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.

Jedi Mind Tricks...

I was appalled to hear about friend A's recent climbing trip. Apparantly one of his companions, friend B, who had planned on projecting some really hard but classic lines, became really 'humble'/'shy' (i'm not to sure if that's the right term to use) when they met fellow climbers at the crag and started making small talk. B will apparantly claim to be working on or checking out a much easier line. There were a couple of issues that struck me:

1) B used to be someone with a mind of steel. No matter how unfit he was, he could still manage to pull the rabbit out of the hat and get routes done. This was evidently due to his strong mental mindset, which i consider to be the creme de la creme of the climbing circle in Singapore.

2) Why do you pay so much money and fly so far only to go there and claim to work on or check out routes that are well within your capabilities? Shouldn't you be checking out the lines which you have been watching countless videos of, prior to the trip, so as to psyche yourself up for the pathetic training conditions we have in Singapore?

I think the issue here is not about being 'humble' or 'shy' but rather B's self belief which has somewhat waned.

On my recent trip to Yangshuo, i had the opportunity to observe some SMU students climbing at the same crag, some of whom were really strong indoors. Most of them would have no qualms about crimping a foothold in the gym but i realise through my observations that some tend to get shut down when they encounter something similar outdoors. This is probably due to the lack of experience outdoors which will change with more exposure to natural rock and more importantly the lack of self belief that the route is within their capabilities.

Allow me to leave you a quote which i read somewhere(can't remember where it was from):

"The mentality of difficult climbing can be the challenge sometimes and seeing through this difficulty is a very important ability. When you are exposed to another level, you rise up and you learn to believe"

Rock On 2010

It's been a busy few months. On top of coaching sessions, i've had to conduct a number of Level 1 courses. In between squeezing in some time for my own climbing, i told part in this year's Rock On as well. Plus i just came back from Yangshuo, China. Will write more about that in my next posting.

Just a brief history about Rock On. This National Competition, primarily started out focusing on Lead Climbing, actually began many years ago, way before i started climbing. I'm not too sure about the exact year but its definately before year 2000. It was really huge back when it first started. For a couple of years, it was held at the Expo Gateway in World Trade Centre as well as Ngee Ann City. YES, our Ngee Ann City. The organisers actually build a 15m high pyramid wall right outside Takashimaya shopping centre and mind you, the wall sure ain't small. In addition, we had competitiors from all over asia coming to compete. Even Go Mi Sun, who was once Asia's top female climber flew in from Korea to compete in Rock On.

yes that's me when i was in JC1!!!

Anyway for reasons unknown, Rock On took a short haitus for a couple of years before it restarted last year in 2009. Due to rising costs, the last 4-5 Rock Ons have been held at Safra Yishun. Gone are the crowds you get at the World Trade Centre or Ngee Ann City. Nowadays it will be quite a feat if the number of spectators is more than the organising commitee. Perhaps it would be good to bring the sport to the masses rather than the other way round especially now that Sport Climbing is growing by leaps and bounds every year.

Like any other competitor, i have had my fair share of ups and downs in Rock On. Not many people know that i once waited more than 4 hours in isolation to compete, only to fall off at the 1st quickdraw!!! That was more than 8 years ago when the competition was held at WTC.

The last few competitions have been particularly frustrating. I was placed 3rd for 2 consecutive years, 2nd in 2004 and finally last year when the competition restarted, i thought finally this was my chance. But alas i peeled off on the last move in the finals after reading the sequence wrongly. An Indonesian completed the route and was crowned Champion. It seemed like i was doomed to be the perrenial bridesmaid for this competition.

This year however, was a little different. A World Cup route setter by the name of Jan Zbranek was invited to come down to route set for the competition. Instead of the usual onsight format for the preliminaries, the Open's participants had 2 routes to tackle, flash format. Qualification for the finals will be based on the ranking for each individual route. It was a refreshing change and i believe most of the competitors had great fun, watching one another climb. Though i did not climb too well for the 1st route, i did enough on my 2nd to guarantee myself a spot in the finals - which will be held the following day. The difficulty of the climbs should be about 7c and 8a respectively and they were both pretty good routes i must say.

The following morning threatened to be a wash out, with the skies overcast along with a slight drizzle. Luckily the rain stopped and we quickly commenced with the Open Categories. The final Men's Open route was HARD. Graded 8b, non of us made it to the crux which was right at the last 3 metres of the high wall, consisting of decent but small handholds (i tried the route and fell off the crux a couple of times before sending it last weekend after about 5 goes). During the competition itself, many of us were so pumped that we were falling off reasonably good holds 3/4 up the wall. To cut the long story short, i climbed 4 moves further than the 1st runner up and was crowned Champ! Some pictures along with a video of my climb in the Finals.

the results !!!

2nd, 3rd and 4th were Indonesians!

Rock On 2010. Men's Open Finals from Jay Koh on Vimeo.

Back Home and still Missing RockLands !!!

Creaking heights 6C, super highball with only 3 pads !!!

