Happy Holidays Videos

With all the partying that goes on in December it can be quite easy to lose the motivation to climb. Rest is important but returning to the wall without motivation can be frustrating. Here's some videos to keep you psyched through the holiday season.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.


Chamonix World Cup 2009 - First lead World Cup of the season


IMS Boulder Cup 2009 - "Shoot-Out" mode where competitors are eliminated with three male and female competitors left after three boulders. The remaining competitors will then move to final boulder.

Putrajaya Challenge Park Climbing Gym

Yes! The gym is now open to public. Until prices have been finalized, there is no entrance fee at present. So take advantage of its free entry status now to have a look and try the walls.

The gym is open now from 10am to 8pm weekdays and 10am to 10pm Friday and Saturday.

REEL Rock Film Tour 2009

This is probably the closest we can get to seeing climbing on cable.

Sender Films and Nat Geo has produced a six part climbing series based on the popular climbing film, First Ascent. Estimated premiere date on Nat Geo is January 2010.

IFSC World Cup Imst

The IFSC World Cup - Imst will be telecasted live on www.sporttime.tv.

Check here for competition timetable. Imst is 6 hours behind Singapore.

IFSC World Cup - Barcelona

The IFSC World Cup - Barcelona is now live on Top30 TV

Finally... No More Judging

It's been six gruesome weekends of competition climbing... from the world biggest championships to the national schools and finally the country's oldest competition. I can now rest my yellow and red cards for the remaining months of 2009.

Was looking at the comments left by the exTP folks on Garick's Rockamania XV photo album on FB. Fifteen editions of Rockamania... somehow the competition seems to be getting more complicated each year... hope that Rockamania can revert to what it once was... as Cedric comented in the photo album "main objective of having Rockamania should transcend time - promote sport + have FUN !"

Bye Rocka... cya next year (I hope)... don't forget to include a TP Closed Veteran category next year...

Summary of The IFSC World Championship

China got off to a perfect start but clinching the first two gold medals in the 10m speed event. The Chinese women swept the top 3 positions in the women's final while the men's final had a rather dramatic ending. The Russians handed a suprised Alexandr Nigmatulin the silver medal when both of Ivan Novikov and Sergey Abdrakhmanov fell at exactly the same spot.

The Russian team had the agony shortened when they won the men and women bouldering discipline.

Experience triumph over talent on the last day of the Championship when Patxi Usobiaga beat Adam Ondra in the lead finals. With Patxi climbing first and toping the finals, the pressure seems to take out Adam who fell off just before the last move.

It's a Championship with lots of unforgettable moments. I hope the next World Championship in Arco will be just as exciting.

IFSC World Championship 2009

With an impressive wall and more than 400 athletes, we are now just days away from the IFSC Climbing Championship in Xining, Qinghai.

IFSC World Cup Eindhoven Live

The final series of the Boulder World Cup will be held in Netherlands. We are looking at a very high probability of an overall boulder champion from Asia in the form of Akiyo Noguchi.

There will also be World Record Dyno Competition on Sunday.

There's Always Room For 2 More at The Top

On 22 May 2009, Joanne Soo age 39 and Lee Peh Gee age 32 reached the the summit of Mt Everest at 5.31am and 5.56am respectively - Nepal time. The two girls are making their way back to camp 4. Jane Lee and Lee Lihui have arrived back at Everest Base Camp yesterday afternoon while Esther Tan is scheduled to be back later today.

They Made It!!!

Lee Li Hui, 27, Esther Tan, 26, and Jane Lee, 25, stepped on the top of the world at 3.45am, 3.54am and 4.43am Wednesday Nepal time respectively, making the team the first Singaporean women to reach the world’s tallest mountain.

The second summit team are currently on the way from camp 2 to camp 3 and they plan to go for the summit on 22 May.

Pumpfest 2009

Pumpfest 2009 is scheduled to take place this weekend at Velocity @ Novena Square. This will be the first time we are seeing a climbing wall surfaced with resin and quartz sand finishing. The last time I came across a wall with surfaces of such a quality is the 2007 IFSC Birmingham World Cup. Expect some top climbers from our neighbouring countries to give our local lads a run for their money. Here's a sneak peek of the competition wall.

Sport Climbing in SEA Games

The Indonesia Olympic Committee has officially announce that Sport Climbing will be featured in SEA Games 2011 in South Sumatra, Palembang. Indonesia will propose the inclusion to South East Asian Games Federation (SEAGF) council meeting after SEA Games 2009 in Laos.

National Schools Sport Climbing Championship 2009

NSSCC 2009 is back with a new twist. With sport climbing being included in the National Inter-School Sports Calendar next year, this year's Championship will only be available to the secondary schools, JCs and CIs in A B and C division. More information can be found on SMF website.

In order to meet the demands of route judges in this year's NSSCC, there will be a route judge clinic to be held in SAFRA Yishun on 23 , 24 and 30 and 31 May 09. Interested particpants are to email admin2@smf.org.sg for registration by 15 May 09.

Photo From Everest Camp 2

Just received a photo of Joanne at C2. The NATAS-Singapore Women's Everest Team should have reached C3 by now. We wish them success in conquering Earth's highest peak.

