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In every journey, there are as many objectives missed as there are objectives gained. Arnold Toynbee, 1960.
Where is Singapore? As you open up a world map, go straight to the region on Asia. Look for Malayasia or West malayasia (below Thailand). Zoom down to the lowest or the southern tip of West Malayasia, you will find a mere dot on the map, which is Singapore. (Refer to the enlarged map on the right). Most of the natural rock formation(orignated from unused querries) and the good climbing sites are located in the central part of the island. Just at the outskirts of the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. There are some 40 rock routes in the two unused querries of Dairy Farm and Hindhede. Most routes are one pitch in length, with maximum of two pitches being the highest. About 80% of routes are bolted and the remaining 20% are traditional crack routes. Rock routes in Singapore uses the grading of the American Yosemite decimal. The easiest being 5.6 and the hardest is about 5.12c . Due to increasing number of non-climbing related accidents, the National Park Board has started to control access to the Hindhede querry. Today, access into Hindhede querry require special permit to be apply through any of the clubs affiliated to the Singapore Mountaineering Federation. Fortunately, the Dairy Farm querry is still open to the public. The cheapest way to get there is by public buses (no. 170, 172, 67, 75, 181, 182, 171). Foreign visitor may wish to get there by taxi if the cheapest mean is not a concern.
Background: Climbing started in Singapore around mid to late 1980s, with self-taught climbers exploring the cliffs of Dairy Farm Quarry. In 1989, the first permanent artificial climbing wall was built in SAFRA (Singapore Arm Forces Reservist Association) Tampines, followed by introduction of the climbing competition series, which is now a significant national climbing event in our annual climbing calendar. The sport is now growing rapidly in Singapore, with increasingly more people taking up climbing and many climbing walls being installed in schools and premises of uniform organisations. The idea to set up a body to facilitate mountaineering and climbing related sports was first initiated in 1990. With the support from various adventure clubs in Singapore and the Singapore Sport Council, the Singapore Mountaineering Federation(SMF) was officially established in september 1993. The SMF is affiliated to the Asian Committee for Climbing Competition based in South Korea and is also a council member of the South-East-Asia Council for climbing competition. The SMF is also a member of the UIAA, the world body representing climbing and mountaineering.
SINGAPORE NATIONAL CLIMBING STANDARDS (SNCS): For the past decade, due to the fact that the sport is relatively young both nationally and internationally, we did not have in place a national climbing standards or guideline to help steer the sport. For the sport to develop and progress with safety and performance standards maintained at the highest possible level, the Singapore Mountaineering Federation(SMF) initiated Project TOP OUT in 1996 to promulgate a set of national standards and guidelines for the sport of climbing. With the helped of many commiting climbers, instructors and also the professional services of Ms Anne Palmer, a NZ UIAGM mountain guide/climbing instructor/assessor. The fruit from 2 years of effort was the launched of the Singapore National Climbing Standards (SNCS). The SNCS was endorsed by the Singapore Mountaineering Federation and the Singapore Sport Council (SSC). Unfortunately, the SNCS climbing instructor scheme does not cover:
Affiliated Member Organisations: At present, the following organisations are affililated members of the SMF.
Enquiry: Any enquiry about the SMF should be directed to:
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