climbjudtravels

2014

Qingdao, back again.

June 04, 2014

Its the june holidays now, what better time than to blog a little about the recent trip I took to Qingdao to climb!

I've been to Qingdao once with Heng Hong, Bertrand and Leon back in 2012. We went around the same season as now, and it was pretty windy and foggy with temperatures at aircon conditions. It was perfect! (Although a little cold for me then. But after surviving Japan at 4degrees, cold is nothing! Muahahaha.) See post here. So 2 years later, I'm coming back again! But with a different group of people this time.

Hazlee, Nevin and I took a flight and met up together with Jinle, who was going to Qingdao to climb as well. His was a seperate planning, although same duration, with another couple who were already in Qingdao. So basically I was the only chinese-speaking counterpart of the 3 of us and I must tell you honestly that I had doubts getting us around and surviving in China. So I did what I had to do. I researched on places we could visit on rest days (google was pretty slow in china), I used a chinese map (GASP!) called Baidu - which had more up to date images and information of the area, I made sure I knew about the crags and boulders as much as I can remember.

Would like to thank Isaac for helping with the topo and giving some info on the boulders, and also to Rocker who thankfully speaks english and forgives me on any miscommunication arranging for transport on climbing. I am pretty glad I somehow managed this part of the trip. Finding things on the map was easy after awhile and pinpointing out locations on the map in order to get to somewhere. Actually anybody can do it, if they bothered enough to want to know where they are and whats to do around. In this age of technology and us constantly on the phone, everything is just a tap and swipe away!

I spent 11 days in Qingdao and had 3 rest days and 8 climbing days! Couldnt help it, I really wanted to climb! Once I'm back in the schools, 2 weeks would be the max for me and in climbing terms - its never enough! (Look at Weida...) Anyways, because Rocker was called to work setting up routes in Beijing, we visited Jin Ling Shan (金领山) more often, as it was near our hostel. Managed to recall some of the places I had visited and we went there to boulder. This time, I was feeling much stronger and revisited a few of the routes which I never completed 2 years ago.

The first day was an epic moment. I brought us 3 on a long tiring walk, immediately after we arrived. No time was to be wasted! But still, not such a good idea if we are all tired. Anyways, I could only slightly remember the paths to jinlingshan and everything had changed. After 2 hours of walking in the sun with crashpads (thankfully the temperatures were low that day..) we managed to meet up with our other Singaporean group and we found ourselves in the middle of the hill near 向上, an egg shaped boulder that I had climbed on before.

This was what it looked like from the front bottom view, but at the side its almost like a nose. This boulder has quite a few routes going up, quite good to start of a trip! There are a couple routes ranging from V0-V8 here.

The 3 of us chilling at the boulders!

Hazlee working on the V8 sit start bulge route. He managed to send it using a heel hook on the left and reaching up with the crimp with the left hand. This move had me on full span!

I worked on a V8 project on this boulder on the shady side, a flat and inclined face. With holds small and really bad, I couldnt start on it 2 years ago. This time, I'm almost at the top.

Thanks to the GoPro borrowed from Daryl, heres a video of my best attempt so far:

The holds are really horrible and small, but luckily I have small fingers and I think I can hold it better than the guys. The alternative beta was to jump from my last position to the top that had a good ledge, but it was over a bulge and I was too stretched out to harness some dynamic movement. :p I'm definitely going back to work harder on this. You cant see it from here, but the right leg is stepping on a paper thin crack. This route has really made me hone my footwork and I had to tension and lock off at really difficult positions. Thats the beauty of rock.

Rocker brought us to another beautiful boulder which I had never been to. Its called 十三 and its on the far right of the hill, with a path leading up from the end of 银川东路 where theres a cemetery. Its a beautiful lone standing boulder. Not exactly a highball like in other countries, but high enough haha. We had to climb down after the top out. Lol. There are 2 routes on this boulder.

This is me, on a V4 route. Topping out was slightly scary, but its the kinda thrill I revel in and make me wanna climb more. HAHA.

Another famous boulder to visit is called Big One. Its similar to 向上 because its a long slab of rock that has routes ranging from V1-V8 and everyone can climb together this way.

