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guangzhou
Dec 24, 2009, 9:26 AM
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Well, I've been in Malaysia for over a week now and I've hit the main areas. Most cliffs have been taken back by the jungle and have seen no activities. The exception so far is Batu Cave near KUala Lumpar. Nice routes on excellent rock for sure.
Today was a rest day, so we decided to check out Camp 5 Climbing gym. I have to say, it's the worse gym I've ever laid eyes on. The walls look nice, but the customer service was horrible. I shocked to learn, you can't tour the gym until you're a member. Who would join a gym wothout seeing everything first.
The pro-shop that is attached wasn't much better. They sold Camolot to size 5 and micro brass nuts, but nothing in between. No runner, nuts, and such.
The sells guy tried to sell my wife shoe two sizes to small because they were high performance. I had to laugh to myself when I looked up and saw an Asian guy easily 40 pounds over weight talk to me about high performance climbing. Not impressed.
Anyways,rest day is over, tomorrow, back to Batu Cave for some more bolt clipping on excellent limestone.
I have to say, Batu cave would make living in KL easy. Air Air Asia makes it very affordable to travel too.
Cheers
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hon
Dec 27, 2009, 12:55 PM
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hahahahaha, it has been long time never climb there. (camp 5) not enjoy much indoor with aircon.
did you get into the white wall and nyamuk wall? most of the best route in batu caves is there.
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guangzhou
Dec 28, 2009, 2:21 AM
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Hon,
We had arest day and wanted a copy of the Malaysia Guide book, so we headed to Camp 5. Felt more like a snobby amusement park then a climbing gym.
We've been hitting batu cave for the last week. Also climbed at Jesselton Quarry, the Dark Cave, and Guan Musang (Spelling)
Batu is nice. Today we'll be back out there. Saw a nice corner I want to climb. A wall near a fence next to temple. How's that.
We've climbed most of the walls at Batu now. Damai is excellent, so is mosquito wall. Volleyball court was OK, but I won't miss it.
Maybe we'll see you out there.
Eman
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hon
Dec 28, 2009, 8:26 AM
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Registered: Apr 17, 2007
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the wall near temple and a fence (nanyang wall) it has a very good 6a and 6c climb there, I like the (lost monkey) it makes you lost when you take the first climb , pumpy on the overhang.
Gua musang a nice place to climb everything just near to the town and can take a train from KL.
this wed me and some friends are going up to north keteri for 4 days climb.
they has a new area at the east (jerantut) 2hours drive from KL , I havent go there yet 24 new route.
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guangzhou
Dec 28, 2009, 9:51 AM
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Sounds like a fun trip trip. We fly back to Indonesia on Friday.
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guangzhou
Dec 28, 2009, 10:07 AM
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hon wrote: they has a new area at the east (jerantut) 2hours drive from KL , I havent go there yet 24 new route.
Any idea how to get there? Any info would be nice, maybe I can make it a day trip on Wednesday. Get up early, drive, climb, drive back.
We'll be at Nanyang Wall Tuesday Afternoon. Get there around 1PM and stay as long as possible. They are some nice routes on here I want to climb, but we were chased out by the rain last time.
Did do a nice, but hard slab route in the middle. Three bolts and small crimps with bad feet too. Very fun. The route right was goo too. Up some Tuffa's like Thailand, past a roof to easier climbing. We climbed four routes before the rain, very nice wall.
Hope we can meet some time. If not this trip, sometime in the future. Here, Hong Kong, Thailand. Somewhere with good climbing and nice food.
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hon
Dec 28, 2009, 11:02 AM
Post #7 of 27
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the new place ( Jerantut ) is a small village ,its turn in from Karak Highway( KL to east cost), can see its show in google map. I never been there befor so no idea yet. sorry.
when to the village and ask the local people about big rocky place ? maybe easy to find it I guess.
most of the time rain in late afternoon, better go early that you can get more climb.
I have some French friends they going to nyamuk wall tomorow. maybe if I free and I will stop by to say hi.
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guangzhou
Jan 4, 2010, 2:31 AM
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hon wrote: the new place ( Jerantut ) is a small village ,its turn in from Karak Highway( KL to east cost), can see its show in google map. I never been there befor so no idea yet. sorry. when to the village and ask the local people about big rocky place ? maybe easy to find it I guess. most of the time rain in late afternoon, better go early that you can get more climb. I have some French friends they going to nyamuk wall t omorow. maybe if I free and I will stop by to say hi.
