POST SEA Games Report

The Singapore Sport Climbing Contingent

I have been neglecting my blogging duties since returning about a month ago from the SEA Games in Palembang, Indonesia. Its been super busy for the past 2-3 months with me route-setting at the gym, managing the business, coaching my students at TPJC and CCSS plus doing ad-hoc courses at Kinetics. On top of of these, i have had to build up my fitness level for the SEA Games itself. It hasn't been smooth sailing but i am glad everything turned out reasonably well. Plus i shouldn't be complaining as i got a Silver from the bouldering event!

Singapore's only Silver Medal !!!!

One month prior to the event itself, i was actually progressing very well in my build-up for both the bouldering and the leading event but due to an unfortunate incident, i tore something in my middle finger. It was probably due to the lack of a proper warm-up which resulted in the injury. It still hasn't fully recover up till today.

Anyway, you can imagine how disappointed i felt when i had the finger checked and found out that i told something. Took a week off climbing and found that the training effect that i painstakingly achieved from my training sessions was totally GONE. As such, i decided that in order for me not to make a fool out of myself at the Games, i would have to continue training and tread the fine line between not over stressing my finger but at the same time maintaining a high level of fitness.

The interval trainings i did at Kinetics were DEFINITELY helpful in maintaining my fitness. However i took the training to a different level completely when i implement weights into the intervals. Without weights, i could comfortably finish all the Greens and Yellows in the gym with limited rest times between each climb. With an addition of 5kg on the weight vest, everything changes. The training really breaks you BUT it helps in bringing your fitness up a notch as you see yourself progressing with each session. Intervals are excellent because it simulates the conditions in the competitions itself. The rule of specificity is extremely important as many sports trainer will tell you.

As i have mentioned before, i don't usually train specifically for competitions. I prefer climbing and working on routes as this naturally gets you strong. This time around i chose to do otherwise as this is the first and probably the only time Sport climbing is included in the SEA Games. It might not be as big as the World Cups but i think it carries more prestige as Singaporeans can relate to it easier.

The girls with their medals from the Speed Relay

All of the gold medals were swept by the Indonesians except for the Womens Bouldering event which was won by Ina from the Philipines. She was definitely not the strongest or the most powerful female at the event but she definitely was one of the best female climbers in SEA. I guess all of us shouldn't be complaining too much. Afterall, other than the Indonesians who train FULL-TIME, most of us or should i say ALL of us have full time jobs or studies to deal with on top of having to train for the SEA Games.

In addition, you will be surprised to know that the Indonesians receive very good support from their Sports Council and federation. They do not have to worry about the lack of facilities to train on nor was there any lack of monetary support. It sucks when your Chef-de-Mission expects a Gold from Sport Climbing when they themselves don't give us the support. Perhaps he should consider purchasing some Austrians to represent Singapore instead.

It is heart-breaking especially if you have had to travel across the causeway to KL numerous times to train at Camp 5 or Putrajaya - which was what Suzanna and Sue-Ann did, put in so much effort and at the end, falling short at competitions. Then again, i have long learned that competitions are like that. You can be the best climber out there but a foot slip or a bad day can render you last place. That is the nature of comps and one will do well not to take it too seriously. Afterall, competitions are only a very small part of what climbing is all about!

All our Medals!

There were however many takeaways from this SEA Games. We have in our midst a world class Speed climber, Adriel, who managed to achieve a personal best timing that would have placed him in the top 16 speed climbers in the World. Even the Chinese umpire was extremely impressed with his performance and called him a GENIUS when comparing Adriel to the World's No.1 speed climber, Zhong Qixin who took 3-4 years of training to get to where he was.

Anyway i have had too much plastic for the past 3 months and i really need to get outdoors to climb. I can feel the motivation waning already.... Yangshou in March 2012 anyone?

OR Show and American Fork Canyon

The plan was to head up to Salt Lake City for the OR Show a week or so after my return from Italy and i was seriously not looking forward to the 21 hr flight with 2 stopovers. On top of that, i was down with a bad cold and was seriously jet lagged such that i had a miserable time route setting in the gym 3 days prior to my flight up to SLC. Thank goodness i recovered in time and the flight did not turn out to be so bad.

To save money, i had to crash in at Spy's and Tanleng's apartment for the entire trip! On top of visiting the OR show, i wanted to visit some of the local gyms and of course try to squeeze in a few climbing days at their local crags.

