Rock Climbing @ Camp5

Last Saturday I had my first taste of rock climbing with sis, Dreamcatcher and Dreamcatcher’s sis (as camera lady) at Camp5. We choose ‘Try Climbing’ course at RM45 pax (inclusive of all gear and entrance fee). This is a 1 hour session designed for people like us-first timer to have a first taste of climbing before enrolling in an instructional course.

After having equipped ourself with harness, rock climbing shoes and helmet, our instructor, Noel brought us to the bouldering section. Bouldering is basically climbing on a big rock/boulder without any rope attached to you. Don’t worry, usually you don’t climb very high up and if you fall, you will land on a large mattress/pad and a spotter(a person standing on the ground to prevent the climber from landing badly) is usually assigned to guide the fallen climber’s body toward the mattress.

We tried climbing this part of the boulder a couple of times…

And then to the other side. Notice that the boulder over at this side juts out, making it tougher to climb. Well, I was stucked at that position and finally my hands gave way. Only Dreamcatcher managed to climb up. Bravo. Even my sis had a tough time… she came falling down too. At that point, my hands were killing me softly.

I guess we were using the wrong method. The correct way is to use your legs to bring you up(climb) and your hands are used to hang on to the colorful stones (what’s it called actually?). So actually you shouldn’t feel the pain at your hands/arms.

Next we tried on another bouldering section once each.

Then we head to the mama of rock climbing, top rope climbing.

First we tried climbing using an ‘auto belay’, a mechanical device that lowers the climber to the ground without the use of a belayer. So if you’re gonna fall, just release both hands and the auto belay will bring you to the ground safely. Very cool indeed. I was surprised that such a thing exist (katak di bawah tempurung la).

A belayer is a person who control the rope so that a climber does not fall very far. The main difference between using a belayer and auto belay is if you release both of your hands, you can still hang in the air if you’re using a belayer but you will be lowered to the ground if you’re using auto belay.

Sis and me were having a horrible time climbing this part of the wall.

Dreamcatcher managed to climb up to the very top. Wooow it was really high up.

Finally, we went upstairs to tried out at another sets of wall. Noel become our belayer for all the climbs. I find it easier to climb at this part of the wall and the next two (pict below) because 1. Alas I’m using the right method 2. The walls over here slant inwards. All of us managed to reach the top thrice. Yipeeeeeeeeee!

Overall, it was a fun, cool and thrilling experience. I want MORE MORE MORE! My hands/arms/shoulders were shrieking with pain right after the lesson. Next stop, GSC (next post).

Camp5 is located at 5th Floor (new wing), 1Utama Shopping Centre. Another rock climbing gym The Summit Climbing Gym is located at Summit USJ Shopping Mall.

I’m thinking of trying out the beginner course at Summit Climbing Gym, just to get the feel of both gyms before deciding on which one I should enroll for the advanced courses. So what ya think? Wanna join me? 😉