Thanks. Spent some time climbing at Mosquito wall and ran into your French friends. Turns out we knew each other indirectly already. We also had some friends in Common. What a small world climbing is.
Hope you enjoy your trip and hope we can climb together next time.
We went back and did an Awesome corner on the wall near the fence. Short, only three bolts to a belay. Hard exit move on the corner with a slopper. A mot excellent route.
Also did the short face to the left of the corner. hard and crimpy, but short. Lots of smearing and crimping. My last route of the trip. .
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rtwilli4
Jan 8, 2010, 2:36 PM
Post #9 of 27
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Hey man... glad to hear you had some good climbing days. Too bad I couldn't make it down there.
BTW, the fat guy working at Camp 5 is not a climber at all. I found a 9 pitch 6c or something in one of his guidebooks and he told me I'd need a portaledge!
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guangzhou
Jan 9, 2010, 2:01 AM
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rtwilli4 wrote: Hey man... glad to hear you had some good climbing days. Too bad I couldn't make it down there. BTW, the fat guy working at Camp 5 is not a climber at all. I found a 9 pitch 6c or something in one of his guidebooks and he told me I'd need a portaledge!
Funny. A potable, guess it would make hanging belays more comfortable. He tried to sell my wife shoes she couldn't get in feet in because shoe should be painful to increase climbing performance. I explained that if shoes hurt, she wouldn't use her feet.
Malaysia has a lot of nice climbing, and a ton more potential. If I am ever offer a position in KL, I would gladly accept it.
I am sure we'll climb together in the future.
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libertyin777
Jan 12, 2010, 2:15 PM
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hi everyone,
i've just found this website and found that it was great! you guys are just amazing! 
Seems that batu cave is a climb not to miss. My friend and I are actually visiting KL in Feb 3-9, and we are thinking of looking for a great place to do some outdoor rock-climbing.
can some out there advise if there are any climbing groups/teams gracing batu cave on a regular basis. We are tourists, and we are looking for a bunch of great people to hang out and climb with.
do reply. cheers
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peakchaser
Jan 13, 2010, 9:08 AM
Post #12 of 27
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Funny. I agree with you about Camp 5 and was just telling someone else about it the other day. I went once and never will go back. Mad Monkeyz climbing gym is better if you're looking for indoor. One of the owners, Tam is super nice and he is the one that helped put out the guidebook. At MM, there are two levels..and....how can I explain, it's a real climbing gym. Camp 5 is all about the 'oo ah' of a massive gym in a fancy mall. But yet, they won't even let you listen to your ipod.
But the climbing outdoors at Batu is great - nice rock, fun routes, the locals are so friendly! Outdoors is where it's at!!
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guangzhou
Jan 14, 2010, 12:47 AM
Post #13 of 27
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peakchaser wrote: Funny. I agree with you about Camp 5 and was just telling someone else about it the other day. I went once and never will go back. Mad Monkeyz climbing gym is better if you're looking for indoor. One of the owners, Tam is super nice and he is the one that helped put out the guidebook. At MM, there are two levels..and....how can I explain, it's a real climbing gym. Camp 5 is all about the 'oo ah' of a massive gym in a fancy mall. But yet, they won't even let you listen to your ipod. But the climbing outdoors at Batu is great - nice rock, fun routes, the locals are so friendly! Outdoors is where it's at!!
I agree. Shoot, at camp-5, if you pay, you still can't boulder or go look at the bouldeirng area. You have to be a full member. Not good for a climber who just wants a quick workout while on business in KL.
I agree, Batu cave is spectacular. That would make living in KL very easy. Shoot, if I live there, I could shoot over and climb a few routes after work, I woudn't need to visit a climbing gym.
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libertyin777
Jan 15, 2010, 8:56 AM
Post #14 of 27
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Registered: Jan 12, 2010
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well...
sounds like Camp5 is not an ideal place for a tourist to vist....
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hon
Jan 16, 2010, 9:49 AM
Post #15 of 27
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Registered: Apr 17, 2007
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well... if you thinking to get some gears or shoes, beside of camp5 in the same shopingmall they have another shop name (Allsport). mostly pezlt ,five ten.
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libertyin777
Feb 1, 2010, 6:59 AM
Post #16 of 27
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Registered: Jan 12, 2010
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Thanks
Is there no one out there who is climbing Batu cave between the 7th-10th Feb?
