It never occur to me to ever in my life to attempt rock climbing not until some unknown yet friendly sales guy from Adidas injected the idea of indoor rock climbing to me sometime early this year. I remembered him asking if I am an outdoor junkie and whether I have tried rock climbing before. I said Yes, I am somewhat an outdoor junkie however I have never done rock climbing ever and upon hearing that, he quickly recommended Mad Monkeyz indoor rock climbing gym. I took note of this gym and forgotten all about it until someone in our outdoor gang started asking about this rock climbing gym at Putrajaya. Long story short, a group of 10 of us went for rock climbing some weekends ago and it was really fun!
Myself on the right, hanging on to dear life!
Getting to this Putrajaya Challenge Park or locally translated on the signboard as Taman Cabaran is pretty easy. Follow the signboard for Precint 5 and don’t be surprised if you have to go through the Muslim cemetery and see many cars parked around the area. Keep going ahead from that cemetery and the many cars you see are from people attending the burial ceremony and no, they are not visiting the Challenge Park like you are.Haha. You will see the Taman Cabaran signboard and the welcome banner a couple of minutes drive up ahead.
Welcome climbers to Putrajaya Challenge Park
After getting changed (there’s changing room with showers and loo) and paying up the fees (entrance fee: RM 6 + we shared shoes, harness and belayer service, so each person pay a total of RM11), we were directed to the beginner’s wall. To tell you the truth, the wall is pretty intimidating and out of no where, I feel scared and anxiety take the better of me. The wall is high and it looks tough to climb. I struggled with the harness for a good 5 minutes and up I went making my first attempt at indoor rock climbing. Man, it was tough! I was clueless at most time on where I should put my hands and feet. I kept hearing people from below shouting up to me, to push with my legs, don’t use my hands to pull myself up. But what the heck right, I was loosing grip and your immediate response is to hold on tight on the rocks with your bare hands. Despite being roped on a harness, it feels a whole lot safer to grip those rocks with your own hands rather than letting go of yourself to the hands of the belayer( the guy holding the rope down from your harness). During this first attempt, I made only inches away from the top and on the second run, this time with shoes on, and after endless shouts of “where to hold on” later to my belayer, I made it to the top. For no reason at all, you begin to perspire like crazy because unknowingly, it takes a whole lot of energy to pull yourself up when you do rock climbing.
Beginner's boulder is easy? So NOT!
Next up, I tried going for the beginner’s boulder – the one with the thick mattress on the ground. I found myself stuck on I think the 45 degrees slant on the wall and I hesitated on whether to jump down from 2 meters below or keep trying to go up or climb down a little bit and then jump. After much struggle, I chose the latter and it can get very intimidating and nerve wrecking to jump that high (although it may probably be less than 2 meter high). After much photo snaps later and only 2 climbs on the beginner’s wall and 2 climbs on the beginner’s boulder, I called it a quit.
Rock climbing takes a lot of energy out of you and yes you gotta be fit to enjoy this game. One thing I really like about it though is the amount of calories you get to burn in a short period of time and let say if I continue working on this rock climbing activity for sometime, I’m sure to have a very fit body. I would highly suggest rock climbing for anyone game enough for adventure and most importantly want to have a full body workout quickly in a short period of time. Most people say, rock climbing can get pretty addictive because you will want to do it again and again after your first climb. Personally, I would like to think, yeah, I’ll do it again next time but I’m not too sure if I’ll get addicted to it. Other than that, if you are given a chance to try out on indoor rock climbing gym or better the real deal on a real, outdoor rock face, do give it a go and don’t be afraid to annoy your belayer or instructor on where to put your hands and feet during your climb.
The indoor rock climbing gym at Putrajaya
*pictures courtesy of Azrul
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adult fee is RM6 but the staff there count all as per student’s fee which is RM3 actually. so, plus the shared shoes, harness and belayer service it cost us RM11 . can’t recall the item price for shoes & harness.
