Sport climbing isn’t new to Malaysia; in fact, the community is growing steadily. With the Olympics including climbing as one of the mandatory sports at the upcoming 2028 games, there’s been a spike in interest and participation among climbers of all ages.
With a mission to give back to the climbing community, Batuu Climbing opens its doors to everyone — whether you’re a casual climber or a dedicated enthusiast. This newly opened climbing gym in Petaling Jaya promises an experience of limitless possibilities and fun on its expansive bouldering walls, designed for climbers of every skill level.
Not only does this climbing gym provide a space for people to build confidence and challenge themselves, but it’s also equipped with training walls, a workshop wall, a cafe, luxurious shower facilities, a kids’ area, and comfortable lifestyle spaces to relax and work. Plus, the designated areas for bouldering, competition walls, and rope climbing enhance the tailored experience for all patrons, including little climbers, newbies, and experienced pros.
Recently, Zhao and Francis, the founders of Batuu Climbing, sat down with us to discuss the gym, its vision and mission, and the future of climbing in Malaysia.
Interview with Zhao and Francis, The Founders of Batuu Climbing
What sets Batuu Climbing apart?
Zhao: I would say what sets Batuu Climbing apart is the people behind it. The team behind the brand is what drives us to be good today and for many more days to come. I will say that the vision is to be the climbing centre to make your life better, even if only a little bit better. That’s the vision. So, each time you come here to Batuu Climbing, it’s not just for climbing; it’s everything else as well.
What is the vision and mission of Batuu Climbing?
Zhao: Even if you don’t climb, the vision is that when you leave this facility, you just feel a little bit better. And you cannot explain why. That’s the secret sauce; the people behind it. The mission for that is coined by this restaurateur called Will Guerra, “unreasonable hospitality.”
Some of us have been practising that before we started Batuu, but I would like to credit him for coming up with the term “unreasonable hospitality” — customers come first. Customer is first, but not King. The reason why I say that is because the customer may not know what they are going to experience. We are here to share a new customer journey.
Unreasonable hospitality is the whole process of hospitality and the thought process, the invisible design behind it to lead to what the customer is experiencing today. It may seem unreasonable, but it makes sense from a business, customer experience, lifestyle, and social perspective. And that’s the mission.
I told the team, always uplift the customer and your teammates. You have your teammates’ backs, and your teammates have yours. And I say this because we are in the service industry, where there are times when we deal with complex situations. You need to uphold the customer image, your personal image and the brand’s image. So hopefully, with this core mission, we’ll drive the vision to allow us to create a warm place to share experiences.
So, if you don’t mind me asking, does your mission and vision stem from experiences, other dreams, or something you’d like to see in the future?
Zhao: I am blessed to have met many great people since I started working, or even since I was young. I’ve always been surrounded by great people who ask for nothing in return but empower, mentor and guide me. I always wondered why I have this opportunity or chance to do bigger things beyond myself. And that inspired me to give back to the community in some sense. But, how do I give back to the community? If I open the next gym, how can I contribute back even more from all these experiences? And Francis came along and we had
a similar vision. We know that climbing is growing. It’s in the Olympics already. Francis and I thought about what we can do next for the community or next-generation.
Francis: What we are looking at is maybe not this generation, maybe 10 years down the road. It’s a long-term investment. Along the way, at the end of the day, we are giving back to the climbing community and supporting the athletes. We hope that if they do very well, we will be able to sponsor them and provide quality training. We also must have a very strong team where everyone shares the same passion, and they feel the sense of belonging to a certain place that they would like to party. Everyone shares the same vision, and together we will grow Batuu into something bigger.
How big is the team currently?
Zhao: Our team is growing steadily. We currently have on average, more than 10 full timers with an army of part timers. We observe how modern, newer and older climbing gyms are successful. How do they do things? Do we over hire? Do we under hire? Who do we focus on first? Do we focus on the wall? Do we focus on branding? Or do we focus on the people behind it all? These were and still are my thought processes. The bottom line is that one day, we will both be old and unable to move. What carries the brand then? It’s the people. The people that carry the brand are already next to us. The secret sauce is the people behind this.
And the brainchild behind this, before you established Batuu, how many guys were in this planning team?
Zhao: Stepping away from BUMP, I had one year of non-compete within a certain radius of the business. I took this as a break to find more inspiration. Along the way, I had some ideas of what to do next year, and Francis came along. That transformed my idea into an even better idea on how to not only create a place like a second home or third space, but how to actually have a real long-term vision of growing the nation. Hence the word Batuu Climbing. I want it to be a proud Malaysian brand.
