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Recently declared the fourth most favoured holiday destinations of the world, India is fast picking up pace for adventure sports.
This is an area that has caught up not only as a hobby but as a serious profession. However, very few people know that India is highly untapped for adventure sports. It has the best of natural land and water facilities that an adventure sportsperson could ever wish for.
Whether you want to experience, the thrill of skiing down slopes of snow, rafting on some of the most exciting rivers in the country, trekking on beautiful lands, or hand gliding over deep gorges, India has everything to offer the braveheart.
India offers both variety and fun at prices that are most competitive. The diversity one comes across is staggering. While its mountains provide heli skiing, river running, trekking and mountaineering and its beaches provide excitement and fun of a different kind, the jungles provide ample opportunities for shooting wild life- with a camera.
If you have not had adventure in India, then you need to because you don’t know what adventure is about until you experience it in India!
All this at very affordable costs, too!
ROCK CLIMBING
Rock climbing is the sport for the adventurous soul. In India, it has witnessed a constant increase in its members. Steep rocky cliffs and mountainsides offer much to explore and conquer to those with an inclination towards the sport, and a fascination for it.
Although physically exhausting, rock climbing is one of the most challenging of sports. It is, often, considered as the first stage for mountain climbing. Rock climbing is the most basic level of climbing a rock face. While the hands and feet do most of the work, safety equipment like ropes, body harness, friends (cramming devices that are wedged in the crevices) and nuts (metal wedges of different sizes) are essential for a rock climber.
Rock climbing uses a minimum of aids and the challenge is to find the toughest route and scale it in the least possible time.
India has a quite a few places that support rock climbing. The Manali valley in Himachal Pradesh is one such place for rock climbing tours. Bangalore, situated in the southern state of Karnataka, has possibly the biggest concentration of granite in the country. The rocks range from two kilometre long boulder fields to rock domes rising 300 metres. There are smaller towers 60 m to 100 m with perfect cracklines from finger to offwidth. However, it is essential to clean the rocks on new routes since there may be loose flakes. Savandurga, near Bangalore, is the biggest dome. The main dome is 300 m high and has eight routes on it. But, the most exciting classic climb is "Bangalore Bill" which sports a 90 m crux pitch on thin protection but the moves never get harder than French 5c (5.70).
Ramanagram is another popular climbing area situated about 50 km from Bangalore on the road to the historical city of Mysore. The concentration of rocks here is amazing!
There is another attraction in Bangalore: boulders. The huge boulder fields are between 2 km to 3 km long, with boulders ranging from 5 to 20 m in height. These, of course, need a lot of time to explore. Turalli, 10 km south of Bangalore, and Raogudlu - 20 km on the same road - are good places to tone your on rock climbing skills! The granite is perfect though the rock can be rough. The problems usually involve hard crystal pinching and balancing moves on sharp flakes.
An interesting place for rock climbers is Hampi, the "City of Rocks." 350 km north of Bangalore, there are endless boulders strewn ranging from 4 m to 60 m here. The interesting ruins of this ancient capital city are spread over an area of 14 sq. km. One can spend days together exploring this maze of rocks. There are some good crack lines, which have been done. The flakes are sharp and positive on very steep faces. There is a lot of potential for new routes at all grades. The town of Badami and its environs north of Hampi is another good area with potential for new routing on the overhanging sandstone.
Apart from these, there are other good rock climbing areas such as Dhauj, situated 50 km south-west of Delhi. The rock is steep quartzite with 250 routes from 4a (French grade) 5.3 to 7b 5.12). This is strictly a traditional climbing area with the no-bolt-ethics strictly followed.
Other areas with great climbs are at Mt. Abu in the West Indian state of Rajasthan and Pachmarhi in Central India. The Gangotri gorge, 400 km north of Delhi in the state of Uttar Pradesh, has immense opportunities of wall climbing on walls ranging from 200 m to 1,000 m. |
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