Both Spy and Tanleng are currently living right beside the University of Utah in SLC, focusing hard on trying to attain their PHD within the next couple of years whilst at the same time earn some money teaching and of course climb till their arms drop. Looking at how often they get to go outdoors (at least 2-3 times a week), i'll say it beats getting couped up in Singapore anytime.

They will complain about getting stuck in the gym when the snow literally dumps on them for at least 6-8 months every year, but hey, i won't mind getting stuck in those good gyms getting myself sick strong for the season outdoors! Afterall, there are TONNES of rock in Utah. Within a 3 hr drive, there's Little Cottonwood Canyon, American Fork Canyon, Logan Canyon, Joe's Valley, Maple Canyon etc.........

I was their best man during their wedding back in 2007 (i hope i got the year right!). Spy and i were also known as the JD brothers, after being the first 2 Singaporeans to send Jai dum. This was a bench mark 8b climb in Krabi but having both done a couple more 8bs elsewhere since then, we think that it might be a little bit on the soft side. Anyway here's a picture of us at American Fork Canyon!

Team Singapore @ American Fork Canyon!

Though i was way more keen on bouldering, it was summer and probably a million degrees at Joe's Valley. As such the only crag i managed to visit was American Fork Canyon, which is about an hr's drive from their apartment.

For the uninitiated, AF is a place where many Americans such as Boone Speed and Scott Franklin have left their mark here. JC Hunter also recently did the FA of a potential 5.14b, Fantasy Island here. At first glance, the rock is chossy and honestly looks like CRAP. The wall itself at El Diablo and Hell Cave is about 10m in height so basically its bouldering on a rope. BUT most of the routes climb well and i throughly enjoyed myself even with the limited amount of time spent there.

Though i am always apprehensive about getting onto harder climbs on short trips, i hopped onto Dead Souls 5.13d/14a and did a quick 2 day ascent of this beautiful line. This was by far the least amount of time i have spent on a climb of that grade and i was initially sceptically about the difficulty of the route. Tanleng reassured me that nobody downgrades the climbs in American Fork and to just accept it as it is. Plus with the type of climbing done in Singapore (mostly bouldering), i have come to realise that i excel better in short and bouldery routes. Here is a video of a SLC local, Amy Cockerham on the route.

http://www.momentumvm2.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61:dead-souls-amy-cockerham&catid=13:video&Itemid=3

Tanleng managed to get a video of me attempting another 5.13d/14a, Cop Killer, falling off at the crux. Though most of the moves are relatively easier as compared to Dead Souls, it houses a single move, rated at V9 that felt almost impossible in the conditions of SLC's summer afternoon. According to Spy, this was also the move that stopped a certain Ethan Pringle from flashing everything in American Fork when he was here! (other than I Scream, a 14C). This climb will have to wait till my next visit though in the meantime, Spy is really close to sending this line!

Cop Killer 5.13d/14a from Jay Koh on Vimeo.

I also had the opportunity to visit and climb in a couple of gyms, two of which was The Front @ Odgen and @ SLC. Both were bouldering centric and had tonnes of routes that were properly documented and marked out. Great place to train and get strong.

Bouldering at The Front @ Ogden


Check out the height of the bouldering walls!

Visiting Momentum climbing gym was also on the list, though it would have been better if i had enough time to get some climbing done there. Anyway i must admit they probably have one of the best, if not the best route management system i have ever seen. Plus, they have TONNES and TONNES of routes for all abilities. Check out some of the pictures here!

16m - 18m high walls!


Route under Review!

Tonnes of routes....

Anyway BIG UP to Tanleng on sending her first 8a, Girl Power at Logan Canyon! For sure you are cranking much harder after the nasty incident earlier this year!

ARCO World Championships 2011

The IFSC World Championships took place last month from 15th - 24th of July at Arco, Trentino, Italy and i was lucky to be part of the spectacular event that the organizers had taken pains to put up. The World Championships is a separate event from the annual Climbing World Cup Circuit and takes place once every 2 years. ALL the top climbers from every part of the world will descend upon the selected venue to battle it out and be crowned the World Champion in the Lead, Boulder and Speed categories.

Arco is the center of climbing and mountaineering in Italy and is extremely famous for the RockMaster event that is held every year. Participation for this event, however, is by INVITATION only, thus only the creame de la creame of Sport Climbing will get to attend this prestigious event. This year though, it is held in conjunction with the World Championships, thus i jumped at the opportunity to represent Singapore in this event.

