• 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