Can you elaborate more on the name of Batuu?
Zhao: When I was in BUMP, I was planning the next brand within BUMP itself. I was thinking, what do I call BUMP 2? What do I call a sub-brand of BUMP? What do I call an offset brand of BUMP? Because BUMP was my baby at the time. What should I call it? I had a few names in mind.
In general, it starts with B. And B is one of the most common names in the whole climbing industry. It would be difficult to develop logos and the names.
But then, I had a short break, and I could start thinking a bit more creatively. I could start fresh. I was inspired by Burger Lab, by how they popularised gourmet burgers Malaysian style. There are seasonal Malaysian flavours, but generally, it’s still a proud Malaysian brand.
That ingrained in me, how do I localise the branding to be a proud Malaysian brand? So Batuu Climbing came along. Between Single U and Double U, when I started doing the font for Batuu or started playing with the design, no matter what I did, aside from Comic Sans font, it would look like a fine dining restaurant.
I do not want it to be so elitist. If you want it to grow and be community-driven, it has to be a bit more accessible. The branding has to be a bit more playful. Hence, I just added one more
U. It’s a bit more fun.
Of course, the identity of climbers has changed. Now younger climbers are willing to invest in gear, to invest in membership, and to invest in competing. Maybe I’ll take it from your point of view. What is the profile of a Batuu climber? How would you describe a patron of Batuu Climbing?
Zhao: The environment that I want to create is warm and inviting. And when you leave the place, you feel a bit better about yourself or about the world, kind of thing. Sounds very cringy and cliché, but that’s my dream too, in our own way. The climbers who I want to see in Batuu are those who want to share experiences. They can share on the wall; they can share off the wall. Our off-wall space is quite huge. The facility is designed in such a way that there are spaces of walls for you to have a more focused climb and you can have your own climbing zone.
Francis: I am really happy to see a large majority of our climbers are young people. We can see that they are new to rock climbing. In a way, as the community grows, we can better support the growth of climbing. The number of Malaysian climbing athletes that go out and compete in the international scene is still very small. So, we hope in the future, there will be more young people climbing in a safer manner. We also want to advocate for them not only to climb strong but to climb safely by helping them build character from a young age. This way, as they grow, they will have access to guidance and information in a dedicated space where they can continue to develop and improve themselves.
Zhao: The best part about climbing is that in that journey, someone is cheering for you in the background. In my opinion, there is no other sport that does this as well as climbing. It’s the community. There’s no other sport that actually does this. Climbing is a unique sport that encourages self-reflection and personal growth.
I’m keen to bring my kids down. In the long term, maybe you might be thinking of youth programmes?
Zhao: Batuu Kids will be split into three areas: in one zone, there is the play side where the kids have fun with a climbing element included. On the other side, there’s a more serious climbing area with a proper kids’ route and proper kids’ grading. Finally, there is an auto-belay (rope) zone which includes timers where kids can either compete or beat their record – to foster the spirit of competition and self-improvement.
Francis: We are committed to nurturing the next generation of climbers. My team and I came up with this idea. We want to do it, especially for the kids, because you can’t expect a 7 or 8- year-old to climb a 25-footer.
Zhao: If the kids can listen to instructions and understand the cueing system of climbing, then, depending on who can vouch for them, they may go to the adult zone. Certain kids’ areas are designed for children below a specific height. We are doing this because safety comes first.
Francis: The kids’ grading system our team created aligns with international competition standards. We synchronise our programme with these standards. This way, from the beginning, they are exposed to the categories they may want to compete in for the long term. It’s a very transparent system that everybody, including the parents and kids, understands.
Programmes-wise, we have “Rockin’ The Basics”, which is our kid’s beginner class. This class is only available for walk-ins during our opening promotion. No booking is required!
On the other hand, we also have Private Coaching for the more serious kid climbers. We have our Senior and Junior Coaches available for parents to choose from to guide their child(ren)’s climbing journey.
To wrap up the interview, one last question. In one sentence, how would you describe Batu to attract people?
Zhao: “A warm place to share good experiences.” Interacting with people can be complex, but it’s important to focus on creating a welcoming space where people can connect and share their experiences. Our focus is on building strong relationships with our customers and providing a warm place to share good experiences.
Francis: For me, it will be, “a place that is very encouraging for people to climb.” In the sense that we design the routes so that when people climb, they feel good after. When you climb, you motivate yourself, and you want to go higher and higher. That’s the key: keep on climbing and it gives you the hope that you can do it, rather than feeling discouraged. That’s my idea.
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