I managed to get on my flight and got to Arco the day before the qualifying round for bouldering and checked into the same hotel room as Hafzanizam from Malaysia and Miel Pahati from the Philippines. Rooms cost a premium at this time of the year due to the summer holidays thus i was not too surprise with this arrangement by IFSC.

View from the top of our hotel room

Like all official sporting events, there was an opening ceremony which all athletes had to attend. All countries and climbers were introduced and 'paraded' through the little town of Arco, along with the mascot-a fox, which ended at the climbing stadium some distance away. All in all, there were more than 100+ countries participating in the entire event with a similar number in each individual event itself.

View from the road en route to the climbing stadium

My flag bearer - Thomas from Italy!

Miel and his representative!

The bouldering event was the 1st category to be held and boy were the routes HARD. This was my first time in a field of world class athletes as i have not had the opportunity to take part in any bouldering events in the IFSC World Cup Circuit. Though i knew that the routes were going to be hard, i honestly wasn't expecting it to be THAT hard. Other than Hsukuru Hori from Japan, the rest of the Asians were topping out a maximum of 1 route out of 5. Everyone were getting their asses handed to them on a plate. For me, it was a difficulty getting off the ground for many of the routes and i managed to obtain only 1 bonus out of the 5 routes with zero top outs. 1 BONUS !!!! When was the last time i got 1 bonus in ANY bouldering competition in Singapore ?!?!?!?

In retrospect, the easiest route was probably a V9 with the rest being in the V10-12/13 range. Handholds were SMALL, FAR and BAD with more than 60% being screwed-ons. Seldom will you find crimps as most people can crimp reasonably well. In place of crimps, slopers the size of a 50 cent coin will be on most of the volumes, with some being slightly bigger for you to 'crimp' on. Even the footholds on most of the hardest routes in Kinetics are better than the handholds on these routes. There is also no need to sling a chalk bag around your waist as it is unlikely that you have the time or strength to release 1 hand to chalk-up.

Miel and Zam managed only slightly better, with 2 bonus each. Anyway the general consensus on the ground from most participants was that the qualifying routes were WAY too hard. This coming even from the Austrian climbers. Zam also mentioned that during the Imst WC earlier this year, he had managed to top-out 2-3 routes during the qualifying round.

The Semi-final boulders for the Men's Category

One thing is for sure though, bouldering in the World Cup is truly the realm of the impossible dynos, the smallest crimps and improbably body positioning. It is hard to comprehend how STRONG the top climbers are until you see them flashing routes when you can't even get off the 1st move or holding onto handholds which you won't even consider using for your feet in your local gym.

Videos for all categories can be viewed here.

the 18m 'high' wall

The lead category took place a couple of days later with the qualifying being 2 routes flashed format. With the routes being graded at about 8a+/b (similar difficulty for the women's category), only a handful of climbers managed to top both with Julian Ramon being one of them. This 1.54m tall 'beast' looked extremely comfortable and solid on ALL his climbs, right up to the last day. My result was pretty decent, climbing up to at least the halfway mark on both routes, considering the last time i was on the tying end of the rope was at the SEACF Circuit in Putrajaya. A fellow climber from SA describes it best about the handholds for the Leading Category: "Its funny how the holds are serious not so bad that you can't climb on them but at the same time not fantastic thus resting and recovering is practically impossible."

A trip to Arco is definitely not completed without visiting the local crag - Massone. This world renowned location is easily accessible by car with the hike being less than 5 minutes from the parking lot itself. Due to the proximity of the various sections and range of climbs(from 6s to 9a), many routes are polished beyond belief. It is however, not uncommon to see people cranking down hard and fellow World Cup participants throwing themselves on the test pieces here.

Underground 9a, roof climbing that goes on forever
(this is only 1/3 of the entire route)

We were busy climbing on one of the sectors when Yuji, Obi and Akito showed up (Obi-san dropped by a couple of months ago to route set for the NUS-TNF boulderactive). Looks like we were not the only people who were eager to crank on rock after the competition. Routes here were mostly long, 25m-30m ranging from gentle overhanging walls to severely inclined ones.

Yuji Hirayama, me and Masatoshi Sugita aka Obi - Team The North Face

Although we did not get onto anything hard, i had a couple of good days, with onsights of up to 7Cs. It was really nice to be able to go outdoors and explore as i ain't traveling halfway around the world to climb 2 weeks solely on plastic.

Buffet consisting of bread, cheese, wine, cured meat, meat and more meat!

More food!!

