It all started with a question.

“Why isn’t there an indoor climbing gym in Penang?”

Back in 2015, Project Rock started in the backyard of @bho4826 and @squiggittarts as an experimental pet project. We designed, built and hand-carried (!!!) the bouldering structure up to the 8th Floor of 1st Avenue Shopping Mall! It was open to the public from Oct to Nov 2015!

In the beginning, we were planning to transition to a full blow climbing gym after the three-month trial run in First Avenue. However, our plan got disrupted and at the end of the day, we did not start a rock climbing gym right away.

Only by the end of 2016, @kaevin_g met @bho4826 and they devised a plan to revive @projectrockpenang .

In May 2017, the construction of Project Rock began. As we didn’t have a big budget, we decided to do the design and construction ourselves.

As @bho4826 was running a restaurant and @kaevin_g was working a day job as an electronic engineer, they only did the construction after 5pm and on the weekends. With some help from @squiggittarts and @brandonteoh , we managed to complete the gym in 4 months and opened on 16th October 2017.

The gym was designed and built to specs of a home gym requirement and it has stood the test of time!

In March 2019, Ikano Handel approached us to open a rock climbing gym in IKEA Batu Kawan. We said yes. After that, we spent 3 months designing, making purchases, setting up the logistics. We spent another 3 months to construct the climbing gym. We had to overcome a lot of challenges and obstacles in order to meet the deadline. On 12 December 2019, Project Rock @ IKEA Batu Kawan was open to the public!

So here we are, with our second outlet located in IKEA Batu Kawan, providing the people of Penang and Seberang Perai with a space to climb!

If you are new to climbing, here are some tips for first timers! 🙂