lihui and i went climbing yesterday at the yishun SAFRA wall. the difference between yesterday’s session and our previous sessions was the presence of KIM BOON, who taught us how to climb properly, finally.
so instead of the elephant stampeding we assume whenever we try to heave ourselves up the rock walls, we were training to do proper footwork. point left, point right, hang and rest… it was tough work doing the drills (not to mention scary being on a very LOOSE belay), but it was a major relief to see that we finally look human while maneuvering up the wall.
people usually think it’s a natural progression to move from rock climbing to mountaineering. in my case at least, it’s so not true. and personally, i really think they’re 2 very different sports which require some strands of similar skillsets.
i have to work on my forearm strength. soon. if i want to enjoy the ice climbing course 2 months from now, and if i want to move gracefully up an ice wall like what you see in the opening picture (btw that’s one of the ice cliffs on cho oyu).
With the team, Esther went on to climb and summit mountains in far-flung corners of the world, including Mt Aylmer (2,699m) in New Zealand; Mera Peak (6,476m) in Nepal; Er Feng (5,276m) in China; Mustagh Ata (7,546m) in Central Asia, and Mt Everest (8,850m) in Nepal.