I don’t often write about rock climbing, perhaps because I don’t think there’s too much to ponder over — climbing (to me) is great, it’s not just a sport, it is more like a lifestyle that comes with associated values, philosophy, approaches and perspectives to life etc. I first climbed in 2005, and really got into the sport a couple of years later (buying shoes (actually my very first pair of climbing shoes were gifted to me by my friends), chalk bag, and harness, training 3-4 times a week etc.). So though it doesn’t come up much on this site (or most of my online profiles), it is very much a big part of my life in reality (apart from a lull in my undergraduate days where I climbed about once a fortnight…). To be honest, at this (post-school) age, without going to climbing gyms when living in new places, I wouldn’t know how/where to make friends. So naturally, having been in Nepal for most of 2022 and some of 2023, my partner and I spent a good amount of our leisure time there at climbing gyms and climbing crags with climbing friends.
In the rest of this post, I ramble on about the state of climbing in Nepal, both outdoors and in the indoor climbing gyms, before finally making my pitch as to why you should donate to our crowd-funding campaign to support 7 Nepali climbers for a trip to Singapore this December. If you would like to head straight there and skip all this text, click here.
Before we got to Nepal, we had this idea that there’s so much rock there, surely there’d be lots of climbing, and we brought a good amount of climbing gear over. Once we arrived, and having become friends with the local climbers, we realised that yes there is a lot of rock but a good majority of it is rather inaccessible.
Brief summary of crags in Nepal
There’s Dollu crags just an hour south of Kathmandu/Lalitpur near Hattiban resort (so it’s also known as Hattiban climbing though there is a Hattiban neighbourhood that is no where near the resort/climbing) which has maybe 10-20? sport climbing routes ranging from grades 5c to 6c. There’s also a crag within Nagarjun Forest Reserve really close to Kathmandu with some sport climbing grades that we never checked out because we’d have to pay NRs. 1000 for the National Park entrance fee and we heard there wasn’t too much to climb. And there’s a really good bouldering area just north of Kathmandu near Tarebhir/Sundakhan with 8 or so boulders and routes ranging from grades V2? to V8? (there doesn’t appear to be any topo on this online, which is part of the problem with trying to climb in Nepal; it’s really hard to find well-documented information on crags! But it also means you have to know the local climbers and well, be friends, so that’s good. A couple of weeks after we left Nepal, we heard from our friends that they’ve bolted some new routes in Kakani, which is also close to Kathmandu).
Moving away from the capital city, there’s a major crag called Bimalnagar that’s right on the highway between Pokhara and Kathmandu close to an old town called Bandipur (beautiful town perched on a ridge that used to see a lot of traffic back in the salt trade days). It’s about 140 km from Kathmandu (most of a day’s journey on the bus) and about 60km from Pokhara, and is literally next to the highway. In fact, some part of the crag will be affected by the highway expansion that is happening now.
There’s also some really good climbing in Bhratang, Manang, which is about 1.5-2 days bus/jeep/motorcycle journey from Kathmandu. We went there last October during the Dashain holidays, but sadly there was some very unseasonal rains and we only got about a day of climbing. The rock was really solid and there were some really nice climbs which would have been nice to work on if we had more time. Due to the rain though, we ended up leaving the crags earlier but got stuck in mud and “stranded” in the next village/town.
Apart from these that we climbed at (barring Nagarjun), there seem to be many other places (from bits of topo online) in disparate parts of Nepal that requires a considerable amount of travelling to get to. If you’re planning to climb in Nepal, I would recommend that you go to Astrek Climbing Wall or Kathmandu Sports Climbing Centre in Thamel. The former used to be? still is? where many local climbers gather (in the evening) so if you can figure out who are the ones who climb and who are just ‘tourists’, it’s a good place to get info. There’s a steeply inclined spray wall and some set bouldering routes as well as top-rope climbing. It’s rather popular with tourists and (middle-class) locals wanting a fun experience, especially because there’s also a restaurant/bar on site. The latter opened more recently and are run by climbers themselves so going there is probably a safe bet for information. They’ve got a speed wall (made their own timer!), some top-rope and lead climbing walls and set bouldering routes. As well as a slackline. For some reason we just ended up going to Astrek a lot more, perhaps because parking was easier, and that most of our friends usually go to Astrek rather than KSCC. There is also a little bouldering gym operated by Initiative Outdoor at the Gyanmandala in Jhamsikhel, where we helped set some routes. Depending on who’s the staff there, they may/not know too much about climbing in Nepal; they also do white-water rafting and canyoning and run wilderness first aid courses, and have their main headquarters near Bimalnagar.
