| Cloud 9 on Savandurga, India Trip Report |
| Cloud 9 on Savandurga, India   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: Bengaluru (Bangalore), India, Asia Lat/Lon: 77.29288°N / 12.91965°E Date Climbed/Hiked: Jan 7, 2011 Activities: Sport Climbing Season: Winter | Page By: LoneRanger Created/Edited: Jan 11, 2011 / Jan 16, 2011 Object ID: 691245 Hits: 822  Loading... Page Score: 85.83% - 1 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
SavandurgaSavandurga stands about 1200 feet tall, 3300 feet MSL on the outskirts of Bangalore, India. Savandurga has the distinction of being the highest/largest monolith in Asia*. It has an important temple at the base and a small Nandi (holy Bull of Hindus) at its highest point. Please enlarge the picture to see it; the highest point is on the hill on the left; the route I describe is on the extreme right of this picture, and the normal hiking route is on the right, outside this picture
*This is debatable; according to this website the largest in Asia is Madhugiri. This debate is however entirely irrelevant for this story.
1996 fateful night: FlashbackI was 22, fresh out of college and waiting to start my first job. That is when I signed up for a day’s adventure with a fledgling adventure agency in Bangalore. Keerthi Pais was the leader. At the end of a hard outdoors day of introductory climbing, kayaking etc., the idea was to climb Savanadurga in the night with a select few daring guys. To be honest I had little idea what it was going to be like; I was stepping outside my comfort zone that involved hiking and camping in wild. We reached the base of Savandurga around 8 pm on a partially moonlit night. And then the party began ;-)
I was wearing ordinary trainers, I had zero knowledge of rock climbing but I was in high spirits and in decent health to make up for my lack of experience. Keerthi’s plan was to tie a rope around his waist and lead the route (he alone knew the route). The rest of us were unroped, however we could take the aid of the rope if we slipped. Essentially we were rope-free as I never touched the rope.
Well, the climb was scary to say the least; even the staunchest atheist would think of God during the climb. I simply didn’t have the option to turn back; my only escape would be to keep climbing up resolutely until we reached the top, after which we would find an easier route for descent. I maintained the climbing posture throughout the climb i.e. face toward the rock and on all fours; I was too scared to face out or sit even once; even the wait at the "belay stations" (basically a place where the leader would have enough foot-hold to catch a follower's fall) was in the same frozen position. Not a sip of water, not a moment to scratch an itch, not even peering down or looking at the watch during the whole climb. Anyway we reached the top in a few hours and made an uneventful descent around midnight. Barring a parched throat, both from exertion and constant fear, I don't recall having been too tired; the cold air was conducive for climbing.
I had nearly cried in fear during the climb (Ok, let me be honest, maybe I actually cried!); I had vowed never to climb anything remotely like this again. However, unknown to me, that night was a fateful one; deep inside, I had transformed from a hiker/nature loving backpacker to an adventurer and climber. Ironically the bug had bitten me but I had other priorities and I could not climb for 14 years after that.
Work took me very far from climbing/Bengaluru and I almost lost touch with Keerthi. However I could start climbing once again in 2010 in Switzerland. Cloud 9, 2011I am 36 now, and have a 10 year old boy. I had come to Bangalore on holiday and gotten in touch with Keethi again. In these years Keerthi had turned pro and had been the coach for the Indian climbing team for several years now, so he was the ideal friend to turn to, to find me climbing partners during my holiday.
When he told me he had bolted this very route a few years back (in 1996 there was nothing) I could feel my hormones tingling; I simply wanted to do it again, but this time in relative safety. Since this 9 pitch long route, aptly named "Cloud 9" is not difficult (it is upper f4 or lower f5 grade) and both my son and I had been climbing together regularly in the preceding weeks, I thought my son could join the climb if I found a strong climber to join us. Keerthi couldn't join, so he instead offered to send Sujil, a strong climber from the Indian Army climbing team. When I heard this I readily agreed.
Circa 2011 (Jan 7)The next day we set off at 6:00 am from Bengaluru (Bangalore). The good thing about Bengaluru is weather is always perfect at this time of the year, and very little crowds in places like Savandurga. After a short hike we reached the base of the rock. We can’t see the bolts, and it is hard to make out the route, so we veered too much to the right, meeting the normal way up (which is a difficult hike, maybe T4 SAC grade). After nearly an hour of exploring on the steep base, which is actually a bit tricky: steepish and no protection/bolts, and phone calls to Keerthi, we finally located the climbing route.
Sujil began leading pitch after pitch of what turned out to be a superlative climb that all three of us enjoyed to the core. The bolts are excellently laid out; they are quite far apart though. It can be very scary to have such long runouts (sometimes 20m or so!). Since Sujil was leading I offered to carry the group’s backpack, without which I could probably have led most of the pitches too. There are one or two pitches where the runouts are very long and one must make a calculated guess about the location of the next bolt; tricky, I must say.
Anyway we reached the summit in about 3 hours. There were no doubt some small delays/complaints from my son Rahul. For example he felt his shoes pinched, so he barefooted a few pitches despite having such soft baby skin which soon enough broke. Then he dropped a shoe, which fortunately slowly rolled down into my arms so I could return it to its owner. It was Rahul's first multi-pitch route, and barring one place where he felt some fear and dithered, I think he climbed flawlessly and was enjoying it to the hilt.
Once at the top, after an unhurried lunch we began the descent on the normal route and were back down safely shortly after.
It was an awesome climb for all three of us, especially for the father-son duo.
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