Climbing is a fun family sport that children and parents can participate in together while getting a workout. You may even have seen people rock climbing in malls. We finally did it and strapped on a harness and checked out Climb Central, which now has a new climbing spot in the East at at i12 Katong.
Climb Central has four locations: Sports Hub, Novena Square, Funan Mall and i12 Katong.
We were invited to their latest outlet, touted to be the largest within a mall! Climb Central Katong is also the first outlet to have a jungle-themed wall just for children, illustrated by local artist Hollowist.
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Come September, Climb Central at i12 Katong will have a high-element kids rope course!
Getting Started & Safety Briefing at Climb Central
Before we could climb at Climb Central, we had to get our gear ready. We strapped on our harnesses and the climbing shoes. For smaller children, there were also child-sized harnesses.
After a tour of the facility at Climb Central, we were then giving a safety briefing on how to secure our carabiners to the belay systems, and also tried the practice arena before heading to the walls. Adults were taught how to manage the slack for the Lead Climbing walls. The instructors made sure that we knew how to handle the systems before we started climbing.
8 Climbing Lanes Just For Kids
Climbing lanes just for kids? Of course, and there are 8 of them with a height of 10 metres!
There are varying challenges – one with a rope ladder, tyres, rope, wooden planks and adorable holds in the shape of tortoises and fish.
As long as your child is 5 and up, with a minimum weight of 20kg, they can attempt to climb the walls!
As a parent, I liked it that they all made use of auto belay systems. This meant they could climb freely under our supervision. It also meant hands-free time for us to take more pictures of our children.
A Total of 50 Climbing Walls
Aside from the child-friendly climbing lanes, there are other lanes for children as well. One can choose the wall to scale based on the level of difficulty and climb by colour or otherwise. As there are some lanes without the auto-belay system, adults will need to support your child by managing the slack.
Adults can also scale the walls right next to their child and it could become competitive!
We tried a few of the walls and the children seem to do it so much quicker and better than the adults! It was a wonderful opportunity for families to try the same activities and play a sport together. Cheering one another one or just watching each other try to overcome obstacles adds to our family memory bank.
Climbing together with friends was also the perfect opportunity for a group play dates – since both adults and children could climb together.
Personally, I appreciated how the sport got everyone to try climbing even the youngest amongst us. It took us out of our comfort zones and helped us to manage our fear of heights, at least mine.
We were also inspired by the professional climbers trying the difficult routes particularly the overhang. The children were watching them intensely and were amazed to see the real “Spider-man” in action.
Heading Down (or Up) to Climb Central
The walls at Climb Central sees weekly updates the route to ensure fresh challenges. Fun is guaranteed as the climbing routes cater to different proficiency levels. Climb on and take your family with you!
For more information, head to Climb Central’s website.
