Rock-climbing..

Went to support C in his rockwall-climbing competition yesterday in Tampines...was the first time i've seen a climbing competition take place, and of course, it was pretty interesting.

The competition limits their participants to a certain route that they must take when they climb up the wall, and they do that by using tape to cross out some of the rocks that the participants aren't suppose to cling on to & use in order to make their way up, thus increasing the difficulty of the climb.
So after the wall has been prepared for the competition, the participants are led out of their isolation room, and allowed to look at the wall for, i think, 5 minutes?
Noticed an interesting point when the climbers were all looking at the wall... The french girls from a French School immediately lifted up their hands in the air, and started a "virtual climb" in their mind while their hands acted out what they were thinking in their mind. They all looked as if they were climbing up, except that, they were just looking at the route, moving their arms & all still standing on the ground. On the other hand, the asian participants all had minimal "acting out" of their climb later, but just looked at the wall and planned in their mind. I suppose this is the difference between europeans and asians...the former just seems more open and daring...not easily feeling 'paiseh' in doing certain things... :P
So after the 5 minutes or so, they are all led back into the isolation room, this is to ensure that no climber has an advantage of planning their route more than another climber.

And then the competition begins.

One by one, the climbers attempt to scale up the wall to the highest point....
Think the most exciting part is when the climbers reach the hangover ( a part of the wall that extends out perpendicularly to the wall that they are climbing). My gosh, i don't know how some of them do it, but they can skillfully contort their way up that hangover, & still have to make sure that they do not unwittingly use the rocks that they aren't suppose to. Such strength, technique & quick-thinking is needed.

Felt quite proud of C when he was climbing! :) He did look like he had a lot of technique and strength. A pity, just like quite a few of the other finalists, he didn't manage to clear the hangover. Felt a little disappointed for him as he was aiming for top 3 positions. But oh well, i suppose there'll be other chances =)







This is a pic of C attempting to scale the overhang.




A pretty refreshing start to my day i must say... :)