This is a V3 which we warmed up on. The topping out was pretty scary, actually all the top out on this boulder is because its nothing but a blank slate up there and you have to get your legs over your head to beach whale yourselves over the boulder. haha.

Heres Hazlee on one of the project routes with a huge span move!

Theres a roof route on the left side of the hill, nearer to the base and where the houses are. Its a V8 roof hidden on the underside of a small boulder thats off the trail. It had near moves to crimpy in-cuts and minimal foothold. I didnt managed to finish this. Couldnt stick a move that had me almost at full span. The thing about full span, is that its a problem, but its a problem we can overcome if we really work at it. Climbing with 2 tall guys this trip, I realised that our betas can never be all similar, somehow they will always get away easily with the far moves, and I will get away with the small slots and crimps. But there are times that theres no other way out, and all I needed to do was literally to crank harder. Yes, you heard me right, lock even more to get to that particular spot, more dynamic movement, more push on the legs, basically fight harder than how you would have done the moves. Its worked for me a couple of times. But for this route, I guess I hadnt gotten to doing it yet. SOON!

Sit start and moving through this route was easy for me, but the end part where we start to escape from the roof was the hardest for me.

Rest day delights!

We hired a van to bring us and crashmats to a place by the beach called Quanxinhe (泉心河). Its about 40 min drive and If you go early enough, you dont have to pay an entrance fee into the mountains. I've been there to do a highball boulder but the tide was up and we did not get to try it. The rock there is sharper and made of grains of sand stuck together. The weather was starting to get hotter, and being by the beach made it worse for the sun was relentless. Its a good place to visit when its cold... haha.

Check out my 360 view of quanxinhe here! (Best viewed on your phone!)

Trying this route again, scary top out on a blank slate.

We discovered a couple of lines in this place. There are quite afew big boulders with huge pockety holds that act as pinches or good jugs here.

We finally went to Feng Chao, named after the hive like features on a particular boulder. Slightly nearer in distance by driving there still takes about an hour. We hired a van once again, just gotta ask the hostel reception for help. We left at 5am in order to pass the gates and prevent a 130rmb fee each. Crazy you say? Yes, but in Qingdao, the sun has already risen by 5am. So all is light, all is light. Its by the sea, it despite the sun, its much much cooler than at the beach. the rocks drop off immediately into the waters and some locals go there to fish.

Heres a bubbli at sunrise, and after.

Famous V3 that requires a big throw. Of course, i tried not to cut loose, but if you do, it feels like your gonna swing into the water.

Climbing at sunrise. We climbed from 5am to 2pm, Crazy. But the psych was high, and it was cool. I love the rocks there but I'm not sure what the texture is called.. But not as sharp as the beach boulders.

The whole long stretch of rock in the picture above held plenty of potential and recently had many new routes established. Completed 2 V6s on that side. The long slab reminds me of tectonic plates. Lol.

I managed to onsight this V6 arete and was super happy. It was high and quite ballsy to spot as the landing below was pretty uneven. Its a square block boulder and the surface was quite flat.

We were also introduced to a route that isaac and friends had found on the far left side. Its a V7 roof, which I also managed to send after figuring out the huge lock off on the top out. The roof section may have been span, but i countered it all with a neat heel hook with my trusty Miura Vs (useful on rock, not so useful in the gym. haha).

Rocker came back on our last climbing day. He brought us to a place I've been to before, called Laoshan Reservoir for obvious reasons. Haha. Its a really beautiful low-lying place and so much potential for routes. There are a couple of unfinished projects here, although i did not get a chance to try them all.

Heres a bubbli again!

Heres a line that Henghong found 2 years ago, that Dennis tried a year ago, still uncompleted. The landing is inbetween rocks so much crashpads are needed.

Jinle on a V1 highball. His first! (Hes been missing out..)

Panorama of Laoshan Reservoir boulders

On our last day, Rocker prepared dinner for us and cooked abit. We ate with a group of climbers from China and Toshiki from Japan.

With the man behind Qingdao boulder, owner of Sunshin Youth Hostel - Rocker Wang.

Our dinner spread!

