+December 2006+
+January 2007+
+February 2007+
+March 2007+
+April 2007+
+May 2007+
+June 2007+
+July 2007+
+August 2007+
+September 2007+
+October 2007+
+November 2007+
+December 2007+
+February 2008+
+March 2008+
+June 2008+
+July 2008+
+September 2008+
+October 2008+
+December 2008+
+January 2009+
+March 2009+
+April 2009+
+June 2009+
Friday, December 7, 2007
The Climbing
The Crazy Horse Buttress, the name of the crag.
The temperate conditions were sweet as there were no feeling of all the grime and sweat unlike in batu caves. Philip said it actually felt like climbing in europe.
that first climbing day, the familiar feeling of uncertainty must have crept up behind everyone. my first time- i was asking kelly if a move was alright or what could be held. it took a few falls and grappling on Two Drops to finally realise that in natural rock climbing, anything is possible! now as a year 2 though, it was a different feeling of uncertainty, we had all become nua so we're just uncertain just HOW NUA we have become. lol.
anyway, these are the routes i did:
Into the Sun(6a) -DICY
Crazy Hot(6b) - nicely pumpy
Diarrhoea(6b) - stalactites, overhang, slab.
Reindeer Request(6a) - out of the box
Bamboo Finders(6b) - boulder start, STEAM =D
Backburners(6a+) - crimp crimp crimp =D
Shining Path(6b) - juggy but taxing, 3 collinear-crosshanded crux. =D
Mumipeiko(6b) - INSANE start.
Surreality/Everlasting(6a) - cave route.
Fire in The Minds(6a) - tricky sit in.
Blood, Love, Steel(6c) - nice and technical =D
Crazy Hot(6b) - nicely pumpy
Diarrhoea(6b) - stalactites, overhang, slab.
Reindeer Request(6a) - out of the box
Bamboo Finders(6b) - boulder start, STEAM =D
Backburners(6a+) - crimp crimp crimp =D
Shining Path(6b) - juggy but taxing, 3 collinear-crosshanded crux. =D
Mumipeiko(6b) - INSANE start.
Surreality/Everlasting(6a) - cave route.
Fire in The Minds(6a) - tricky sit in.
Blood, Love, Steel(6c) - nice and technical =D
lucky for us, they had recently bolted up a route IN A CAVE. sounds cool right? not knowing where it was, me and philip explored the cave through a small hole in the crag armed with torchlights. shortly after slithering down and negotiating a low ceiling, we entered a chamber with the only light coming from a hole at the top. it was beautiful to imagine how nature could have sculpted such a chamber that we could explore.
on the route, there is complete silence unlike when outside and hearing other people talking and encouraging. there would be that deafening silence, a ringing sensation, interrupted once in a while by the clattering of quickdraws or a clumsy step. i wish Singapore had such nice places! 'surreal' was the description of the experience by kelly. i'd agree with that, but it sounds too nice for the long and draggy route so i prefer to call it 'everlasting' just so it still sounds nice =) haha.
Crazy Hot(6b)
the route is as fucked up as i look in this pic. had very hidden hand holds so had to be very persistent.
Philip: "what is the grade of the route you're doing."
Son(thai name): "this is Crazy Hot, last time 6a, now 6b."
Philip: "why?"
Son(thai name): "stalactite drop."
LOL. that cracked me up while i was on Into the Sun because of the thai guy's funny accent and the way he said it matter-of-factly. like stalactites dropped all the time! well at least in singapore it doesn't.
Son(thai name): "this is Crazy Hot, last time 6a, now 6b."
Philip: "why?"
Son(thai name): "stalactite drop."
LOL. that cracked me up while i was on Into the Sun because of the thai guy's funny accent and the way he said it matter-of-factly. like stalactites dropped all the time! well at least in singapore it doesn't.
natural climbing is really a personal journey where discoveries differ from people to people. i've gained a greater respect for falling and more able to understand the fear experienced by many other climbers, no longer that garang boy who will just chiong and not care about falling. like kelvin writes about me, i feel it is overcoming that fear while being pumped at a crux and still remaining composed, then following on to finish the route, that really makes you high on satisfaction. =) but then i'd still love to fall 8m inverted without sustaining a scratch like michelle because i can imagine it's bloody fun! =p si ying belayed michelle for that fall and she actually wished they swopped places too! haha. cool and HIGH girl. jingwen called the move "mission impossible". lol.
there were still so many crags we had not yet explored and we had to go alr. if possible, i definitely wanna go back there again.
i think we all enjoyed this trip a lot because of the great company we all had- including Mr Tan and Ms Chang, Phil and Kel, YEAR 1s lol cool stuff and of course the year 2s who went (we know we're cool alr) ;) kop kum-KARP! =)
+ graham + 5:50 PM