Wall Climbing with Emily

Today I met up with Emily Tan and we went wall climbing together at One Utama! Neither of us had climbed before and we were both excited to try it out. I had secretly been wanting to try wall climbing for AGES but have never done it.

We were greeted by a friendly Malay girl who was in charge of guiding our session. She helped us put on the harness and we set off to the first wall. She taught us how to come down - sit back in an L shape and walk your way down (you would be attached to someone standing on the ground, who is responsible for releasing the rope slowly). And then I went ahead on my very first climb.

It was quite easy and fun, because I did not yet know that one of the “rules” was that you can only use holds of the same color. Emily went next, we both did great. Then we proceeded to another higher wall, and our guide told us to challenge using only single color handholds. It was more challenging and my arms were starting to feel the grind, but I loved it!

Moving on, we tried a “hanging” wall. At first I didn’t really understand, but when I reached the part where you could only proceed if you were hanging in a more horizontal position, the guide told me to let go. And WOOSH! I swung to the other end, and back, and again. It startled me but a surprised laugh erupted from my throat. It was exhilarating. Then I was slowly let down.

We went to our last wall, the highest one. Here, our harness was attached to a machine instead, so Emily and I could climb together at the same time. This was hard, and there was a part where I was stuck as I couldn’t figure out my next step. I was also running out of strength; my arms shaky and my breath heavy. Emily shouted out to me, your left leg to your left! And I saw there was one pink hold quite far to the left. I gritted my teeth and swung my left leg there, surprised that it was not as far as I thought. I pulled myself up to the next grip, willing my arms to haul my body up. And I was there!

Our guide brought us to the bouldering section and we tried bouldering. It is a lot harder without the harness as you have nothing at all to support you. By then, me and Emily were out of strength. Emily succeeded in a challenging one where she had to start from a “hanging” position. My arms had officially told me they were not going to take anymore.

It was really fun trying out something new and sporty with a friend. Why did I never try wall climbing until now?