AsiaLIFE

Though not for those with severe vertigo, rock climbing is a fun and challenging activity for people of all ages. Now you can also do it in Phnom Penh. Words by Nora Lindstrom.

Moving to Cambodia can mean having to give up particular sports or hobbies, especially if they relate to ice or snow. A novel setting can however also prompt starting something new. With Khlimb the Penh, the capital’s latest recreational club, not only those with a background in rock climbing can enjoy the sport, beginners can have a crack at it too.

“We’ve had people between the ages of four and seventy climb the wall,” says Yves Nommay, one half of the duo behind the climbing venture. While watching yet another person scale the 9m rock wall at Kidz Cool “fun village” in Chroy Changvar, Yves explains how climbing really is an activity the whole family can enjoy. Observing kids in swimsuits eagerly making their way to the top, it seems that it is the adults who are having more trouble finding the right hand and foot holds.

A French climbing enthusiast since the age of 12, Yves started Khlimb the Penh last year together with Irishman Tony Keating. The informal club’s first event was the scaling of the unfinished “Yellow Tower” building in Chroy Changvar. The two put together a temporary 25m climbing wall on the site, welcoming both old and young to have a go at making their way up over a weekend in October. “200 to 300 people came on the first day alone,” says Yves. He adds that locals in particular surprised him with their skills. “Cambodians are very fit climbers,” he says. “I’d like to start a climbing federation here, get Cambodians to compete in regional level climbing competitions.”

Yves and Tony met by chance in Phnom Penh. Yet unlike Yves, who has spent a lifetime climbing rocks and walls, Tony comes to climbing more from the engineering and construction side. “We make the climbing walls ourselves using materials sourced from Cambodia,” he says. To ensure a good price for materials, Yves and Tony hired Sok Sophorn to take care of the sourcing. Though a novice to the field of climbing, she was excited about scaling walls. “At first it was difficult, but now I really like climbing,” she says, before spider-like she makes her way to the top again.

“We’ve had a lot of nannies come with their kids,” Yves says about the event at Kidz Cool. “It took some convincing, but eventually most of the nannies too had a go at the wall. They did really well, and it was only when they looked down whilst on the top that they got scared!”

Tony assures there is no need to feel unsafe. “It took a week to prepare the wall,” he says. “We first made sure the safety was in place.” Yves claims that Khlimb the Penh’s safety precautions are stricter than what would commonly be found in Europe. “The top five important things in climbing are safety, fun, self-confidence, trust, and again safety,” he says.

The main problem facing Yves and Tony is finding new, exciting locations for future climbs. “It would also be nice to have a big indoor space,” says Tony, adding that some of the international schools as well as the Kidz Cool establishment have showed interest in building permanent walls.

Yves adds that there are some outdoor climbing sites in Cambodia for more advanced climbers. “There is one in Kep by the reclining Buddha that was set up by an American some time ago,” he says.

The next Khlimb the Penh event will be an extensive rope course at Kidz Cool. That will have to wait until mid-February however when Yves and Tony return from a work trip to Iraq, where they will be providing security training to NGOs operating in the war-torn country.

For more information about Khlimb the Penh, visit: www.khlimbtech.com, or call Tony on 012 279 870.

For more information about outdoor climbing in Cambodia, read: Rock Climbing in Cambodia, by Benjamin Tipton. US$15 from Monument Books.