Pachmarhi cup 2013

By Tania Kar 

In march 2013 i visited Pachmarhi in Madhya pradesh for an open national rock climbing competition The Pachmarhi cup organised by M.P sport climbing association and supported by IMF west zone sport climbing committee. The comp took place on 23rd &24th of march .

Pachmarhi is a small pretty hill town located in Satpura hills at an altitude of 1067 meters above sea level, after reaching piparia station at night we took a cab  and drove through  a dense forest of teak and shal  for an hour to reach our destination.The reach smell of  forest vegetation and the nearly full moon enhance the experience with a sudden lone cry of some night crawler. on our arrival we were put up on Torry"s Ark rest house.

The next day after resting for the first half  i went out with my coaches nibbi &jibbi  to check out some lines on the local crags Mention worthy was the Mazhar area near Jatashankar temple, and acquainted myself  with the rocks through some fun bouldering .I discovered a nice sharp rail, climbing it with from a sit start it felt like a Font 6A ,the sun setting among the ravines and gorges was something I'd not seen before.The moon came out a bit fuller than it was the night previous making the walk back very pleasant .

The next day the women competitors were headed towards the Woodstock area along with route setter and judges. the boulders were located just behind the Woodstock adventure camp and the route setters selected five problems for the competition .The comp was spearheaded by judge Saraswati  madam ,spotters were ready with crash pads for providing the necessary safety for the competition , in the isolation we started chatting to each other and thus breaking the ice , fun warm ups lighten the comp pressure. Then all the competitors were called for the observation of the first boulder problem which looked pretty easy to me , we were not allowed to touch the rock which seem pretty odd to me , the problem was not a pure line and had a few areas demarcated as out of bound. When my turn came i went out there and though very care full in the beginning managed to top out in the flash attempt, it felt around Font 5B .The second problem climbs up an arete with a match on the upper section ,i managed an  easy flash of this one two and the girls were cheering for me it was also around Font 5B , on observing the third problem it appeared to me an exciting one ,it was sit start with a rightward traverse on a slightly overhanging boulder. The problem ended with a climb up on smooth edges and a match on a demarcated ledge ,the bonus of the problem interestingly seem to be off route, while on my turn on the problem  i wanted to make to that bonus in the first attempt so i went for the bonus then came back to the starting hold  and went for the send, i was not sure of flashing it so it felt good when i did the helped me to get psyched .
By this time the sun has reached the mid day sky and the weather was getting uncomfortable.The sun was scorching and rock has started to loose its friction , the fourth problem was a balancy one on a slabby boulder, which has a lot of elimination and was not appealing at all, though at first glance it looked like an easy flash twice my foothold gave away which was disappointing, Saraswati madam jokingly regretted i could not have technical incident , i made up my mind to get done with it i my third attempt and took a different route to the top, this one has to be another Font 5B
All the girls got excited speculating the difficulty of the last one while some felt it had to be the hardest one till,some felt it would be just another easy one .
The sight of this problem really made me happy as this seem to me the most interesting of the lot, starting on two really big pockets which offered easy crimps as starting holds it was a powerful climb up to the top . The hardest of all the problem it felt around Font 6A which i managed to send o my third attempt.
With this our bouldering comp came to an end ,after having lunch together in hotel Indraprastha which  served a tasty veg meal i came back to my hotel room while rest of the girls went to the Mazhar area to cheer for the men who were having their bouldering and lead qualifiers
After the days heat, the cool afternoon breezes were comforting and my pleasant evening was spent hanging around on a swing on the resort lawn .Dinner was around at 9.30; clouds had started gathering precisely at this point the overcast sky  gave way.To keep up with the perfect spooky night ambiance on a hilly resort a power cut followed and without any warning complete darkness engulfed us all , the rain continued into the night and the absence of any electricity rendered a medieval ancient feel to it .After enjoying the rain from the veranda for sometime i return to bed ,and the soft pitter patter on the roof top put me to sleep.    
Next day was the big finals day for the women were to have their lead finals and the men both their bouldering and lead finals.The day started early for the men with the bouldering finals but it failed to create any excitement both for the competitors and the spectators,the problems were of low quality elimination games with the finalists barely getting any send ,lead final however was exciting to watch as the men finalists attempted 'Jatashankar"a classic route which is around F7b bolted by Vaibhab Mehta. Ajij Sheik was the only one to onsight the route ,who has also bagged the bouldering gold.
The women competitors were again required to report at the Woodstock area around late noon for their lead finals though the harsh M.P sun warned me initially by the time we were called for our observation the sun had mellowed down,looking at the route I felt i could top the route but around 5th and 6th quickdraw i was not confidant about the moves ,but i was pretty psyched to find some sequence en route
On my turn in the route i started slowly and cautiously .midway i realized i was eating up a lot of time so i decided to climb faster, the crowd cheered me on and i started flowing on the route reaching the top just in time ,but as i reached out with rope in my hand to make the final clip my time was declared over. i came down realizing this effort maybe was not good enough to cease the first position.Just as i predicted the last climber Namita Sawant from west zone came out and topped the route in much lesser time
By then the men's comp was over and the boys have came down to Woodstock. Officers and Jawans from the cantonment also had marched down to be the part of final prize distribution and closing ceremony
Saraswati madam along with other judges and officials were also their. We were handed down our medals and certificates. A memorable comp has finally came to an end.

Added by Korak. 

The next day after the comp was over the climbers sampled some of sport routes the area has to offer. 

On the first route Tania had to work on the starting moves, it was hard for short people,she climbed the start on her 4^th attempt and was able to climb all the way through to the top placing all the draws on lead. The difficulty of this route was 6a+

Then she went to the route on the opposite wall, it was previously graded 6c, the route had all the draws already placed by Adarsh and Tania saw him on the route so she went for the flash, but fail to locate a crucial undercut hold on the first move and fell, after that she went for her second go and send it in a superb display of smooth and flawless technique, she and others felt the route is not a 6c but a 6b   

Tania Working the F 6c route 

Then she went on to try another 6c, the route that was more physical in nature and required good bit of lock off strength, she worked on the moves up to the half way, but the sun was on the route and as she was getting tired  after giving couple of burns she decided to call it a day

Competition Overview 

The women’s boulder problems were pretty interesting the first two were around 5A, the third one is around 5C and the 5^th one is around 6A. The second problem climbs a nice arête and the third one traverses a nice crack to the right to finish on a good edge, the final problem has some powerful moves to start from the leap of the roof

Working the F 6c route

and finish up the slab the best line of the finals.

The lead route of women’s final was a nice route crimpy at the start then some blatancy moves through a bulge to finish. It was around 6a.

Tania did all the five boulder problems, flashing the first three, on the fourth problem she broke the footholds twice, the last one she did in her third attempt. The fifth problem was around 6A which she sends in her third try, on the lead route she climbed well but unfortunately her time ran out just before she could clip the final draw.