An ardent rock climber tells us why dangling down a cliff face gives him such a thrill.
Why rock climbing? I’ve often been asked. What’s the draw, this urge to risk life, limb and possibly a broken skull merely for the fleeting pleasure of reaching the top of a crag? I could respond to these queries by simply maintaining that the desire to seek adventure was probably written in my DNA, just like the ones that put wavy hair on my scalp.
Actually both nature and nurture played a role in turning a teenage pastime into a full time career, a passion into and obsession. Dad runs one of the oldest trekking to rock climbing, it was a natural progression of things. I started on a 5-feet high rock face in a quarry behind the college, graduated to a 150-feet tall piece of cliff wall on a Fort Must have fallen a dozen times before I learned to find the cracks from which to dangle with the tips of my fingers, spreadeagle myself at impossible angles, turn tiny bumps on a rock face into “resting places” for toeholds from which I’d launch myself to higher and higher ground.
And so I came to terns with my fear of heights. An advanced course in trekking, rock climbing and mountaineering a followed by another one in search and rescue techniques took my skills to more challenging levels.
The 1800 feet tall Duke’s Nose (left) in Lonavala is a must visit destination for climbers across the world, with a difficulty level that keeps increasing as you go higher. The final 900 or so feet are a nearly vertical and truly tests you in multiple was. You see, rock climbing isn’t only about trusting yourself and having the confidence that your body can do the impossible. It is also about having implicit faith in the belayer the guy with the ropes. If you slip, he’s the one who’ll break your fall by adjusting the tension of the line that is attached to your belt. He’s the one who controls your descent so that you don’t swing wildly and bang against the wall.
Rock climbers typically leave behind bolts for benefit of other climbers. But at Khatrakada in Malshet Ghat (140k from Mumbai) we ere pioneers meaning our team of 9 was responsible for chalking out a new path on the 2700 ft tall peak. This is a critical issue: Rock in the Western ghats all too often are composed of porous basalt that is Karnataka (another rock climbers paradise). So you’ve got to judge the sturdiness of a rock (tap, tap,!) before hammering in a bolt. A single sharp at each hammer strike indicate poor quality rock.
We did the climb in stages over several days 600 feet on the first day (an easy ascent), 300 pm the second a tough to pitch a tent that saved us he trouble of descending 1000 ft every day for supplies. Cool.
But when you set out on an adventure, the unexpected will happen. Our water supply ran out, limiting us to a couple of sips per person per hour despite the extreme exertion, because we couldn’t tote filled cans up from base camp. Then we were surrounded by a swarm of bees, which meant staying stock still for at least 20 mins till they flew past and enduring a sting or two almost daily (we were armed with First aid kits, so that didn’t become a crisis). The final 700 to 800 feet refused to be conquered despite our best efforts and after 9 days of failed attempts we called it quits.
We returned the following month and took a new route via a Mughal era fort about half way up. It was still a formidable challenge and had us wondering just how men conquered these mountains and built long standing citadels all those centuries ago. How tough and brave they must have been!
A baffling aspect about rock climbing is that you can go to the same place again and each time the experience will be different. You can never say “Oh, I’ve been there, done that.” That’s what makes the sport so thrilling you’re constantly pitching your wits against that of Nature’s A practice run on the Sinhagad fort in Lonavla taught us the folly of climbing in the dark. Stuck halfway up we chose to anchor ourselves on the cliff face. Rappelling down would have been a big risk since we had no idea whether the rope extended all the way to the ground. At 2 AM however, driven crazy by mosquitoes, we were forced to leave out places of anchor. As we had suspected, the rope ran short some 10 feet above the ground which, for al we knew, was solid rock. But in outbound adventures as in life sometimes the choice is between a hard place and a rock. Risking broken ribs we leapt, landed o both feet and survived to tell our tale another day. Here’s one truth: Adventures are always relished much more after the event. Right then we were just glad to be alive, painful knees, mosquito bites included.
Rock climbing isn’t only about going up, but also traversing horizontally. Bouldering, as it is called, is done at about 10 ft to 20 ft high, but don’t for a minute think this is easier. You require as much skill, stamina, and strength not to mention a lot of countering to successfully “boulder” using minimum safety gear. This is where climbers improve their pinch holds, which is exactly what the tern implies. The best spots to boulder in South India are Savant Durg, south of Bangalore and the granite rock faces of Hampi.
WANT TO TRY IT? Rock climbing ma appear to be a lot of arm and shoulder work, but it’s actually your legs and core (abs, back, hips) that power you up. It’s a total body strength and stamina building workout that also calls for enormous agility and flexibility. Expect to see a toned butt, quads and calves plus wiry arms within weeks of taking up the sport.
And yes, all that split second strategizing and decision making makes it a great mental workout, too.
In fact, inned against a cliff wall in a life and death scenario, you may find all those nagging work issues and family dilemmas receding into the horizon, making the experience a great stress buster, too. Call it meditation on the rocks!