Sharing the climbing joy with Nepalis
All this lengthy prelude was really just to say that we made some really good climbing friends. We were particularly impressed by the dedication and zeal of the younger climbers (18+ years old); we’d see them nearly every evening training hard. I think it’s particularly impressive because it’s not as though these youths get much support for what they do. Their parents certainly aren’t chauffeuring them to/fro climbing, some of them won their climbing gear at local competitions (a few of them have participated in regional competitions, sent by the national federation I think), others happened to meet kind foreigners who provided their climbing gear (and we ourselves also gifted climbing shoes to some).
I don’t find it helpful or accurate to characterise Nepal as a ‘poor’ country, they have immense wealth in many areas but as long as we live in a world in which only US dollars count as value, then it is true that Nepal has little US dollars on which it could trade with. As such, there are limited imported goods, all of which are rather expensive, and it is thus difficult to get climbing holds/gear locally. Most of the climbing holds on the walls are thus rather old and well-used, and so the route-setting is accordingly rather old-school and limited. We brought in some climbing holds donated by Boulder Planet Singapore when we were there last June, which are now in KSCC (as the home of the Ladies Mountain League) and Initiative Outdoor. Other holds/bouldering pads have similar stories, brought in to Nepal bit by bit by Nepalis/other travelers in our luggages.
With the limited facilities/equipment, it is difficult to really develop and excel in the sport. Trainers/instructors who could push you further and improve your technique are also few and far between; Bikash, who is one of the best climbers (we think!) in Nepal does spend time coaching and helping these youths. I had also spent some time just sharing some basic climbing techniques and teaching lead climbing with the Ladies Mountain League last year, though I’m not particularly qualified.
Please consider donating to our crowd-funding campaign!
Impressed by the enthusiasm and passion of the climbers, and wanting them to improve and excel through exposure to different climbing styles and learning various techniques, we thought it would be a really rewarding experience to bring some of them to Singapore. Singapore because that’s where I’m from and familiar with, and importantly, because Nepalis are able to visit Singapore visa-free. It is an often overlooked problem for us with ‘good’ passports, but having to apply for visas is an extremely costly and stressful experience. We met a Nepali runner who paid for flights and accommodation for a race somewhere in Europe, only for their visa to be rejected (so all that money is gone, which is even worse for those with less economic means).
Singapore, in the 18 years since I started climbing, has one of the highest densities of climbing gyms (40 gyms in 2023? And the country is about 700 km2, or half the size of London). Lots of modern gyms with their more parkour-like routes, really strong climbers with good techniques, in particular Lighthouse Climbing Gym which has offered them free passes as our official gym sponsor. We felt that these 6 youths, Swastika, Prena, Khando, Ronak, Tintin, and Sajan, would really enjoy visiting and training in Singapore, learn a tremendous amount, and most of all, be able to go back to Nepal and make a big impact on the wider climbing community there, sharing their learnings and experience.
They are strong and train hard; Swastika had participated in some regional competition previously, Ronak and Tintin won some local competitions. They have the potential to make a difference back in Nepal, training other climbers, setting routes, improving the climbing scene etc. They also have limited opportunities to fund their own travel abroad and visit climbing destinations; most have never been outside Nepal.
Perhaps, in these days of climate breakdown being more apparent and the need for climate action more urgent, proposing overseas travel does not seem the most appropriate thing to do. For me personally, I do think we should try to reduce air travel when possible (I have not flown for a leisure trip in years, always for family), but really banning private jets seem a way more efficient (and equitable) way to tackle carbon emissions from air travel. And for these 7 Nepalis (the 6 youths + Bikash as the responsible adult), this overseas trip may not be their last plane travel but the positive forward impact that this experience would have for them would outlast that from the many leisure holidays that many of us may take without too much thought.
So please, if you feel economically comfortable, it would be super appreciated by me (and the 7 of them) if you would consider contributing a little to this campaign: https://gogetfunding.com/support-young-nepali-climbers-exposure-to-improve-their-skills/ More details can also be found on the site, and you can always get in touch for more details. Do note that the platform charges a small percentage for every transaction that goes through on their platform, so if you would like to do a bank transfer and avoid those charges, please do get in touch with me!
P.S. Perhaps this seems like a bizarre fund-raising campaign, since these Nepalis are not desperately poor in need of food, shelter, or basic necessities. Yet are we only permitted to help those in dire straits, do we not often share and give to family and friends though they are not in desperate need? In the same vein, it would generate much joy for us to be able to share these experiences with the 7 of them, and give them something inherently valuable.
April 2024 update: Our crowd-funding campaign went really well, many thanks to my parents who were very generous, Lynnette from casual.sg who kindly designed fundraising t-shirts and donated the profits, and the many donors who made the trip possible! Also deepest appreciation to Shi Hui from Lighthouse Climbing Gym, Ben from Boulder Planet, and Lewis from Climb Central for providing free passes. Here’s an article we wrote for Musa Masala about the trip.
Jocelyne Shimin Sze 