An Article

no idea if i have posted it before, but this is an article which was writen quite a while ago in the star newspaper. me and boss jeremy took some of the camp5 memebrs for climbing, i took some photos and they were used in the article. quite crappy photos if you ask me. anyway here goes.

Saturday July 12, 2008
Climbing at Batu Caves
By LEONG SIOK HUI


Bored of the climbing gym? Go for nature’s own at Batu Caves.

Clammy, my hand thrashes desperately about to find a hold. The other one is jammed into a crack and clinging on for dear life, and my legs are beginning to wobble like jelly on the tiny ledge.

Suddenly, I lose my balance and — whoa!— I’m airborne and falling.

Luckily, I am tethered. Sitting on my harness and swinging like a pendulum, I take in the hills yonder which are like dots on the horizon. Yeah, it’s great to be outdoors again.

My friends and I are at the Nyamuk climbing site near Batu Caves, Selangor. Camp5, the largest climbing gym in Asia, runs an outdoor climb every third Sunday of the month for members.

Regular Camp5 climbers at Nyamuk climbing site.

A mere 15 minutes’ drive from the city centre will take you to these craggy limestone hills in Kg Melayu Wira Damai, Gombak. On weekends, you’ll see human spiders clinging onto the rock faces 30m high. The cliffs are popular with local and Singaporean climbers.

Camp5 director Jeremy Peet and staff Noel Yung set up the routes for us on the day of our climb. Today, there are 11 climbers, most of whom are familiar faces from the gym. It is like a picnic outing with time enough for socialising and lunch breaks in between climbing.

There are more than 60 climbing routes in Nyamuk, ranging from beginner-friendly 5B to expert-level 8A — the hardest route found in West Malaysia. This is based on the French grading system, which starts at 4 (beginner’s level) to 9B+, currently the world’s most difficult routes, located in Spain and Mexico.

The Camp5 pioneers make it a point to preserve the rocks and natural environment as well as respect the rocks’ natural lines. That was why we had to scramble over rocks and lush vegetation just to get to the climbing site.

Nyamuk’s long, steep routes vary between 12m and 33m. You get a good blend of jagged edges, cracks, overhangs and big rock slabs.

“The outdoor climb is an extension of Camp5 and gives our members an opportunity to enjoy the natural climbing sites in KL,” says Peet, 35, a climbing instructor and outdoor guide from New Zealand.

The climb here is free for term members while “casual” members pay RM24 a day (general entrance rate at Camp5).

“It’s more like a social club’s atmosphere as opposed to an instructional course or guided climb. We expect the climbers to have the prerequisite skills to look after themselves,” says Peet.

Since Camp5 opened about three years ago, the gym has trained thousands of beginner climbers.

Jeremy Peet, operations director of Camp5.

“You get a more well-rounded climbing ability by combining indoor and outdoor climbing,” explains Peet, who has more than a decade of mountaineering experience behind him.

“The techniques differ. For indoor walls, the holds stick out from the wall. On an outdoor rock face, it’s the opposite — the crack or ledge goes into the wall. You can easily tell if a person is an indoor or outdoor climber from his climbing style.’’

If the popularity of the outdoor climb increases, Peet says, Camp5 will consider doing it a couple of times a month.

A family affair

On our climb, we meet a family of Dutch expatriates, the Latours. Though the family are regulars at Camp5, this is the first outdoor climb for Marc, 13, his sister, Sophie, 11 and their mom, Ineke. Father, Henk, is an experienced climber who has scaled Mont Blanc in France.

“It’s a pity there weren’t many children climbing, it would have been more encouraging for our kids,” says Ineke, 48.

“Yeah, it’s boring because I had no one to talk to,” Marc agrees. Despite his first time on a rock wall, Marc found it “pretty easy.”

“You don’t always have to find the same colour footholds (like in a climbing wall); you can choose from hundreds of possibilities,” says Marc who also surfs, scuba-dives, plays golf, baseball, soccer and softball.

“It challenges you to do more with your strength and tactics. I have to find the easiest ways to get to the top without tiring myself out. I guess you have to have the right people in the group to make it fun, but overall I like it because I get to be very strong,” he adds.

“It was tricky finding the holds and scary to climb a real rock,” his mother chips in. “But I felt safe because the route was set up by Camp5 staff, and my husband was belaying me.”

Yup, for those of us who have yet to learn lead climbing and how to set up our own routes, Camp5’s outdoor jaunt is the next best thing for now.

o Camp5’s next outdoor climb is on July 20. Early reservation is advised as space is limited to 20 people.

-End-

kinda sucky that they didnt credit me. damn...