I guess I have a pretty good idea of Qingdao right now! Perhaps more trips in the future! The routes may not have grades as hard as in France or Spain or the US, but its a lovely place to explore and find new routes.

climbing

Steelfingers training

May 12, 2014

2014

3rd season with VJnet: A Division 2014

May 05, 2014

I always blog about my climbing achievements but I think this "achievement" is worth documenting and thinking about. I've been coaching A Div netball for the 3rd year in a row. I havent been able to produce results and it is a frustrating yet growing process. When you put your heart and time into something like this, it can be demoralising and yet uplifting in different situations, depending on how the wind blows. Unlike climbing, I am no longer involved in netball anymore, and all my teachings stem from my brief 10 years of playing experience. I have since improved on drills and taught up of ways to teach certain concepts, thanks to my PESS experiences. Sometimes I really hope we get a coach instead, because I cannot bear to spoil the "JC experience" of the girls I coach, by not being able to bring them into the next round time and time again, despite our hard efforts. But that story, is for another day.

Training for the 2014 season started really early this time around. We began coming together for training as early as September. And if you count the number of months, you can say that we have trained for 8 out of 12 months in a year, with the intensity and quantity amounting to almost 12 hours a week.

This season, I focused on different things. Mainly more court play, and lesser on basics. More on fitness and movement as well. We had a good pool of talented girls this year. The number of year 1s, thanks to the remaining IPs made up most of the team.

Celebrating birthdays with VJNB

We had a good bout of training and schedule going, with improved drills and I managed to work on some concepts this time around. However, training for 8 months for just 2 weeks (or even lesser!) of competition does cause burnout, needless to say. So, for one of their holiday trainings, I brought them to sentosa to do some sand and resistance work on the beach! It worked towards team work, as well as pushed them to dig deep and run a little harder! Would consider doing this again next year!

Drama queens

I had the help of some of my ex-VJNB girls coming down as well. Without them, we would not have enough players to play the game and to work on concepts and game play. Really appreciate the time these girls sacrifice for their juniors. Hope to build more girls of this positive character and belongingness to vjnb! :)

With the senior girls

Some may say that it is enough, some may argue on the quality and effects of training on the girls. But somehow, this still wasn't enough to get us onto the next step.

Our draw this year was together with HCI once again. With arch nemesis SRJC and NJC on the groupings as well. It is with unfortunate circumstances that we had to battle against SRJC for the first game, the team who killed us last year, but also the team we knew were of equal strength as us. It was truly a mentally and physically daunting task. We had back to back 3 games every alternate days, and I was worried that the girls would not recover in time. Prepared an ice bath for them after SRJC's game as we would definitely be playing hard for this first game.

We lost eventually, 37-47, just 10 goals short, given that we were leading 12-10 and then tied at 21-21 for the first two quarters. It was disappointing surely, but perhaps not as much as the previous year as we fought as hard as we could. With this loss, we had a tough fight against HCI next. We lost to HCI 11-66, a score difference that bested last year and eventually SRJC against HCI. It spoke alot to the girls, who's motivation ran low initially, but picked up again for our last match against NJC. we won 56-14, an even bigger score difference as compared to SRJC. Statistics can really speak alot, as it tells of how a team plays, the mood, the flow and the overall performance, quarter by quarter.

While we may be out of the round once again, I believe we can only go higher from here. It's time to lift our heads up and high, grit out teeth and train even harder. This season has opened my eyes to even more factors and contributing skills and concepts that needs to be worked on at this A Division level. We may have had strong players, but we needed more confidence, more fitness, better passes and awareness of the game (important!) in order to take control like how the other seeded schools have done for the past few decades. It is indeed a pity to see such a hardworking team be let off from the season so early. I hope that this will not cause anyone to give up hope or mindset towards training hard further.

Team photo! With Ms Lim as well, who has helped us along the way so many times!

VJ boleh!

Our fixtures for 2014

Training a team is a more daunting task than individual athletes. Theres always a need to look ahead, pre-ampt possible team combinations and how the game strategy will work out with different players. Skills and techniques are not much of focus, but essential. I believe it is just a balance between these. And it is the balance that proves the hardest.