South East Asia Climbing Federation(SEACF) Circuit

The Advanced Lead wall - MASSIVE!

Headed up to KL over the last weekend of May for the SEACF Circuit(Msia Leg) which was held in conjunction with the IFSC route setting and judging course. It has been quite a while since i got into a harness as i was pretty busy with work at Kinetics and coaching my students. As such, the main goal of the trip was not to malu myself and catch up on sleep!

We traveled up as a huge Singapore contingent consisting of about 30+ climbers and had a good time on the routes which were set by Kim Dong Hyun and his team of Route Setters. Big Ups to them for the amazing work they did there.

The walls at Putrajaya Challange Park are seriously massive and anyone can get a good workout there. The only problem that most people will encounter is the heat and humidity as the place is non air-conditioned.

There was a total of 3 rounds for the Lead category - qualifying, semi and finals. Pretty awesome considering the fact that usually the Lead Competitions in Singapore consists of 2 rounds.

Although the qualifying route was pretty easy(7b), i got pumped and almost did not make it to the final hold. The semi finals was to be held on the same day itself and i nearly got DQ for not clipping. Had to down-climbed the route, and almost fell off as it sapped a lot of energy. To my surprise, i qualified for the finals in first placing due to my timing - which should not be the case as Leading is not about speed! (anyway a couple of Indonesians fell off at the same hold as i did)

The 'beginner' Lead wall

The final round was held the next day. Both Andrew and Hazlee who also qualified for the finals climbed before me. I managed to squeeze out a first placing by making 1 additional move so all in all everything didn't turn out as bad as i had expected.

I have come to realise that i do not perform well under stress and it is at my most relaxed state that i can think rationally and climb to the best of my capabilities. Not expecting a good performance probably helped a great deal as i had minimal climbing done prior to the competition. I only had two 1-hour session of climbing whereby i repeated all the Yellow taped routes(with minimal rest time between each route) at Kinetics Climbing. That was all the climbing i did for 2 weeks prior to this event. Plus knowing that the routes were long and i lacked endurance forced me to climb faster than usual to make up for the pathetic endurance i had. Will be uploading the rest of the videos soon. Enjoy!

The Singapore Team

Qualifying Round from Jay Koh on Vimeo.

Semi Finals from Jay Koh on Vimeo.

Kinetics Climbing is born!

It has been a crazy month for me helping to design and build from scratch a bouldering centric facility. I can tell you that it is seriously NO JOKE building climbing walls. Although it has been a slow and arduous process, my team and i have learned a lot of things by trial and error along the way and i truly believe the design and construction of our future climbing walls can only get better.

Now that i have gone through the entire process, i truly appreciate those who are in the same industry, slogging their asses off to build decent climbing surfaces for people to climb on and enjoy themselves. Big Ups to all of them!

Meanwhile, click on the company logo above to view pictures of the building process on the website under the SnapShots tab. We have also been receiving rave reviews for the layout and design of the website since it was launched about 2-3 weeks ago. We must be doing something right when our pages are being copied right down to the finest detail. We are truly flattered.

There will be a lot of things coming up for me in the next few months so stay tuned.

Petzl Rock Trip September 2011

Just turned down the invitation to head up to China this coming September for the annual Petzl Rock Trip(all expensese paid) due to work commitments. Sigh..........

Anyway here's a nice video of the 2007 Petzl rock trip at the Red River Gorge in USA. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpOtCc-wvDY

Chalk + dew/humidity = SOAP !!!!!

Just got back a couple of days ago from Yangshuo, China. This was a whirlwind trip which i almost had to forgo as a result of last minute work commitments. All in all i had 3 days of climbing. Well, its better than nothing and beats climbing in Singapore anytime.

Even though it was really short, this has been one of my best outdoor trip ever!!! It was probably my worse as well. Let me explain.....

I initially plan for 4 days of climbing before heading home and had my sights on either Thunder (8b+), 9 Deep 1 Shallow (hard 8b) or Blue Magic (8b). These 3 climbs are located in 3 different crags and the decision to work on which route will be determined by weather conditions when i arrive. Unfortunately it was raining almost every other day when i arrive so it was a pretty straight forward decision to head to Lei Pi Shan 雷劈山 and work on the monstrous 38m Thunder.

