yourself. And no one can push you real hard except yourself. If you really want to, then i recommend having an individual training plan, on top of the team program. That is, if you can take it and wanna do it.

Just some thoughts from the silly run.
(Hope i dun sound anti-team,jus some personal views)