Conquering The Wall!
(My main blog is located at www.upsaid.com/youngwolf2k. I'm mirroring this entry over here, so that you be able to read it if ya don't access my other blog. This is an sentimental entry, and worth the read. Keep those comments cming if ya feel like saying something. Thanks!)
It's the new year, and with new resolutions, this year I aim to try up new stuff, challenging myself to places that I've never dreamt of being before. Ceh wah... so ambitious!
Note: Whatever that is written here is in fact a true account of my climbing experience that happened last Sunday. Special thanks to my "bradae" for his listening ear last night. Greatly appreciate it man!
My close friends SC and LR have been encouraging me to try new stuff for the past year, and this year I guessed we all wanted to start with a BANG. The gang have been planning a wall climbing outing for several weeks now, as a prelude to our Mount KK trip sometime later this year (that I really dread and always pretend to 'tak tau' :P) and to be honest I really have to say that I really wasn't looking forward to it. At all!
At one point I nearly used the reason that I have blue-black left knee (I hit the hidden rock underneath the waterfall when I was sliding down the waterfall rocks during the picnic) and in the current state of mind that I was in, I wasn't really up for it.
After persuasion, and on Saturday night I decided to give it a try. I know that scaling a wall wouldn't be easy for someone like me (I'm like carrying extra load! All around my waist!) and with weak upper body strength I think I could perhaps scale a positive-angled wall, maybe at the very best till the 1/3 point and not the very top.
We all met at Summit USJ at 1pm, and headed off to the wall climbing gym. I was joined by 4 newbies (SC, LR, Ant and KK) and Ehsan and being new we all underwent the safety briefing which was compulsory for all beginners. We learned how to secure the rope, the do's and dont's during climbing and belayor-ing (the belayor is the person who secures your climbing rope in the event of your fall) and I was really nervous at that time.
Soon it was my turn to try climbing up the wall, and somehow it wasn't as tough as I expected it to be. We were afterall training on a positive-angled wall (is this the correct term? It means that our bodyweight is still leaning on the wall)
as opposed to a negative-angled wall where you'll be dangling with just your hands (legs are hanging because there the stones are not positioned for stepping)
(So much for ASCII text images! :P)
I guessed the key to scaling any wall is not by just using your hands, but is by using your legs. If ya are gonna pull your body all the way up to the top with just your hands, it ain't gonna work - afterall your legs should be the main pushers in your climbing attempt (ckp macam expect aje... LOL!). So instead of just pulling, if you try more pushing, it would be easier (at least for me lah who is wide at the waist with non-existent tricep/biceps)... Haha.
So during the training on the positive-angled wall, things were smooth and I managed to reach the top! Yahoooooo!
I felt very, very happy, I hit the headstone (my own term for the last stone at the very top) at the top a couple of times before being lead down by my belayor partner. After training briefing ended, we rested for a short while before starting on the vertical wall....
Which is without any gradient... Something like this... :P
At first it's a bit nervewrecking, our instructor went off, leaving all 6 of us free to try any of the walls. I watched as SC and Anthony tried to scale this particular straight wall which is joined with a negative slope at the top portion, and somewhere along 2/3 of the way there was a missing right-side handstone (ok maybe its not missing but it's not there for increased difficulty).
(The wall looked something like this, a vertical slope with a negative slope at the top portion)
The left-side handstone is actually not for grabbing with your left hand (it's slippery with no grip-able surface), the shape is such that its only for stepping actually, and the next right-side handstone is about one feet away from the previous handstone and since you can't grab with your left hand you're virtually stucked at that position. The only way to get pass that part was to make a leap of faith, trying and jumping high enough to catch the higher right-side handstone with both your hands!
SC and Anthony tried but both failed to get pass that missing handstone. LR and KK persuaded me to try it, I did scrutinise the wall carefully before attempting to scale it. It went smooth all the way till that dreaded portion. I was even shorter than SC and way heavier than Anthony and I told myself, there's no way in hell that I could actually jump in mid-air and catch that headstone with both my hands (my legs will be dangling since they are not stepping on any footstones).
Soon I was at the very same place, the very same spot as SC and Anthony were. I thought that by some magic I would able to grab the next handstone but I was so WRONG. I was then stucked in a very weird situation, there were neither other footstones that I could step on nor was there a left handstone that I could grab to propel myself further.
I must really say now that at time I really wanted to quit. If SC and Ant couldn't do it, I'm quite sure that I couldn't do it at all. The giant word "QUIT" was flashing repeatedly across my head, and I almost threw in the towel then.
And then at the height of the emotions of the entire week, it all suddenly came back flooding to me. I remember the fun times at the waterfall with my friends. I remember the smile on someone's face. I remember the sound of someone's particular laughter. I remember the missing note. And the sms that came in the next morning which made my day.
I smiled. I really did, 8 metres above the ground.
One thing I realised in life, is that things are never always in your favour. There will always be obstacles and things that never go your way. You can never get everything that you want, but it doesn't mean that your life ends when something is not within your reach.
"The next handstone is just a feet away. Just a feet away!"
And then in that short moment, the statement above flashed in my head. And then another one came straight in as well -
"Live life with no regrets, Colin".
Don't give up, just try. At least you know that even if you failed, you did try, and you gave it your very best and you will have nothing to regret at the end.
I took a look at that handstone. I sized it up. I would need to jump.
The flashing red "QUIT" in front of me vanished suddenly, and in its place it was replaced with an equally bright "TRY" in green.
I know that I will most likely fall after I made an attempt for that handstone, but at that point in time, I really didn't care if I was going to be injured. If I'm gonna die, I rather be dead TRYING.
I positioned myself carefully, and in a split second, I leaped upwards.
"I know that I do not have the chance but I want to! I must try! And I'm doing it for YOU!"
And as I leaped upwards, I caught the elusive right handstone with both of my hands. My legs were dangling, and all 76kgs rested on both of my bare hands.
I could hear my friends below cheering. I could hear their claps and their encouragement. I know all of them were staring upwards, and I can sense that they are now cheering me to scale the tougher negative slope.
"It's near... You've come so far to give up now!" I said to myself.
And as I close my eyes for a brief moment, I see that very familiar smile again.
"Colin... You can do it! I know you can!". The voice came from that all too familiar face.
In an instant I felt reenergised. I pulled myself up the negative slope with both of my hands while my legs were still dangling. I pulled myself up, one hand at a time, and upon reaching the headstone at the top I slapped it a good 5 times as I shouted in excitement and satisfaction.
I can hear the cheers from below, and I could see that familliar smiling face looking at me.
"You did it, Colin! You did it!"
I felt so happy that I didn't threw in the towel. It's true that you might succeed with another try, and in my case I did.
As I was lowered down to the floor by my belayor partner, I was still stunned and pretty astonished. I was still in disbelieve that I actually managed to climb that wall!
Many (including my climbing buddies) wouldn't have known whose smile was it that gave me that extra-edge that day (they are probably hearing it about it the first time as they read this entry, like you) but that's the whole truth and nothing else but the truth.
I don't know if that person will ever read this entry, in the event that the person does, well, this entry is dedicated to you.
If only you were there to see me there that day, I'm sure you be equally as proud too. I know that you won't be mine, but the fact that it doesn't change how I feel about you.
Special thanks to all my climbing buddies for all their support, guidance, encouragement and for belayoring this baby elephant. Couldn't have done it without you guys either :)
Colin @ yw[ :) ]