Yeah, I wasn’t paying much attention about the payment and booking discussions. Was fussing about with the size 6, super tight at the toes shoes and man, those shoes stinks! haha.
i stay in bangi, would like to join you guys if you guys plan to go for wall climbing in the near future.. let me know @ sham; somecd1983@yahoo.com
Hi Sham! Apparently, it was my first climb there and I’m not quite sure when will be the next. I’m not sure with the rest of the gang though. I’ll ask around if the guys are going there religiously these days.
so awesome…. it make thinking to go see by myself….so can i get office phone number to book for me and family….
Hello, I am coming from Singapore to climb for a few days. Do you guys have any place to recommend for 8 people to stay? Preferably near the climbing gym. Thanks!
Hi Keith! The climbing gym at Putrajaya isn’t located near town and Putrajaya is not really a place for travellers to stay. I would suggest you to stay somewhere around KL (the city centre) and it is best to rent a car to get to this climbing gym at Putrajaya. Taxi ride is really going to cost you in Putrajaya and this place isn’t really feasible with the public bus transport. I’m not sure though.
Alternatively, you can head to Camp 5 climbing gym at One Utama, Bandar Utama. It’s right in the shopping mall at One Utama and it’s easier to get around too.
If you want to go all out with the real deal, do head out to Batu Cave for some pure rock climbing experience. I haven’t been there myself, so yeah, you gotta run some Googling for it. Hope these points helps.
Went to Mad Monkeyz cause dekat dgn rumah.not so big but satisfying
especially for beginner like me hehe.nk try kt putrajaya ni but dont know the place.reading ur post made me wanna go there so baaad hahah.
Go Diana, Go! Haha. Climbing can be really addictive but you know what, I only did it once at Putrajaya but yeah, would love to do it more often if it’s just feasible enough for me to get there. Oh another thing, you can also try out Camp5 at OU. At least after the climb, you can hang out at the mall and it’s easier to get to.
nk pegi putrajaya nnti bole pegi skali ramai2 br syok!!!
We’ll see how…hehe
hey there =) im interested in this rock climbing thingy n was wondering whether i need to book in advance or is always available once i arrive dere ? jusy wan to knoe =)
Hi Dexter! If you are going on the weekends, I think it’s best to book ahead because that’s what we did previously. But my friend did all the booking for the gang, so I really have no idea how things work. Sorry, I’m not much of a help here.
Hi Dexter, the climbing place at Putrajaya is by each entry. Don’t have to book.
Good one Keith! Thanks for the info
hi there…
i would to join ur activity…can u share to me what is the upcoming activity..i seriously like the adventure activity
hi, i’ve been there last month, but just to take photo since i am not prepared to do climbing, the security guard outside just smile and let me in….After this raya, i will go there again with some of my friends…Btw, when i arrive there and want to climb? who i need to look for? just say to the guard that i want to climb or else? thx…and selamat Hari Raya to everyone..
Hi Ray! Apologies for the uber late reply and thanks for the Raya wishes.
I hope you haven’t gone to that place just yet as I’m typing this reply so that I can give you my tips. 
Well, the registration counter is located at the far right of the building. So if you come from the entrance and you see the guard, turn right and go until the end, past the changing room and you’ll see some guys in an office and pay up there. You only need to pay up if you would like to rent gears (shoes/ harness/belayer service) and if you are just there to try out the beginner’s boulder, it’s there for you free and you can just go without shoes or simply your socks. Hehe. But of course the adventure is with the much taller wall so that’s where you may need to hire gears and get belayer service for some quite reasonable charges. Those guys at the reg. counter will help you out on things , so ask away to them. They are the pros! Hope you’ll have lotsa fun rock climbing then 
GUys I juz wanna know…. the RM 11 is for entire day o juz for an hour….. cause shah alam extreme park cause way to muc…… reply me soon… tanx
Hi Ben! Rm 6 is the entry fee..for gear rental that RM11 is a divide between me and a couple of other friends. I don’t quite remember how much exactly is the rental + belayer charges if you need one. Need to dig more info on this. And the duration is only for an hour.
wanna add sumthing,the rental is for 3 HOURS and u can stay at SEPANG HOTEL in Dengkil.just 5 minutes away…thnx
Thanks for the add on information Ridhaa!