A two week hiatus because of grading... So much for trying to write a blog post each week! Now that I have a bit more time after the semester I might try to catch up.

Today's topic will be about the other thing that I spend a lot of time doing and thinking about which is climbing. I'll introduce myself as a climber, interview-style.

Interview (Part 1)

How long have you been climbing?

In December of 2024 I would have been climbing for exactly 10 years. I guess that might make me sort of an "old-school" style climber. I started in a local gym called The Strength Lab, in Lawrence, KS, USA. It was literally an extra space in a crossfit gym that had random holes thrown on walls at the bouldering section. We used colored tape to mark routes and the crash pads had to be moved around manually. Nothing compared to gyms today! But it was such a fun place with great vibes.

How did you get into climbing?

My friend Lynn took me to The Strength Lab one random day in the winter of 2014, and I was immediately hooked. Something about solving problems with your own body was very appealing. Soon after I met other people in the climbing community who took me on climbing trips outdoors in Arkansas and Missouri during the spring and fall seasons. They taught me a lot! Not just about how climb well, but how to be safe outdoors, things like rope management, knots, anchor building, rappeling/abseiling, belaying, the works. Thanks to the wonderful Kansas City climbing community I got to try a lot of different styles of climbing beyond bouldering, from sport/lead climbing, crack climbing, multi-pitch, to (later in the UK) trad climbing.

Since moving back to Singapore in 2019, I am now a plastic climber with an almost singular focus on the bouldering discipline. Not much actual rock here!

What grades do you climb?

I think this is an irrelevant question, but it is a Thing among climbers so here is my answer. Because I boulder a lot more now than before I only really know my bouldering grade, which is probably V4-V6. I am trying to not overfocus on this though because grades are arbitrary levels set by other people. Grades are a useful indicator of relative challenge and difficulty, but not more than that. Nowadays I try to focus on projecting problems that can teach me a new movement principle or technique, balanced with limit bouldering sessions where I try to push my max grade.

What style of climbing do you like the most?

The perfect combination of powerful and technical climbing. I actually really love it when the route is seemingly straightforward but you gotta crank real hard and find all the micro-beta and be super technical and efficient to get through the route. Hence I find board climbing very appealing. I also like really technical, complex, beta-intensive slabs and routes on vertical terrain, but I am not great at slabs.

If the question were about my (perceived) climbing strengths instead - then "powerful and technical climbing".

What style of climbing are you weak or less good at?

Dynamic, coordination/parkour styles and slabs. That said! I find these styles really fascinating and love learning how to do these routes. But, I am really not good or fluent at them. These are the problems at the gym that I usually cannot flash or do in a couple of attempts, but have to dedicate a lot of time to figure out. The feels from sending such problems are amazing though, because of the hard work that had to go into them.