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guangzhou
Feb 1, 2010, 8:28 AM
Post #17 of 27
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Should be able to find some people. Mosquito wall is the most popular currently.
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hon
Feb 2, 2010, 2:01 PM
Post #18 of 27
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Registered: Apr 17, 2007
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there are more people at the damai wall, always have people climbing there, its very easy find partner to climb.
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omegaprime
Feb 18, 2010, 7:16 AM
Post #19 of 27
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Haven't been to Camp 5 in a long time, but from what you said a lot has changed. When I was a regular member there about 2 years ago anyone can take a guest for a tour of the gym. If you don't know any members, then one of the staff will take you on a tour.
Since I'm back climbing now, maybe I'll go check it out again. From what I heard from my friends most of the staff now are non-climbers, so it would be interesting to see what kind of silly things they would do.
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rtwilli4
Feb 18, 2010, 1:45 PM
Post #20 of 27
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One silly thing... no one there could tell me the difference between the stainless steel glue in bolts they had and the titanium ones. Even worse... they had one of each for display and couldn't sell any to me!
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guangzhou
Feb 19, 2010, 1:06 AM
Post #21 of 27
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I do remember asking about buying bolts, they couldn't sell them to me either.
To bad, they use to have a good reputation from what I understand.
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omegaprime
Feb 19, 2010, 2:19 AM
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They used to have some senior staff that at least can have a look at their inventory list and tell you if they can order it, normally they don't have it in stock. Most of the items on display is just that, for display. Ice axe, nuts, bolts, etc. I know because I asked once, and was told its not for sale.
Again, I'll have to drop by again and check the place out.
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omegaprime
Feb 19, 2010, 2:27 AM
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Forgot to add, the person to talk to when it comes to all things would be the owner Patrick. He used to be in the gym a lot, and he can go in depth into whatever you need to know about the gears.
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nubeontherocks
Feb 25, 2010, 6:10 PM
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Hey guangzhou, it's funny how your experience at Camp 5 is the complete opposite of mine. I feel compelled to share with you that if it were not for the friendly and helpful staff there, I wouldn't have started this addictive sport called rock climbing... and be sharing it with my sister who;s 10 years my junior.
It all began about 6 months ago when I stumbled upon the place on a saturday afternoon with my sister. We just stood at the entrance, I remember feeling amazed at the sight of this rather old man climbing. Then one of the staff came to me and my sister and asked if we'd like to check out the place.. He then brought us on a very informative tour of the place.. And he was patient enough to answer a million questions we had about the sport.. He then progressed to explain the options on how we could get started.. And the best thing was, he did not try and sell us anything.. He just gave us a brochure and said to ring Camp 5 if we had any further questions.. he even thanked us for our visit!
Anyway, my sister and I visited Camp 5 again to try their taster course to get a taste of what climbing is and the rest is history! We ended up doing their 4 hour Basic Wall Course and we've been climbing at least twice a week since.
Not long after, we decided to buy our first pairs of shoes, the girl at the pro-shop told us that in order to find the most suitable pair, we should try as many pairs as possible. I remember her telling us the ideal shoe should fit our feet like a pair of socks! And our aim should be to try on shoes until we 'feel' that second-skin fit.
Every time we put on a pair of shoes, she told us to go to the baby boulder and stand on some holds to 'feel' the shoe. She also warned us that our first pair of shoes would most probably get 'thrashed' within 6 months if we climb regularly... and advised us to rent Camp 5's shoes and thrash those instead before buying a pair! I felt really touched by her honesty. My sister decided to not buy any at that point, but I ended up getting a pair of SalticBongos because they 'felt' ideal :) I probably tried about 8 to 9 pairs.. and took up maybe 40? minutes? of her time?
All I have to say is that the customer service at Camp 5 is unlike any I've ever experienced. Their style and energy is a bit like DELL but better because they're wayyyyyy more patient. And I feel sorry that your experience was so different from mine. Maybe you visited at a wrong time. Maybe you were handled by a new staff. Maybe my words mean nothing because I'm a newbie.. Maybe you should give Camp 5 another try and 'feel' the difference.
Cheers
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RMC
Feb 26, 2010, 2:55 PM
Post #25 of 27
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Awesome adventure..........................
This is what happens when you go off trail to remote places to climb. being self sufficient is the main priority. Having to place safety & trust in people you dont know sucks
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