Mount Kinabalu was a 3 day thing last month that was actually pretty uh.. different. I don't really say fun cos the actual climb was anything BUT fun. It was a REALLY good experience though. I kind of regret not training properly for the climb cos I think if I wasn't so tired, it would have been way more enjoyable. The climb up itself wasn't too bad actually, cos we were all still pretty fresh. The entire climb lasted about 2 days overall, both up and down. Started from base camp around 8am or so and climbed for about 6 hours before reaching the checkpoint lodge. Never been so happy to see a building in my life. I was grouped together with Shaun from 62nd and a few other guys. Had an early dinner and slept around like 8pm? Since we were supposed to wake up at 1.30am next day to start our summit attempt. Had to wake up midway cos I needed the toilet and fml couldn't sleep at all after that. The sergeant next to me had his phone off silent so whoever he was messaging kept sending shit and I couldn't get any shut eye at all. Add to the fact that my knee joints were aching like fuck from the upclimb and that was one of the worst nights I've had. Reported at 1.30 or so for the summit climb. Was pretty cold and the thin air was very noticeable. Idk how to explain it, but it's like taking a deep breath but still feeling short of air. Heart was pounding so hard while climbing haha. The top part was mostly barren rock and very slope-y, which was worse cos it meant using mostly my calf muscles when climbing, which tired me out faster. Had to take a huge amount of breaks and was climbing really slowly. 4 hours later managed to catch the sunrise just in time. And Holy. Shit. That was something that was really really mind-numbing. To look around and see yourself above the clouds. It was like seeing a sunrise from an airplane but you were outside the cabin. Feeling the wind and the sun on your face in all its glory. Fuck yeah Mother Nature. The downclimb was really the most gruelling. They weren't joking when they said it was more tiring than the upclimb. My knees and joints were so fucking sore all the way until the bottom. Felt like just cutting my legs off and be done with it. Worse still, I had a corn on the bottom of my foot that hurt like a BITCH and I could feel every step of the way. Oh wells, at least I didn't die on that mountain, so sayonara Kinabalu.
Christmas was pretty uneventful so I'll just skip that.
Next thing was GRAVICAL. Was really excited actually to see Akiyo Noguchi she's been one of my favourite world cup climbers cos even though she's shorter as an Asian you can see she puts in a LOT of effort during competitions. ASIA REPRESENT. That, and she's so cute as a person. Went down all 4 days to support the team and congrats to [Vincent: For finally becoming INTER WONG], [Xin: For getting finals in her first Inter comp. I was a very very proud mama], [RahRah Yeoh: For nearly promoting during the same finals as well. That was a helluva performance. Open is waiting for her arrival very soon]. Special mention to Ryan Tay who was beasting during qualifiers and just missed out on promotion, and also to soon-to-be-married Coach Nic who scored semi-finals in Open. Open finals was on Sunday evening and it was INTENSE. No one completed Route 1 for both male and female. Hazlee got a bonus on Route 1 and that was only cos he was tall (legit). The first top came for the females from LITING <3 p="">
The crowd went wild cos that was the first route that ANYONE had finished. She eventually won the entire thing together with Adriel, which made me a very happy fanboy. Overall, Gravical was a super great 4 days. My only regret is that the rest of the team wasn't there for it.
Speaking of the team, I miss them so so much. I miss the trainings. I miss taking 48 with them to Little India MRT. I miss waiting for goddamn Matthias every single time. I miss staying way too late after training still climbing with them. And miss how we'd finally go to eat, clearing NTUC of all their soya milk at the same time. I miss the mock comps, how the guys would cheer on the girls and vice versa. I miss so much. But everyone's moved on. All the girls have work and don't come to climb at all after that. Even Jasmine found work lol. And the rest of the guys are just MIA nowadays. It's just left with Jia Zhi, Chen Zhi, Haziq and me to hold the fort. Sometimes Vincent and Gabriel come but it'll never be the same. I look back on my insta and blog posts last year during farewell and realise how WISHFUL I sounded. Even though back then I knew, deep down that everything has to change. It's the only constant in this world after all. And it doesn't make me angry or sad I just feel so full of regret. That why forge something so strong only for everyone to just fade away like it was never there to begin with. Mannnnn
It doesn't help that I having lots of doubts about this issue now. I think it's just the same thing as always, even though I WANT it to be different. To be something that actually matters to me. But I know, anyhow. It's just a manifestation of my own feelings of inadequacy. That I do care is one thing, but to care in that manner. Meh.
Anyhoooo~ Going of to Krabi tomorrow and I still haven't packed. Kinda excited but nervous also. First time going overseas with just friends. Here's to not dying! LOL
Good Night
Time to do or die