It has been slightly over a week since i return from South Africa and i have been pondering on what to write. It has been really hard to update priodically in Rocklands. Somehow, trying to get online can sometimes be even harder than climbing V12s. The only WiFi connection is within the campsite and some of the cottages. On top of that, the connection fluctuates so much so that i gave up on uploading any videos whilst i was there.

me on Pinotage 7C+, another amazing rocklands classic

This bouldering trip has been an eye opener and a great learning experience for me. Even though i spent 2 weeks in Fontainbleau 5 years ago, most of the boulders i did and tried were 7C and below which barely scratched the suface of what font had to offer. As such i do not even consider that 2 weeks as a valid bouldering trip.

flashing The Rhino 7B+

It was initially very hard to climb very little during each climbing day. On a road trip doing sport climbing, i'm used to climbing the whole day, 2-3 days in a row. It is almost impossible to do that in bouldering especially when you are working on projects. As a result of over climbing with too little rests, my body simply broke down after 2 weeks and i was burnt out. On top of that i took a bad fall, injured my neck which also contributed to my lower back injury. Thank goodness the doctor back home diagnose it as a bad strain and should recover. Anyhow, here's a list of things i would like to talk about before it slips my mind....

Taking 5 on Black Shadow 8B

1. You climb very little and rest alot

Unlike in sport climbing where you feel the lactic acid building up in your forearms, bouldering consists of much fewer moves that are pure, requiring your maximal effort and hence no build up of lactic acid. This gives the false impression that you are still fresh and can jump back onto the boulder without a proper rest. Thus a bouldering session for me is typically short, between 3-4 hrs a day. I have to force myself to take a rest of at least 20 minutes between each redpoint burn. It is EXTREMELY difficult to just sit around and do nothing especially if no one else is working the boulder with you. On top of that i usually have up to 4 good attempts before each subsequent attempt gets worse than the last.

RESTDAYS: I can't remember the last time i took so many 2 days off in a row on a climbing trip. This time around, for sure i had much more rest days than climbing.

2. Skin is a precious commodity
You learn how to take really good care of your skin. Applying oil, cream or other ointments at the end of the day to promote the growth of your fingertips so that you can crank again soon. Skin wears out much much faster in bouldering than on a sport route. It is common to have really thin and raw tips after just 4 attempts on a boulder.

3. The importance of good temperatures, low humidity and of course..... BRUSHING
When the weather is cold(10-15degrees), dry with a slight breeze, everyone gets on the send train. When its warm, climbing is a chore. Crimping feels impossible and your skin wears out way faster. It has been a weird winter according to the locals. We've had many 26 degree days which was virtually impossible to get onto anything hard as you would just grease off the rock. I've come to appreciate and enjoy climbing in the cold whereby you don't perspire much and leave wet patches on the rock with your fingers.

I've resorted to climbing at night with a headlamp on certain days to escape the afternoon heat.

Bouldering with people of different nationalities for 2 continuous months have lead me to conclude that Singapore boulderers in general are extremely inconsiderate when it comes to the brushing of holds. It is common to see different groups of people working on the same boulder spending a few minutes just to meticulously brush each handhold for one another. Perhaps we are so used to climbing on holds that are so caked up in chalk that we don't even bother. Perhaps we are just plain lazy. Whatever the case is, this practice obviously has to CHANGE. The condition of the handhold be it on plastic or rock can make the difference between whether one sends the route or not.

4. Grades are WAYYY more subjective in bouldering than in sport climbing
It is important to remember that every climber is different, be it their height or arm span etc. In addition, every climber is unique with regards to their own capabilities. Having said that, a route with small holds and far moves can be very easy for a taller person as compared to a shorter one. A climber who specialises in compression moves will find such boulders a lot easier than one with primarily crimps. Take for example Tea with Elmarie and Nutsa, both V12. It took me just 2 goes to send TWE which consists of lock offs on bad crimps and many tries on Nutsa(compression moves at the start with a long move right at the end) which i was still falling off the last move on my last day. According to 8a.nu, many people find Nutsa 'soft' and not TWE. I on the other hand felt the opposite is true. Needless to say i did relatively well on boulders with crimps at RockLands.

It was a good idea to list down what boulders to check out prior to the trip. This enabled me to plan and decide which problems i would like to work on. There were lines which looked rad on video but turned out to be far less than appealing in real life. Some were simply way too hard with the limited amount of time i have there. I would rather spend my time finishing many climbs in the v10-12 range as compared to working on only one v13 or 14 for a couple of weeks.

5. I need more PADS !!!

this one needs no explanations...

It would have been a sweet ending to the trip if i had sent Green Mamba and Nutsa, both 8a+/V12 on my last day. Sadly i fell of the last moves on both of them before fatique and the lack of skin told me my trip was all but over. I was also close on another 8b, Armed Response which i did not have a chance to get onto during the later part of the trip because there was just too many classics to try. Nonetheless i had great fun and took plenty of videos. Am still in the midst of compiling them. In the meantime here's some snippets of our climbs which Peter has put up.

I will definitely head back to RockLands, thats for sure. Meanwhile stay tuned for the full video coming soon!!!!