The panorama from the top of a boulder in Bengaluru’s Turahalli forest, is almost a buzzkill. After a one-kilometre hike on a humid yet cloudy Sunday morning, what one gets to see from about 800 meters above sea level is a clutter of uneven buildings, including several under-construction high-rise blocks, parts of the city shrouded in smoke, and some salvaging greenery. There are, arguably, many other hilltops in Karnataka that offer better vistas than Turahalli. Yet, for the city and its eight million plus dwellers, it is a significant spot.
‘Garden City’, it seems, continues to be the sobriquet of Bengaluru merely for old times’ sake. Its summers have been severe at least for the last five years. The US-based National Bureau of Economic Research, in November 2018, called the city India’s most congested and second slowest city. From the torrid heat and the toxic vehicle exhaust, a handful of green swathes in the city like Turahalli provide relief.
Climbers in Bengaluru’s Turahalli forest. | Photo Credit: K_Murali_Kumar
Standing tall
Turahalli’s 590-acre space has long-standing trees and seemingly change-resistant rocks. It is on these rocks that Karnataka’s climbing community — one of the oldest and arguably the most vibrant in the country — fostered.
Karnataka’s climbing story begins in the ’60s. Govind Raju from Mysore who started Deccan Mountaineering League, and Usha Ramaiah, the co-founder of Karnataka Mountaineering Association, were among the pioneers. In the ’80s and ’90s, due to the availability of climbing equipment and the identification of new routes (by which a climber reaches the top of a mountain or rock), the climbers in the state, especially in its capital, proliferated. The clubs from these two decades — SPARK (Society for Propagation of Activation of Rock Klimbing), The Climbers, KINS ROC, Hill Top Mountaineering Club, Anveshak (MES College Club) among others — marked routes and conducted workshops. The proximity of the crags and boulders made Turahalli the cradle of Bengaluru’s climbers.
A climber in Ramanagara. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“Turahalli is a big deal for us,” says Sohan Pavaluri, 44, the founder of Bangalore Climbing Initiatives (BCI), one of the most active climbing groups in the city. “This is where most of us started climbing. The rocks here suit all levels and all types of climbers.” Turahalli, however, might soon become inaccessible to climbers.
- Mohit Rao, now in his 60s, recalls taking the Karnataka Express from Delhi to Bengaluru in the mid-80s and 90s for a few hours of climb. “I used to go to Ramnagara, Savandurgah and Turahalli,” he says, “It was the time when Dinesh Kaigonhalli, Gunda Srinivas and a few others were actively marking routes and discovering new spots.”
- Similarly, Tenzing Jamyang, who runs an indoor climbing gym in Leh, says he started out in Bangalore and Hampi. Despite the magnificent Himalayan ranges, there were hardly any climbers there in 2011, and he had to travel south
- As for Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala, the first Sri Lankan to summit Mt Everest in 2016, she says “climbing the rocks and boulders of Karnataka” was the very next thing on her bucket list. It was fulfilled in April this year
- Sohan, in his book, Climbing Guide to Bangalore, lists 18 climbing spots — in and near Bengaluru. This proximity is why he chose the city over his hometown, Hyderabad, when he relocated from the US in 2008
Regulation over restriction
A notice board at Turahalli’s northern entrance lists a number of activities that are prohibited, such as smoking, drinking, littering, removing plants or parts of it, cycling, shooting, etc. Et cetera includes climbing too, according to Siddaramappa C, the deputy conservator of forests, Bengaluru urban division. “We are curbing access due to public nuisance. There are broken bottles here, for instance, which might affect the animals. For a long time, people have been coming here for walking, cycling and rock climbing. So, we don’t want to impose an arbitrary ban, but we are slowly trying to veer people away to the 30-acre tree park nearby,” he says.
Climber Kamlesh Venugopal at Ramanagara in the '80s. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The climbers, however, call for regulation rather than restriction. Sanath Reddy, 35, who directed Our Crags, a 10-minute documentary on climbing in Bengaluru, says outdoor climbers are sensitive towards nature. “Historically, we have planted saplings, reported poaching, helped out during forest fires," he adds, "When a few boys were stuck in Savandurga [2016], the rescue team had climbers… So, we could actually help the forest department.”
Reddy points out that Ramanagara, another iconic climbing spot, has also been restricted after the Ramadevarabetta vulture sanctuary there was notified as an eco-sensitive zone in 2017. Even if Turahalli and Ramanagara are restricted, climbers in Bengaluru won’t be starved of space. They still have Savandurga, Kabbaladurga, Raogudlu, Avati, Antara Gange among others. But Turahalli for them is history, as Sanath says. It’s where their predecessors marked routes, and conducted workshops. It is where the climb began.