#770 - Clip 'N' Climb Singapore

Let us take a break from all the travel backlogs and focus on the present, shall we?

2 weeks ago, I visited Clip ‘N’ Climb w my cousins. It opened not long ago at Our Tampines Hub (so far IKR). Managed to Grabhitch a Merz from west side to there for free since the first Grabhitch ride is free!

Instead of the boring rock walls that most of us know, all the walls here are colourful and interesting (to me at least). Apparently they are from New Zealand!

There are like 19 climbing walls inside with different difficulties (rated by the number of carabiners). It comes with automatic belay system and to climb, you just need clip the carabiners to your harness and proceed!

Admission prices as below:

Clip ‘n Climb Walk-In	90 Minutes Experience
	Member	PA/ SAFRA	Guest
Individual	$18	$22	$25
Additional Pax	$14	$18	$21
Additional Climb Time (+ 30 minutes)	$4	$5	$6
Savers Pass (10 Climbs)	$126	$154	$175

How the additional pax things work depends on whether you are a Hometeam/PA/SAFRA member or not. There were 4 of us but only 3 of us had PAssioncard (all cards have to be shown). Thus we paid $22 + $18 + $18 + $21 (additional pax guest price) in total.

Before we started, we were given a locker for storing of our bags and then attended a short briefing by one of the staff on how to wear the harness, how to clip and prepare ourselves for climbing. We had to say “Check me” before climbing and “Watch Out” when coming down. – But truth be told, most of us proceeded to climb w/o waiting to be checked.

What I like about this place:

·       Different from your usual rock climbing places with many different styles of walls

It make rock climbing more fun and the colours make everything more cheerful

·        Automatic Belay System

Makes things easier for everyone, no help needed and going up and down was smooth

·        Friendly and helpful stuff

When we have issues/concerns, we were able to get the help we needed and the staff there are all v approachable

What I dislike about this place:

·        Lack of staff

The day I was there, there was a party and there were many kids running about. There was a lack of supervision and I feel that the staff was not enough for the crowd. In fact, my cousins and I helped most of the kids on the loading/unloading since they just stood there helplessly.

·         Safety issues

1.       Kids are not aware and not caring about keeping out of the designated climbing area each wall has. I have seen people who were abseiling down accidentally stepping on kids’ heads.

2.       To shout “Watch Out” might not be THAT useful since many kids are not aware of keeping out of the designated climbing area and it was actually too noisy to be heard even though most of the times we were already shouting.

3.       The lack of staff as I mentioned earlier may also cause a dangerous issue on safety since some kids just clipped and climbed on their own w/o bothering for a check.

4.       We saw a kid with a hand full of bangles and they were stuck to the carabiners. My cousin told her maybe it would be better if she was to remove it it, but she refused. I understand from the website that loose clothing and accessories should be avoided and this could be a one-off case (because of the party) but I feel that staff should check during their briefing to the kids before letting them go ahead?

Sorry I got affected and churned out long paragraphs. Personally, even though I am not a parent yet, I feel concerned regarding the safety of these kids. The lack of supervision and knowledge might cause an accident someday. :/

Anyway, moving on to less serious things. All of us came prepared to conquer all 19 walls (#jiambitious) to make it more value for money, but by the time we tried our 4^th or 5^th wall, most of us were already tired. We clearly overestimated ourselves!

The first wall I tried was this above, Morse Code, which was really tough because it was hard to grip! I had sweaty palms so it made things worse.

Some climbing walls photos because why not?

I am sorry Jia Xin, I don't have your photos in my phone!

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These were the walls I managed to try. Around 8/9 fully covered (I didn't complete some) in 90 minutes even w the crowd, so no complaints there. Actually waiting time was quite fast even though we shared the place with 30+ people and waiting gave us time to rest and recover too!

Lightning Crack was super hard I didn't even progress and the last one I did was Cloud 9 and I had no strength left to pull myself up hahaha. Both of the walls are those w me in the photos above!

Twister Left is one of my favourite walls because it looks quite tough (only 1 carabiner difficulty tho) but is actually quite easy to conquer as long as you stand mostly in the middle. #sharingtips Read a blog mentioned that the other side called Twister Right had a different grip and is much more difficult!

Took a video/photos at this wall called Speed Climb where you could challenge yourself and see how fast you climbed! There were buttons on the bottom and top (start and stop the stopwatch). Heard from one of the staff the fastest record is 4 seconds plus. WHAT.

And this video of us “competing” Face to Face. Sad I kept falling down so laokui! And uh there were times I couldn’t find a proper grip thus the different trials in this video. It was only until I descended then my cousin told me some of the grips are at the bottom. OMG NOOB.

This was Skyscraper which was quite manageable even w sweaty palms!

I realised that climbing is easier for people w longer limbs? No joke. Like some of the steps I couldn’t reach because legs too short. No joke. HMPH. Take the Dry Ice above for example. Pei Wen and I were legit struggling when we reached a certain part because we couldn't get up but Shi Min w her long limbs managed to reach the top!

And she left one of the 'picks' up there hahaha. The staff had to climb up and he did it damn fast?! Maybe that was one of the criteria when hiring people at Clip 'N' Climb! Haha anyway this is also bad for sweaty palms, the picks were wet w from my perspiration omgah.

Oh and I also realised how bad my fear of heights are HAHA. I never know it was THAT bad until I climbed all the way up and had to let go to descend down. When I looked down after reaching the top, I was like shit do I really have to do this. It’s really scary even though you know the belay system and harness will not fail you. For the first 2 walls, I actually climbed my way down to a less scary height and slowly release. So loser. Subsequently I just got better at letting go. ;) The Caving Ladder was scary to me though! You had to climb with a view of the stadium and I was at the halfway mark and already feeling scared. And the thing is usually when you let go, your feet will hit the wall and slowly bring you back down but with the ladder, there was nothing solid to hit!!

My advice would me when you reach the part when you let go – DO NOT HESITATE OR LOOK DOWN. Just go down gracefully while shouting “Watch Out”! J

It was a fun and great experience I would say, despite me listing out so many things I dislike. I hope it is a one-off case lah, regarding the lack of staff/safety issues. After the climbs, I ached for 2 days btw. My arms and back especially… Haha.

Would I be back?

Maybe if I am near the area? I wouldn’t specially go down for it! Yup and that concludes the end of my Clip ‘N’ Climb experience!

Clip 'N' Climb
HomeTeamNS Tampines
51 Tampines Ave 4
#03-03 Our Tampines Hub
Singapore 529684