Hi all,

Can anyone give me some advice about climbing (rock/ alpine/ ice) in Northern India? I am moving to New Delhi in a month for 2 years.

In particular- has anyone heard of the book 'Rock Climbing around New Delhi' by Oberoi? Yes I've googled and Amazon'd it to no success.

From browsing through the IMF webpage it seems that a whole load of fees and permits (and an LO) need to be secured well in advance of any mountaineering. There are a load of fees for peaks of various altitudes including the ambiguous '<6,500m' category. So how does someone go about informal training/ high treks and ridge routes etc. without shelling out to the tune of several $thousands? Can you just turn up to a trailhead and climb, as in the Alps?

Does anyone know of any decent ice climbing destinations within a day's travel drive of Delhi?

Googling etc. has drawn up no decent advice apart from tour companies.

Thanks...

Hi Steve,
Like in most countries in the region, IMF is also made of a stack of bureaucratic barriers! May be there are reasons to justify it, but they do demand hefty sums from foreign nationals. The best option for someone like you might be to try and climb challenging routes on "trekking peaks" ($100 per person). My friend and I (both are Indian citizens) attempted Stok Kangri early last May (before the "season" started). We were there by ourselves, and it appeared that there were several technical route options available for the competent team. I called up someone at IMF, and he was totally unaware of "alpine style" climbing. You will get the same idea from the IMF web page - they always talk about "booking" a peak, and attempting it with full support! Hence the need to pay the porters and LOs and what not. We being Indian citizens just went for it (its a different story that my friend came down with altitude sickness and we had to bail). But I think they are usually strict with foreign nationals.

I would suggest going to the Leh area (easy access - daily flights to Leh from Delhi; plus short cab (or bus) ride to most trailheads). Get a permit for a trekking peak - plan your trip so that you are around for several days on or around the mountain, and attempt all interesting routes (and get the most out of your $100 permit fee). The flight service from Delhi starts early in April (or sometime even by late March). You'll find the area pretty desolate till it warms up in June or July.

You could see some pictures here. The East Face of Stok Kangri seemed to have several interesting route options.

I'm not aware of a lot of rock climbing near Delhi. Getting to and from places will take a lot longer than in Europe. Climbing per se is not a popular "sport" in India, and hence the resources are limited. Once you get to India, you could try to look for the Rock Climbing guide in Delhi (or contact IMF regarding the book). In case you find some climbing in/around Delhi, it'll be great if you could post it here - TIA for that!

Good luck and hope you enjoy your time in India!

Thanks very much...

Well, I have been hunting around Delhi and found a good guide (of 2001 vintage) called 'Rock Climbing In And Around Delhi' by Mohit Oberoi. It was available from Adventure 18 climbing shop about 1km north of the IMF (and near the South Delhi University Campus) on Benito Juarez Marg near Anand Niketan in New Delhi.

I have looked at three of the small sites so far. Here is my summary of the rock climbing so far... please correct me if I am wrong!

(1) there is a large, decent area in a village called Dhauj about 40m south of Dehli. I haven't seen it- there are reports in the guidebook of quarrying in the area. Hopefully it's still there. If still in good condition, this is probably the best area for climbing near Delhi.
(2) there is another smaller area called Damdama. Again, not seen.
(3) 'Old Rocks' south of Lado Sarai village. This is about 3km from the IIT in New Delhi. It is a charming little area in a park, a small rock feature with a tower of some description on top! It had about 2 dozen routes. There was a lot more vegatation on the routes than in the guidebook, which may a symptom of reduced climbing activity. The routes were probably 35 foot long at best.
(4) 'New Rocks' near (3). I went to this place and could not find the crags. Perhaps I went to the wrong place but there has been a lot of quarrying in the area and there was a lot of broken rock lying around the 'highest point' area described in the guidebook. I fear that this crag is now gone forever. Please post if my assumption is bs!
(5) 'Ramjas Rocks'. Facilities are still there- there is an outdoor climbing wall in the same area as the crag. Unfortunately I couldn't get in whilst visiting as the guard who held the key had disappeared. The chaps at the mountaineering institute acted like the appearance of someone interested in climbing was quite rare.. then again I don't speak Hindi.

Finally, the training area at the IMF wall is quite a good starting point to meet up with like minded climbers, tho I only saw two or three people.

As for climbing climbing, I am off to Gangotri this weekend and will talk to the mountaineering institute in Uttarkashi. They have one more course later this year. From what I gather it is run by the Indian Mountain Warfare school and is not for the faint hearted- but it gets very good reviews from the brave westerners and Indians that have done it!

Thanks for the update about climbing areas near Delhi. I'm not surpsied to learn about their sad state though. Unlike in the West, there is no support to preserve climbing areas, or even just outdoors. Hope you manage to hook up with some like-minded people at the wall in IMF.

I'm guessing that the course on mountaineering at Uttarkashi that you're talkin about is being offered by the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering. I'm not sure about the reputation of that being "only for hardmen" though. The guides and instructors in ALL mountaineering institutes (in Gadwhal, Sikkim, Darjeeling, and any other place) are typically from the armed forces. They use this guiding experience to at least help in part to go up their military ranks (for the least, to impress their bosses in the military). All these mountaineering institutes typically offer (at least) two levels of courses - an introductory one and an advanced one. They demand a good show in the introductory course to become eligible for the advanced course. The "military" and "hardman" attitude will be evident in the way they make such decisions. If you do not have an "A" grade in the intro course, no entry into the advanced course - and its almost a military grade rule! My friend (with whom I went to Leh) took the intro course with HMI in Darjeeling. It was a 4-week course. The military attitude was evident throughout the course in the way the "students" are asked to follow the routines and rules. This is where things are different in the West - the guides treat you as clients/customers. It was a fun course though, but he would ideally have liked to learn more technical stuff (based on whatever little experience he has). Being an Indian citizen, his fees was something like Rs. 500! The fees are typically much higher for forigners, but still cheap when you do the currency conversion.

Are you looking at a lengthy course? Make sure you check whether its an intro course or one of the advanced courses. All said and done, they might be willing to bend the "military" rules for foreigners. They usually have a summit climb as part of the course.