Thunder consists of 2 pitches, right up to the 1st anchor is an excellent crimpy endurance 7b+ that doesn't let up followed by a huge rest point in the middle of the route. You can pretty much stand on the tufa to get a 5-10min rest before embarking on the 2nd pitch, which is a bouldery 8a/+ consisting of big moves littered with the occasional good rest. For this 2nd pitch, it helps A LOT if you're tall. The picture below shows me on Lighting 8b/+ which i had completed a couple of years ago. Thunder is just to the left of it and is about 5m longer...

I first tried Thunder during my trip in December last year and gave it 2-3 burns on my last few days. This time around it was all business. Having only 4 climbing days, i basically have to come to the crag and be ready to SEND. No fooling around or trying to build up my endurance slowly as i do not have the luxury of time. Though it was raining, the crag was slightly overhanging and thus relatively sheltered. We (阿牛, Paul and i) had 2 decents days at this crag even though humidity was relatively high. It was cold yes but a slight breeze would have been excellent.

After our rest day, we headed back to the same crag. Conditions were CRAP. There was a fog/mist around the crag and most of the routes look unfamilar, chalk-less, ready for a new FA. Some of the jugs were filled with water! Nevertheless i set off on another redpoint burn after warming up (4th go on this trip). Although it was a little damp, the 1st pitch was O-K. As i climbed into the main crux of the 2nd pitch, i realised the holds were getting worse. As such, i was pleasantly surprised when i blitzed through the crux (1st time i had done that section from ground up) only to fall 2 clips higher. It ain't over as there are 2 more mini cruxes before the chains. Nevertheless, i gave the rest of the holds a good brush and took a long rest.

On my 5th go, even though the holds were wetter than before, i managed to fight all the way up to the last quickdraw and was trying to squeeze out a rest before attempting the last 3m to the anchors when i ALMOST slipped off a ledge. Not only was it wet, it was like climbing with soap on your hands. Yes....the combination of chalk and water has made it almost impossible to climb. I struggled to hang on and told myself that i am going to make THIS attempt count (I don't want to repeat the entire 30m plus lower section again!!!). The last 3m is not difficult but can be tough when you are tired or when conditions are not good. As i crank down hard with my left hand on a good crimp (it was WET!!!), i positioned my foot carefully and reached out slowly for a good hold right before the anchors, my left hand slipped and i was off immediately. SHIT!!!!!! @#$%^&*&^%$#@#$%^&*&^%$# !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was pretty much the end of my trip. The weather forecast for the next day was equally terrible. On top of that, i caught a cold that night and was down with fever which pretty much put me in bed on my 4th climbing day. Even though i came back empty handed, i was extremely satisfied with my climbs and realised that my weekend sessions at Safra Yishun prior to this trip has kept me in a relatively fit condition. I'll be back to send Thunder, thats for sure.

THE NORTH FACE

As of 1st Feb 2011, i am in a sponsorship agreement with The North Face!!! I'm very pleased and look forward to representing them in Singapore this year. The North Face, Inc. is an outdoor products company specializing in outerwear, fleece, footwear and equipment such as backpacks, tents and sleeping bags. The clothing and equipment lines are catered towards wilderness chic, climbers, mountaineers, skiers, snowboarders, hikers and endurance atheletes.

I've used some of their products over the last couple of years but the one thing which i absolutely cannot do without when i travel overseas is the Men's Nuptse Jacket.

This is a classic puffy 700 goose down fill jacket that thrives in cold weather conditions. It features an emergency hood, velcro adjustable cuff tabs and 2 hand pockets.

How does a down jacket keep you warm? Basically the jacket works by preventing heat loss from your body into the surroundings. Heat generated by the body is kept within the jacket itself, thereby insulating you against the cold weather.

Why i love this jacket? A couple of reasons:

1) Super light and super warm. The jacket weighs in at 782grams as compared to most synthetic jackets which weigh more then twice as much. I've been to crags where its between 0-10 degrees celsius and all i needed to wear underneath this jacket was a short/long sleeve t-shirt. No additional layers required. It also keeps the wind at bay and resists against a high wind chill, keeping you nice and warm.

2) Convenient. As this jacket eliminates the hassle of having to wear multiple layers of clothing, all i need to do at the crag is to take this jacket off and start cranking.

3) Water resistant. Keeps you dry in light showers.

4) Packs down small. Jacket can be stowed away into one of it's pockets. Useful when packing for a trip overseas.

I've had this jacket for 5 years now and absolutely love it. For the uninitiated, it really sucks big time to be cold and shivering at the crag. I can assure you that you will remember it for life.....after personally having my arse frozen off at the top of ceuse a couple of years ago.