Race to the top: What makes sport climbing suitable for all ages

Sport climbing, a highly technical discipline and a strenuous workout that debuts in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, is finally shaking off the tag of niche adventure

A firm step up, a strong double-handed grip and I was off the ground, scaling a wall confidently at Delhi’s Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF). It was the middle of November in 2012. “Slow down, take it easy, it’s your first time,” the instructor yelled from below. Sure, it was my first time on this wall. But the man wasn’t aware of my childhood feats. Like the time I climbed on top of a light pole in front of our house. I still think I could have climbed down easily. But who would have listened to a seven-year-oId crying in anticipation of the thrashing he was about to receive. I was forcibly rescued by a tall neighbour, who climbed on top of his Tata Sumo and first yanked my left ear before pulling me down to safety. 

Despite my many falls and moral defeats, I nurtured the joy of climbing through to adulthood. And here I was, climbing again after years. It wasn’t before I had reached about 15 feet up that I realised I had not visualised the course. The next hold was out of my reach unless I jumped to grab it. I was breathing heavily and my trembling body betrayed my lack of flexibility and weak core. I made the jump somehow to the top of the wall. Exhausted, euphoric and barely breathing, I turned for applause but got none. The instructor slowly loosened the rope to get me down. I did well, he said, so I asked him why nobody else appreciated it. I was up there in less than two minutes, I told him. “The record here is less than 10 seconds,” he said. 

This shocker and the fact that I could not finish the more challenging routes in my many attempts over the last six years had made me sceptical about doing this again. I am also nearly 30. Then I chatted with ace climber Praveen C M, who told me why at 34 he has no plans to give up climbing.

“It is a natural movement, a sport for all ages,” he says. Praveen was the national champion in sport climbing for 16 years. The discipline is an offshoot of rock climbing practised on specially designed walls. It will debut in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Sport climbing has three competitive categories: speed, lead and bouldering. Speed has two athletes competing to be fastest on a fixed route of a 15-metre-high wall. Lead climbers get six minutes each to get as high as they can on a 53-metre wall. In bouldering, climbers scale a number of fixed routes on a four-metre-high wall within a stipulated time. I have been trying to better my speed climb, the world record for which now stands at a mind-numbing 5.48 seconds for men, held by Iranian Reza Alipourshenazandifar, and 7.10 seconds for women, held by Yiling Song of China. 

“Speed climbing is all about muscle memory,” says Praveen. “The more you do it, the faster you get as your muscles adapt to your weight.”

Sport climbing takes tremendous upper body strength since it involves hanging by narrow holds -- a lot of them. Most climbers tend to maintain a low weight-to-height ratio. Also required is yogic flexibility, the kind that makes a handstand with scorpion legs Instagrammable and the endurance and the speed of a lightweight boxer shuffling and throwing punches round after round. As also the mental faculty to take swift decisions. A second here or there and your body will buckle before you reach the next hurdle.

Praveen is among a handful of climbers who continue to compete at his age. Apart from his competitive spirit, climbing, he says, is a workout that challenges your mind and body like no other. Like all climbers, Praveen, too, loves the outdoors for practice. He teaches climbing to children in rural Karnataka, some of whom have found work as certified instructors around the natural rocks in Badami. Other popular climbing trails in Karnataka are in Avathi, Raugutlu, Hampi and Ramnagar. Popular routes in the north can be found in Manali, Sethan and Chota Dhara in Himachal Pradesh, Leh in Ladakh and Nainital in Uttarakhand.

Adarsh Singh from Delhi during a competition. Photo: Sanjay K Sharma

Sport climbing has also caught the fancy of fitness enthusiasts in major cities. In simple metrics, an hour of climbing can burn anywhere between 400-900 calories, which supersedes most strength and conditioning workouts or even a routine of high-intensity interval training. Apart from the IMF, the apex body of climbing in India, which conducts courses in sport climbing, BoulderBox, a bouldering gym and fitness centre, is considered Delhi’s best training facility. It has a free introductory course in climbing, a thousand members and several ace climbers practising there regularly. Sport climbing courses are also conducted at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. The city also has popular climbing gyms, such as Equilibrium Climbing Station and Mars Climbing Gym. The IMF has also recently opened a new training centre at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

Sport climbing become competitive in the 1940s in the erstwhile USSR. While the IMF was set up in 1961, sport climbing has received attention only in the last few years. “There were barely any standardised walls when I started climbing in 1999,” says Praveen. “We also had to struggle to arrange the money to attend just one international competition a year.”

Though the IMF conducts camps, has better food and hostel facilities for its top athletes and also sponsors their participation in international competitions more than before, it continues to be hamstrung due to a lack of funds from the government. “The IMF is not among the 58 sports federations recognised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports so we are gradually building the capacity to train and sponsor more athletes,” says its president, H S Chauhan, a retired colonel. 

Chingkheinganba Maibam from Manipur practising at the IMF in Delhi. Photo: Sanjay K Sharma

Apart from its Olympic recognition and rising popularity among fitness enthusiasts, the IMF’s shifting attitude in favour of younger athletes is also because of the promise they bring. Seventeen-year-old Chingkheinganba Maibam from Manipur, for instance, holds the national record for speed in the men’s category at 7.19 seconds. He is among the most promising Indian athletes in the sport today along with Bengaluru-based Youth Olympian Bharath Pereira, 18, and Pune-based Shreya Nankar, 16 — the trio that competed in Jakarta last year at the Asian Games. Their seniors, Delhi-based Adarsh Singh, 22, and Kumar Gaurav, 24, ranked among the top five in the country, have won national and international accolades.

“I think we should be eyeing the 2024 Paris Olympics,” says Singh. Gaurav and Maibam second that. While Singh funds most of his international competitions himself, Gaurav trains security personnel in climbing for the Oil and Gas Corporation (ONGC) as a sponsored athlete. The sport is slowly gaining traction which will bring the supporting infrastructure and sponsorships.. The awareness and adoption in the coming years will be crucial, too.

Maibam first climbed Manipur’s only artificial wall at the Manipur Mountaineering & Trekking Association in Imphal, and Singh and Gaurav got a taste of climbing on school trips. “Regardless of whether I qualify for the Olympics and win a medal or not, I will be a climber for life,” declares Gaurav. 

For adventure, adrenaline and just a blood-pumping workout, I have decided to not give it up either. Climbing at one of the government-run facilities, such as the IMF, costs as little as Rs 200 for a guided session. You can also, or look for an introductory course or just venture out in the open with a professional climber. Just don’t forget to pack a pair of narrow shoes with a hard sole, preferably a size smaller than normal, a harness, a chalk bag, a crash pad and a desire to get to the top quickly.