Monday, August 11, 2008

Rock Climbing-Introduction

Rock climbing has been always my favourite extreme sport. Climbing up the rocks are just like trying to reach the sky. Hmph, it started 9months ago when I first started to experience rock climbing with my ex-classmate, nick.

We were very amazed by those people who managed to reach the top without any hesitation. As for every new experience, there is always the first time. We had our basic course any some guide. It's not that hard after all.xD

the east side of the rock climbing gym

west side of the rock climbing gym

safety equipment for the climb

my new rock climbing shoe

So we had our weekly routine rock climbing training session the summit rock climbing gym. We kept on trying all different routes available in the gym. It goes like this, 5A is the easiest route and continued by 5B, 5C, 6A, 6B up till 7C+. 7C+ is the real hardcore level. We never attempt those routes, it's a killer.

These are a few of the routes that I conquered in the gym. It was quite an achievement because it's the higher intermediate level. It took at least 15minutes for me to complete each of these routes. Imagine the ' susahness '(hardness).




First thing, before each training session, we warm ourself up by doing transversing which is side ways climbing. Transversing does not requires any safety equipment because we are like just less than 3feet above the ground. I know it sounds weird but it really warm me up.




Second thing, there are bouldering too which means you climb without safety ropes on you. Don't be afraid, that does not mean when you drop you will break your skull and your brains start spilling out. There are crash pads waiting for you to land on them.

almost made it to the top

there goes nick with his achievement


There is this 45 degrees upside down bouldering which I really loved climbing it. It's really challenging but fun. It took me 3days of non stop training to get up to the top. There is this once I almost reached the top but my leg slipped from the rock and down I smash on the crash pad. I was so mad and almost wanted to give up.




Third thing, now comes the main part of rock climbing. It's me and nick going to climb the routes. You can't climb with a partner that you don't trust at all because he is going to hold on the ropes for you. If he let go the rope, you die.

"nick! whats the next step?"




I climbed with nick ever since we started rock climbing. So we trust each other really much and we even did some tricks in the middle of the air. Cool right. Besides rock climbing, we even trust each other in other occasion such as amazing race, investments and many more.

As a conclusion, rock climbing can really helped tighten your trust with your buddy. xD




descending with joy

Now comes the best part of this post. Be prepared. Karyn came to join me for 1 of the training session. Her mom persuaded her to join me because she is lack of physical fitness although she had lost a lot of weight. So she just joined me to see how rock climbing really taste like.

karyn doing the warm up(actually she's posing)


Each time before she climbed up a route, she will just climb blindly and get stucked in the middle of the route. She will be like " howard!!! how to go now, I'm stuck ". As an experience climber, I gave her an advice to analyse the route before she climb.

karyn analysing the route

Finally she reached the top. Unfortunately she really had a tough time descending. I think she got stucked up there for 15 minutes because she was too afraid to come down. She kept on asking me:

karyn: " Howard!! are you ready, I'm coming down. "

howie: " Yeah, anytime. "


15 minutes later

karyn: " Howard!! are you ready, I'm coming down. "

howie: " Yes!!!! just let go!!! "

It was really a great experience climbing with karyn although she really gave me a hard time hanging her up in the air for such a long time ( her weight also contributes ). xD

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rock climbers must have keen interest towards their health. They should do work out daily to keep their stamina up. They should do stretching exercise. You can get more information about Fitness Equipment which I browsed on internet can fetch you help.

Howie said...

anon, i do work out alternatives days . dont worry dude, i got a mini gym at home...work out is not a problem..xD

Howie said...

i do alot of stretching at home every after work out too...so...rock climbing shud not be a prob too