Losing By Design To trim his gut, he first had to put all the bits and pieces of his life in order Cricket, soccer and Shimak Davar’s dance classes kept Vinay Pardhanani lea and fit as an athlete all through college and his 20s Then he went and broke his knees on the dance floor. The laparoscopic surgery that followed put an end to all physical laparoscopic surgery that followed put an end to all physical activity for several months: “Mere walking caused my joints to snap in an alarming fashion,” says Vinay. “All my energy was devoted to avoid stressing them out.”
THE GAIN The knee healed but Pardhanani’s fears did not. And once career demands caught up, the interior designer put any thught of fitness in the backburner. “I reached home late, woke up late, dashed to office with just a cup of tea in my stomach, snatched a burger or a vada pav between client meetings, because I saw lunch dabbas as indignity.” It was only at dinner that Pardhanani faced a decent meal and then he felt justified in heaping his plate with 8 rotis, liberal helpings of paneer tikka masala and ghee laden dal makhani. “After all, I had been starving the whole day. Then again I thought vegetarian food was free of health risk.”
In 2003, Pardhanani’s dad underwent a bypass surgery following a heart attack. And the whole family shifted to a bland low fat diet, except that Pardhanani continued to eat monster sized portions of everything “even slalds, because I felt the more the better.”
Eleven years down the line, weighing in at 96 kg. Pardhonani discovered that he was a victim of that silent stalker, High Blood Pressure. “The 160/100 figure came as a shock.” IT was a wake up call. Pills were prescribed, but weight loss and exercise were also advised. By now vanity issues had started bothering Pardhanani. “Perception carry a lot of weight in the field of design whether it’s clothes or interiors. People make decisions on the basis of what they see, and the fact that my girth stood at 38” certainly didn’t help matters.”
THE CHANGE The long holiday from all physical activity had left Pardhanani as uncertain as a novice: “I had no idea how to get back into action. My body had gotten to used to the comfortable life, and I was not at all keen on getting back to grooving on the dance floor.” A bigger issue was making time for exercise. “My work schedule is so irregular that I knew it would be impossible to squeeze in a lunch hour workout or hit the gym in the evening.” That left mornings as the only option. Pardhanani usually rose at 8.30. “I decided I’d put money down on a gym membership only if I could drag myself out of he bed at 6. AM. Sacrificing 2 ½ hours of precious sleep was the toughest thing I ever did,” he says. Pardhanani took a cue from his 8-years-old who left school at sunrise daily. “I accompanied him to the bus stop for a few days and found to my surprise that getting back to sleep was difficult.” He rewarded himself with a membership at the Sykz gym.
THE EXERCISE Anxious about his tricky knee Pardhanani stuck to light weight dumb bell workouts initially. “I also didn’t want to do anything too strenuous that would put me off exercise completely. “But then the routine became tougher, with separate days for upper, lower and cardio workouts. “I kept telling myself at Blood Pressure pill and exercise are my life supports. Only, they first option would turn me into its slave, while the second would make me master of my own body, free me form the risk of hereditary heart disease, and make me maser of my own body free me from the risk of hereditary heart disease, and make me look good, too. Of course this wisdom only came over a period of time. What I did notice was hat on he says I did notice I felt a heaviness (real or imaginary) around my chest.”
When Circuit Training was introduced, where Pardhanani moved from one weight station to another without rest, he was surprise to discover that far from falling apart his body automatically adapted to the extra exertion. “I thought the cardio sessions alone would exhaust me; instead I found myself doing shoulder presses and bench presses after a 30 min treadmill workout. Even my knee failed to protest at the leg press machine. I was a lot stronger than I thought.”
THE DIET The exercise habit wrought miracles on Pardhanani’s as well. A late night binge meant waking up late the next morning which meant no gym. “I was compounding the errors overeating followed by no exercise,” To avoid falling into that vicious cycle, Pardhanani made a solemn pact with his son he’d accompany the boy to the school bus stop every day.
Following the dietician advise wasn’t to easy. Pardhanani nearly threw in the towel when he found that the list involved eating truckloads of salad and fruit.
“A mid morning snack was an apple, which didn’t go down as well as a chicken sandwich.” The plus point was that it did stave off hunger pangs between brainstorming sessions, “I was warned not to miss lunch even if it’s only one roti and dal” and large dinners were reduced to large bowls of soup and green salad.
“I couldn’t sleep from the gnawing in my stomach. Often I’d raid the refrigerator at midnight and finish up all the leftover bhaji a habit that has now more or less been brought under control.” Pardhananimarks time for the weekends when he can have his ‘cheat’ meal, viz, biryani.
THE RESULT 19 kg shed over 16 months.
THE REWARDS
- Better organization: “The regimented early-to-bed early-to-rise. Lifestyle means I can get more stuff done in a day.”
- A trimmer gut: “My pants are now a size 32” instead of 38 inches.”
- Healthy vital stats: “My BP is 120/80. Missing dose of medication doesn’t cause that uneasy feeling in my chest any more.”
- Being a role model: “I’m an inspiration to my niece, nephew and cousin, who’ve all taken up exercise seeing my success, Even clients are looking at me with new eyes.”
