Rock Climbing Basics
“See this piece jutting out at the top? Its called the ‘jug’, that one where you have to hold below the rock is called undercut” explained Ravi, our group’s instructor as the sun blazed down on the rocks at Turahalli, a forest reserve, just 10 kilometres from namma Bengaluru. The group had collected at Adigas on Kanakapura Road for a steaming but surprisingly not-so-good breakfast of Idlis. The instructors, Narasimha & Ravi, freelancers who practise rock climbing at Turahalli every weekend, arrived at the right time. They work with ‘Wanderers’, an adventure and outdoor events group for rock climbing programs.
Off the busy Kanakapura Road the instructors led us through a meandering road that took one away from the civilization to a hill full of boulders, shrubs and trees. This hill at Turahalli was our rock climbing venue. As we climbed towards the base of huge boulders, I took a photo of the nearby Kanakapura skyline. Huge apartment townships stood looming at the forest region. Civilization has suddenly raced up this area.
Rock climbing theory was over in five minutes. And each one of us had to practice it on a good sized boulder in front of us. Rock-Climbing-123 had started. The group was a potpourri of people from different professions, and age groups. While Suchitra was in her mid forties, Amrinder looked very young. She and her husband had come here for a getaway from the mall-movie-dinner kind of outing. The four member north Indian group were fun-loving, chiding each other and very adept at climbing. The Chennai based techie had taken a course long back and came here to refresh his skills. As we climbed, we found the foot holds and grips that we didn’t notice earlier. Narasimha offered helpful instructions –“Notice the possible holds”, “do not panic”, “if you bend your leg towards the rock, you’ll end up scraping your knee” – and patiently explained our mistakes as we reached the top. If climbing one rock took our breath away, the next one was harder. The feeling of exhilaration as you reach the top is hard to describe. While Narasimha was professional, Ravi took the friendlier approach. With his earnestness spiced with funny one-liners, he seemed a part of the group rather than an instructor.
Turahalli is a hill full of boulders of various sizes and shapes. It is a dry deciduous region full of shrubs and trees like the eucalyptus. This hill is the rock climber’s paradise. Every weekend there’s almost six to eight individual groups who come here to practise rock climbing. While some like us are novices, who come here to enjoy the experience, there are also professional climbers who practice here for international climbing events.
In recent years however, there has been land encroachments. Though the land belongs to the forest department, there are illegal layouts made by a nexus of local officials and developers. It’s nearness to the city had caught the eye of the land sharks. I just hoped that the recession has driven the developer away.
Our activity for the day had been climbing four different levels of boulders followed by a hearty lunch and then rappelling down a 40 foot rock face! If our climbing experience was tough, rappelling down the huge rock was just the opposite. Though the height was challenging, the strain on the climber is minimal. The rope holds the weight as you slid down to safety. The day ended with a 3 kilometre trek downhill towards the base. As we drove towards the city, I had to agree with Amrinder. It was indeed a better way to spend the day than the usual shopping or movie. And the view from the top the rock is breath taking!
