History of Climbing Around Bangalore

The history of Bangalore’s Rock Climbing tradition can be dated back to the 1960’s. The early pioneers Govind Raju from Mysore, establisher of the Deccan Mountaineering League and Usha Ramaiah co-founder of the Karnataka Mountaineering Association, set the foundation for rock climbing. To climb difficult routes, technical climbing gear is critical. The acquisition of this gear, although still expensive, was prohibited in those days.

EVOLUTION OF TECHNICAL ROCK CLIMBING

However, in the 1980s, a co-operative movement driven by clubs such as KMA (Karnataka Mountaineering Association)  and it’s offshoots SPARK (Society for Propagation of Activation of Rock Klimbing), The Climbers, KINS (of the) ROC, Hill Top, Mountaneering Club, Anveshak (MES College Club) and to some extent the BMSCE Mountaineering club, went underway. These clubs acquired ropes, harnesses, and rock protection gear including
nuts,pitons, and spring loaded camming devices. The luxury of having technical climbing shoes could only be afforded by few  in those days.

The evolution of climbing truly began in the 1980s with climbing gear being available, and new routes being put up. This meant minimal gear placements in the available cracks, flakes or hip belays in good stance (using the belayer’s body weight as the anchor). But, the harder routes still required appropriate modern gear.

Many local and international climbers in the 1980’s and 1990’s played a key role in the introduction of advanced climbing techniques. They not only established new routes, but pushed the limits by using advanced gear.

Amongst the earliest trad lines that were technically hard, two cracks, namely the Scott’s crack in Savandurga and Ramanagara were put up in 1985 by the renowned British climber Doug Scott and KV Mohan. The ‘Mezzanine Roof’ at Mayanganahalli Betta was first climbed by Goonda Srinivas in 1986.

When two visiting French climbers Philip and Domic opened a route in Handi Gundi, a rock climbing destination  at 50kms from Bangalore. In 1989, the first bolted route was established. Subsequently they established the first sport routes in Kabbal Durga situated at 80 kms from Bangalore as well, apart from opening the first pitch of Louvre, a classic 5.9+ crack at the Banyan Tree Pillar.

Jean-Francois Hagenmuller and KV Mohan opened the five classics: Namaste, Shanti, Beladingalu, Simple Monkey Day & Super Deluxe, in Ramanagara within the span of a month in 1990. Climbing at Shanti and Super Deluxe are not allowed anymore, as they come under the Ramanagara Vulture Sanctuary.  Even the routes on Savandurga are unsafe to climb due to the aging bolts.

From the 1980’s to the early 1990’s KV Mohan was an active climber. However, he was said to be appointed as a Liason officer with the IMF for visiting foreign climbers in the late 1980’s. He then leveraged his position to introduce Bangalore to many of the international climbers, visiting the Himalayas, including Doug Scott and Jean Francois Hagenmuller. Along with Rukmangda Raju, KV Mohan went on to set up various other trad lines such as the Prana Chimney and a few lines on Savandurga as well. By the late 1990’s he became less involved with climbing and more frequent at Guru Freddy’s Ashram on Kankapura road. In 1995, he passed away in an avalanche accident, while climbing in the Himalayas. ‘Mohana’ the classic route in Savandurga was named in his honor by Dinesh Kaigonhalli (Dini) ,  Krishnan Narayanan and the KINSROC group.

The KINSROC club was extremely popular in Bangalore during the late 1980s until the mid 90s. After the 90s, the individuals in this group simply dropped out of the club, but continued climbing.  The climbs by the KINSROC members were accomplished on routes such as the Flesh Trade (Dini and Mohit Oberoi at Savandurga), High Lonesome (Dini, Shyam, Ajay Thambay and others at BM Betta), Darkness of Dawn, Ramanagara (Dini), and the classic trad routes around the Banyan Tree Pillar (Mohit Oberoi,Dini, Seema Pai, Aveek Ghosh and other members).  KINSROC and its associated members are responsible for establishing over 60 routes around Bangalore, including the newer areas of Senapathy, Achalu wall, Mother Wall, Vanakkal Betta, Rainbow wall, and Kabbaldurga.

In the mid 2000s, Gerhard Schaar a visiting Austrian climber collaborated with Pranesh Manchaiah and other local climbers to pave over a dozen routes around Bangalore as part of the ‘Bolts for Bangalore’ project.  Gerhard and Prani were also responsible for introducing 150 bolted lines around Badami, which is set amidst the ancient Chalukyan Temples and red sand stone gorges. This is now the sport climbing ‘Mecca of India’.

Pranesh Manchaiah or Prani is one of the strongest climbers Bangalore has seen. Since the early 2000s he has been prolific in contributing towards new routes in areas such as Varlakonda, Atrani Gudda, Prana near Savandurga, Mayanganahalli Betta (Rasta Cafe area), Mother Wall (in collaboration with Dini), and Badami.

Balaji SR, a national level climber in the 2000s, successfully opened routes in the areas of Pond wall (where climbing is not allowed anymore unfortunately), Freaky Flake (at Gowda’s farm), Vani’s Wedding (an airy 5.11b climb, now inside the Ramanagara Vulture sanctuary and prohibited for climbing), etc.

It was not just the contribution towards new routes that defined the evolution of the Bangalore climbing community. The sustenance of the established routes was also necessary.  While many significant groups and clubs took up this responsibility, Ravi, currently a National Outdoor Leadership School, India official is remembered for the energy he brought to GETHNAA (General Thimayya National Academy of Adventure, a setup from 1989 by the Government of  Karnataka to promote adventure sports) during his leadership. He organized effective workshops to introduce new people and helped them in advancing their climbing skills.

Keerthi Pais the mentor and coach of climbers taking part in competitions, helped make Bangalore a popular destination for climbing competitions in the 2000s.  He is also responsible for the routes around Rasta Café (on Bangalore – Mysore Highway) Gethna, Magadi road, and Varlakonda.

In the early 2000s, the Gethna climbing wall was introduced at Kanteerava stadium. It initially helped professional climbers such as Balaji SR and Pranesh Manchaiah to train for outdoor climbing . However, the Wall began to satiate the climbing energy of many others as well, and thus came a cleavage between the outdoor climbers and climbers at the wall.  The energy exhibited in outdoor climbing seemed to slip and sputter during the late
2000s.  Many of the expert climbers seemed content with climbing the wall and rarely ventured outdoors with the energy they had in the previous decades.

Since 2014, there has been a revolution in Bangalore’s outdoor climbing, as climbing initiatives are being made by Dinesh Kaigonhalli, Pranesh Manchaiah, Keerthi Pais and others. They are responsible for over 90 new routes with a spread ranging from 5.6 through 5.12s, including trad, sport and multi-pitches. Overall, an average of 130 pitches has been added in the last three years alone.