Jerry Moffatt Revelations

Revelations is an autobiography of British climbing legend Jerry Moffatt.

As a 17 year old boy, Jerry was already aware of his destiny of being the best in the world. Reading it is like a blast to the past, while following Jerry's meteoric rise to rock climbing stardom. It also provides substantial history on the development of sport climbing in the early 80s. Interesting chapter in the books includes overcoming injuries, coping with competition pressure and money issues.

Get ready to be inspired by Jerry's dedication.

"Some people go through school and remember everything they are taught. They never have to revise and they sail through exams. These are the people who are seen as the smart people. But really, often they are just lucky enough to have a good memory fro what they are being taught. It doesn't necessarily mean they are smarter than people who don't - or can't - remember those things."

"Climbing is often seen as a lifestyle thing, something a lot of people dedicate their lives to. They do it obsessively when they are young, then fit it in around work and family commitments, and later carry on doing it for as long as they are physically able. It's one of the biggest things in their lives and some people build everything around it. There are climbers who never loss their drive, even when their ability dies off."

The Danger Of Open Slings

DMM's climbing gear designer Graham Drsroy shows us the dangers of using open slings as runners:


Safety Video - The Danger Of Open Slings from UKClimbing.com TV on Vimeo.

IFSC Climbing Worldcup (B) - Kazo (JPN)

The IFSC World Cup season for Boulder discipline starts tomorrow in Kazo, Japan.

Singapore's very own IFSC aspirant Judge Woo Chee Yeong will be doing his final aspirant in ths Kazo World Cup. Upon successful completion of the aspirant training, Chee Yeong will be the fourth IFSC Judge from Singapore. We wish him all the best in his final aspirant training.

Swiss Mountain Cleaners

Now we know why the Swiss Alps is so beautiful...


Mountain Cleaners from swissmiss on Vimeo.

Home Gym

8a.nu recently ran a contest for nice and inspiring home gyms. Check out the photos posted by some of the contestants.

Off to Everest

Was at Changi Airport this morning to sent the Joanne and the NATAS Singapore Women's Everest Team off. We saw Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, sponsors, representatives from various organisation and legions of supporters who have been there since 5 am... somehow I felt that someone was missing...

The girls were a year late in their meeting with earth's highest peak but I believe this extra year has enabled them to be better prepared in their biggest challenge to date.

All the best

IFSC Officials Seminar 2009

Two IFSC Officials seminars were held concurrently in Imst and Hong Kong last weekend. The seminars were open to all IFSC Officials (Routesetters and Judges) and this is the first time the seminar is held in Asia. The Hong Kong seminar saw participation of 28 officials.

Some of the updates include the confirmation of Asian Youth Championship 2009 in Kazakhstan in July, a demo of the Speed Relay in this years' Would Championship in Qinghai.

Many thanks to Sammy and Kit of HKSCU for the effort and warm hospitality when we were in Hong Kong.

Back to Nature

Was back in Dairy Farm after more than a year. The Farm's getting more crowded and there's some pretty good line since i last went. The climb was unfortunately cut short due to a sudden downpour

Popping Bolts

A reminder to always check the bolts while climbing outdoor.

A climber fell and died in a tragic accident in Australia this January. Nick Kaczorowski fell on one of the bolts, unfortunately cutting his rope on a very sharp edge of rock. An investigation followed during which it was discovered that this route (Last Chance for Happy End) had been bolted with 8mm expansion bolts which are not suitable for the soft rock in that area.

On Saturday (1st February) Mike Law, Andy Richardson and Simon Carter, acting with the support of National Parks and Wildlife Service Rangers, fixed rope down the entire 270m route and removed ALL of the bolts from this climb.

All of the bolts (including belays) failed at ridiculously low loads. Up to 90% were easily tugged out by hand.

See video below:

Training From Home

Chairmen of the board from beastmaker.co.uk on Vimeo.

2009 Competition Calendar

31 Jan to 1 Feb: French School
04 to 05 Feb: Bouldermania(NTU)
06 to 08 Mar: Gravical(SMU)
08 Feb: Climb Asia 'Discovery' Championship
20 to 22 Mar: Boulderactive(NUS)
04 to 05 Apr: Climax(Outram Secondary)
May: Climb X(TJC)
15 to 17 May: Pumpfest(NTU)
24 to 26 May: Let's Rock(Springfield Secondary)
13 to 21 Jun: Rockmaster(Singapore Poly)
June: Rockmania(Temasek Poly)
June: Rock On(Safra)
July: NSSCC
Aug/Sep: Climb On(Climb Asia)
Sep/Oct: Climbaprix(Singapore Poly)

Last Climb in the Year of the Rat

Wishing everyone a prosperous Chinese New Year.

The newest route at the outdoor wall in Climb Asia

KSMD redpointing the newest route

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The Yishun Climbing Community

Climbing in Yishun SAFRA has become more exciting ever since a regular climbing group took matters into their own hands to routeset for the Centre. There's aa fair share of coloured routes as well as taped ones with climbing beta neatly documented next to each climbing wall. There's even facebook group dedicated for The Yishun Climbing Community.

Here's some photos of the group's hard work and do give them a pat on the back the next time you see them in Yishun. If you are not sure who they are, just ask the cashier seated at the counter.