Go back to India.
Go back to Ranchi To Bangalore.
Varlakonda.
We got a late start the following morning as the route was supposed to go into the shade after noon. A two-hour drive and a supposedly quick hike. The hike turned out to be a little less than quick since the approach involved crossing a ~250 meter wide belt of dense vegetation running along the base of the formation and the climbers’ trail had overgrown and was not easy to find. After some 90 minutes of back and forth, bushwhacking, and bleeding, we finally arrived at the base of the Morning Star route (5 pitch, 5.10). Fantastic climbing on some very clean granite – probably one of the highlights of the trip. A logical and well protected line (all bolts). We were back at our hotel in the city in the early evening.
Photos
Views from the highway as we near Varlakonda (Dec. 2023).
At the Varlakonda trailhead (Dec. 2023).
Punit and Shirley starting the approach (Dec. 2023).
Exploring what would turn out to be yet another dead end on our approach to the base of the wall (Dec. 2023).
Aided by a phonecall to Sohan, we finally we stumbled onto the correct approach (Dec. 2023).
Starting up the North Star route on Varlakonda. What a great fun route (Dec. 2023).
Higher on pitch one (Dec. 2023).
Views from the first pitch of North Star (Dec. 2023).
Shirley starting up the first pitch (Dec. 2023).
More views from the first belay (Dec. 2023).
Shirley making progress. Kind of unusual: steep but with fairly deep “dimples” to enable slab moves, dimple to dimple (Dec. 2023).
Arriving at the first belay (Dec. 2023).
Leading the short pitch 2 (Dec. 2023).
Shirley starting pitch two (Dec. 2023).
Views from the route have a strongly agricultural bend to them (Dec. 2023).
More of Shirley on pitch 2 (Dec. 2023).
Starting up pitch 3. A personal favorite (Dec. 2023).
Higher on the crimpy joy that is pitch 3 (Dec. 2023).
Shirley making progress on pitch 3 (Dec. 2023).
Higher on pitch 3 (Dec. 2023).
Leading the crux pitch 4 (Dec. 2023).
And past the crux (Dec. 2023).
Looking back at Shirley from above the difficulties on pitch 4 (Dec. 2023).
Views from the top of pitch 4 (Dec. 2023).
More of Shirley on pitch 4 (Dec. 2023).
More belay four ambiance (Dec. 2023).
Shirley arriving at the fourth belay (Dec. 2023).
Starting up the fifth and final pitch of North Star. Don’t let the photo turn you off – the whole route is very clean and the brush on this pitch is short lived (Dec. 2023).
Views from the top of North Star route (Dec. 2023).
Shirley on pitch 5 (Dec. 2023).
Just below the summit ridge on Varlakonda formation (Dec. 2023).
Shirley arriving at the fifth belay (Dec. 2023).
Topmost rap with a 70 meter cord (Dec. 2023).
Varlakonda in its highly foreshortened, horizontal glory (Dec. 2023).
Shirley rapping down pitch 3 (Dec. 2023).
Varlakonda formation on the hike back (Dec. 2023).
A zoomed in view of some beehives (Dec. 2023).
And an even closer look at the hives (Dec. 2023).
Shirley and Punit with Varlakonda in the background (Dec. 2023).
Meeting one of the villagers who wanted a photo with us (Dec. 2023).
Almost at the car (Dec. 2023).
Hello.
In Bangalore, right outside of the place where we spent the first two nights in (Dec. 2023).
Go to Bangalore Part Two.
Go back to India.