Southern Sandstone
Approach: From the M25 head south to Tunbridge Wells, continue past Harrison's
to the channel ports, cross to the Europe, then drive 17,000km to India through
the deserts of Iran and lawless back roads of Pakistan. There, set in verdant
green lowlands you will find the ancient temple complex of Badami but more
importantly; extensive, untouched Arapiles style crags. Or in other words,
southern Indian sandstone.
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In comparison to their more famous crag cousins in the south of England it
would be very unlikely for the peace of Badami to be broken by 47 coach loads
of scouts in Whillans harnesses intent on laying siege to dark chimneys and
throwing potted meat sandwiches. In fact the area has only just opened up
at all with two French climbers visiting in 2000 with a supply of bolts and
India's leading climber Mohit Oberoi starting to develop new routes such as
‘Thin Lizzy' E2 on trad gear. We thought we would take a peek to see
what the fuss was about.
On the Hot Rock Silk route 2000 expedition we had drove down the truly terrifying Indian roads from the north where we had, just, avoided being rammed into trees, ditches and oncoming trucks by deranged and mentally unstable drivers who treated the road as if they owned it; which, of course, they did. Catching the tail end of the monsoon the actual access was tricky as the main road generally resembled a cart track in Devon under repair. The last 50km of back-roads became interesting as the back-roads were like footpaths to a remote bothy in Scotland that had been under heavy shelling for some months. Flooded out rivers and moonscape roads eventually lead us to the small village of Badami nestled at the base of a dramatic escarpment hopefully to be the promised climbing Nirvana.
Established
comfortlessly in a £1 a night Indian hotel special with running (well,
dribbling) cold water (sometimes) and hygiene conditions best described as
condemnable. We set of to explore the crags wondering why we never managed
to get up before ten and thus always have to climb in the stinking mid-day
heat. Initial signs were promising; rock, tonnes of the stuff between 20-100m
high stretching for at least 4km. Further exploration lead us to discover
that behind the main escarpment was a labyrinth of narrow canyons with vertical
shady walls. The rock was as good as sandstone gets, like the unclmbed wall
area at Harrisons with rugosites, tiny crimps and weird protrusions providing
'thank god' holds where necessary.
Up
near the fort complex Dave Lucas and myself immediately started our first
project a dramatic 30m line rising though two overhangs. After getting permission
from the museum we bolted the line which afforded spectacular views of the
local open air toilet in the village below. Soon the crowd gathered for the
main event Whilst the drilling had simply attracted a reasonable mass (say
a couple of hundred) the actual spectacle of westerners imitating monkeys
whilst trailing ropes was a far bigger crowd puller. They lined the path below
like Romans waiting for the inevitable mauling of a few Christians.
As
the fever pitch grew and Dave donned his Scarpa's, failure did not seem an
option as we feared being lynched and more importantly the crowd asking for
a refund. The now gathered thousands cheered heartily as Dave completed the
sequeney British 6a lower moves past the difficult clip. The upper overhangs
whilst pumpy, went at 5c on well spaced jugs to give ‘Monsoon Madness1
(E4 6a) and wild applause from a crowd now numbering something like Manchester
United would have been proud of at a home game. Night time celebrations did
not differ much from weekend climbing in England, loads of beer, bullshit
and curry and wild claims as to what would be achieved the next day, so an
early start was planed.
We
trudged to the crags (circa mid-day) in temperatures roughly those of the
surface of the sun, which, in any case did not look to far away. Meeting up
with other climbers from the Hot Rock Expedition we climbed numerous trad
routes in the canyons before spotting a possible line linking a series of
pockets up a wall overhanging 4 meters in its 20m height. The lack of possible
gear on the route soon had us reaching for the overworked Hilti to prepare
the line. Heinous side pulls, wild dyno's, an armbar, a balancy traverse,
a crucifix move and some crimp pulling saw the route go on sight at E5 6b/c
and create 'Orange plasma wall'.
By
now the awesome nature of the rock was becoming apparent. It was simply so
well featured it looked like a Bendcrete wall created for the sole purpose
of climbing. Every move and route were completely unique, almost gritstonesque.
The crags provide both overhanging lines on jugs and also technical face routes
on tiny chicken heads. Whatever your grade and preferences its all catered
for. An arete for breakfast, a wild roof line for lunch and maybe a soaring
crackline for supper as the sun sets over the riot of colour that is India.
Meanwhile, whilst Dave and I had been busy it appeared so had the rest of our group with over 30 new routes having been established. Notable was 'Strap Back’ E3 5c a bold undertaking with ground fall potential from the crux lead onsight on trad gear by Ben George & Tim Seel. Further away on probably the most dramatic and uninterrupted cliff named the soup kitchen, Bill Stubbs had bolted four lines from French 6a to 7a. All the routes had an airy abseil to bolt belays on the lip of a huge overhang from where climbs arrowed upwards.
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On our final day in Badami after a weeks excellent uninterrupted craging we took part in a light hearted bouldering competition on the multitude of boulders scattered below the crags. Mark Dray set some challenging problems and when our fingers were mashed we gave up and headed to Goa for some much needed R&R, Only 12 hours East of Goa and five hours North of Hampi, Badami should definitely be included in any climbing trip to India. If this area was in Europe it would be absolutely packed full of climbers queuing for routes so if I were you, I'd get out there before it is.
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Info File
Getting there
The best place to fly into is Goa from where you can get a bus via Hubli (12
hours). A scheduled flight should cost £3-400 and and look around for
charter flights with package holiday deals as they can work out very cheap.
Its a simple bus ride down to Hampi for excellent bouldering or a 10 hour
train to Bangalore for 400m granite domes. For increased prospects at survival
try and choose a bus driver at least in part possession of any mental faculties
and driving ability.
Route info.
We left information on the existing routes in the KSTDC hotel in Badami as well as a write up in the Hampi route book at the Mohgli cafe in Hampi Bazaar. A good contact is Mohit Oberoi who runs a climbing wall building business in Delhi and is one of India's leading activists. The Indian mountaineering council has a web site and list of contact addresses. There is a also a strong climbing scene in Bangalore and the best way to find existing routes before a guidebook is made is to get in touch with the local cumbers and meet up. Bill Stubbs made an extensive map of all the areas if you are seriously planning on new routing, contact me.
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Tips for Indian climbing | |
• Needless to say take all the gear you will need with you as Outside
have not opened their India branch yet.
• If you take a drill remember to take a plug converter for your charger.
• Pick your time to visit so as to avoid the monsoon (roughly British
summer) and also the hottest time of year.
• Whilst crowds can swell into vast proportions it is easy to get away
from it all if you just walk a bit further out of town to new route or delve
further into the labyrinth of gorges.
• .Be careful of both children and monkeys throwing sticks and stones
at you as the old adage goes they break your bones and thus cut short your
climbing holiday.
• Anything shiny left around the crag will definitely disappear with
breath taking speed so be aware at all times.
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