Ground Up Climbing

Most climbing gyms want you to have fun. Ground Up wants you to get stronger, and the grades say so.

Ground Up is the gym for climbers who are past the beginner wall and want to get stronger, and the setting says so: crimpy, finger-heavy problems graded on the standard V-scale rather than a gym-specific system. The prize is outside, an outdoor lead wall open to climbers holding SNCS Level 2. The compromise is comfort: no café, no neon and not much in the way of lounge space, so come to climb and eat elsewhere. Book a taster if you are curious about roped climbing; otherwise go after 7.30pm on a weeknight.

It sits on the second floor of the Civil Service Club at Tessensohn, about five minutes' walk from Farrer Park MRT, with a bowling alley downstairs. Singapore's climbing boom has produced gyms with cafés, neon and photogenic walls. This one is built for training, and it does not apologise for it.

The outdoor wall is the headline. Its lead routes run from 5C to 7B, overhang included, and it is the only outdoor lead wall among the city's climbing gyms. If you hold SNCS Level 2, it is the reason to choose Ground Up over somewhere closer to home; if you don't, it is a decent reason to get it.

Inside there is top-rope and auto-belay climbing and a bouldering room, plus guided classes, coaching and kids' sessions. The bouldering is where the old-school setting shows most. Standard V-grades on crimpy problems don't flatter anyone, and that is the point: train here for a few months and the numbers at the newer gyms start to look generous.

There is a gear shop stocked with local brands, handy when your shoes finally give out. And there is the bowling alley downstairs, which makes a post-session round of tenpin tempting, if arm-wrecking (your forearms will have something to say about the ball).

How to do it well: check the official site for current rates, classes and hours before you go. Off-peak entry is cheaper on weekday afternoons, and the facts box has the details; Monday opens only in the evening. For a session with room on the walls, aim for after 7.30pm on a weeknight, once the youth teams that train in the early evening have gone home. Chalk up for crimps, save something for the overhang and leave the bowling for a rest day.

Good to know Level 2, CSC@Tessensohn, 60 Tessensohn Road, about five minutes' walk from Farrer Park MRT. Outdoor lead climbing requires SNCS Level 2; check the official site for current rates, classes and hours.

Ground Up Climbing | Level 2, CSC@Tessensohn, 60 Tessensohn Road, Singapore 217664 | Nearest MRT: Farrer Park