Rakchham- a hidden paradise of granite climbing

 

2021

It was our fifth year of climbing in Rakchham, and this time we had it for ourselves. After a year of pandemic and lock downs finally we left Kolkata for the mountains. Our wish was to reach Rakchham as soon as possible, even though we knew winter has not really left the Himalayas. We arrived on 6^th of April and were welcomed by a snow storm that night; we realized we have to be patient before we can start climbing on the rocks again.

The first few weeks were not conducive to climbing as the rocks were wet after the snow storm, so we decided to take things easy and get our bodies adjusted to the cold & altitude that we missed for the last year and a half. It is our fifth season here, during the previous climbing seasons we were very fortunate to meet and climb with some of the best climbers in the world. In 2015 during our first visit to Rakchham with our American friends who came for the big walls of Raldang and Shoshala we met Bernd Zangerl a legend in bouldering.  That had an amazing impact on our progression as climbers.

Rakchham village PC Ray Demski

Quinn on Raldang

Crystal on Shoshala, while trying to open a new route alpine style no bolts 

Bengali wall , one of the most impressive boulder 

During that year we became good friends with Bernd, he was kind and showed us around the boulders and cliffs that harbor lines of world class quality, and we realized how much we needed to improve to even properly attempt these high quality lines both in terms of grade and quality. Bernd had the vision of quietly developing the area so this little Himalayan village does not suffer the impact of worldwide attention. We were also inspired and motivated by his vision and decided to keep it quite. That was the start of an amazing journey, where we knew a lifetime of great climbing awaits us.

During the first trip we spent about a month in Rakchham, tagging along with Bernd and his friends , the climbing we sampled during this time was a completely different experience for us , i had just completed my first FB 7C in Chatru called “Smiling goddess” and was full of confidence to try hard lines but the lines in Rakchham were a different beast , though we did not get any sends that trip we get an honest realty check of our ability and lots of motivation to train hard  and come back stronger.

Social Boulder Fb 6C ✅

Bernd Zangerl ticking off one of his project 

In 2016 after our expedition to Darlang nala, we came to Rakchham.  That was a short trip of about 10 days, that year we did the roof crack boulder opened by our dear friend Crystal Davis Robins called “Mundo al reves” and climbed some other beautiful lines. That year we met Toby Saxton and Manuel Ladner friends of Bernd, two extremely strong and motivated climbers. Their energy was amazing and climbing with them we learned a lot.

 In 2018 again we went to Rakchham after our expedition in Kishtwar Himalayas. After our suffer fest in Donali glacier we came here with our friend Caro North climber and alpinst. Two other friends joined us Tania from Kolkata and Dhilan from Bangalore. That Year one of the world’s most revered alpinist and climber Hansjorg Auer visited Rakchham along with his friends Much Mayer, Guido and Max Berger

After coming down from their big alpine climb they joined Bernd and we did a lot of quality bouldering together in the valley. Caro opened a beautiful steep overhanging crack, an amazing splitter, we tried it with her but the redpoint eluded us. It was an amazing time with so many cool climbers. The fatigue one develops after spending a lot of days at high altitude caught up with our body and did not allow us to push the grades during this trip but we were satisfied with spending beautiful climbing days with cool friends.

From 2019 we decided that we needed more days in Rakchham for the lines we wanted to finish and started living in Dangdangshi. We focused on a few hard boulders and one sport route called “Happy birthday Bernd” around Fr 8a, a line with a complex bouldery start followed by nice moves on arête and then a mantle redpoint crux. We were fortunate to meet Elie Chevieux during our tries on the route and we were able to unlock the boulder problem at the start while we tried the route together. At the end we were very happy to send the line that season. It was an amazing year of learning for us as we met some of the best climbers in the world in Rakchham that year. World class climbers like Jacopo Larcher, Siebe Vanhee, Matty Hong, Pou brothers came for a North Face expedition and Much Mayer led a young alpinist team as they came on a training program for Austrian alpine federation. Iker pou onsighted the famous Alex luger line “Lugerhammer”, which was a spectacular performance.

Putting up mileage on 5.12 finger crack 

Basque Crack 7a Trad ✅

Happy Birthday Bernd 8a ✅

Indian Climb 6c Trad ✅

Sean on Halwa Acha Laga 7b Trad

 Sean on FA Bengali spice 7c Trad

Bengali Spice 

Then our friend Sean Villanueva after his expedition to Meru south decided to meet and climb with us in Rakchham. It was a great lesson for us as climbing with a master like him taught us a lot about climbing specifically the TRAD climbing. We climbed a few amazing crack together and Sean made a first ascent of a beautiful line which he named “Bengali spice”, with this beautiful first ascent an epic season ended in Rakchham and we headed back to our home with lots of satisfaction and dream for the future.

 2021

 SHILAJIT 5.14a/ 8b+

                                         SHILAJIT 8b+/5.14a ✅

The weather improved and as snow started to melt we decided to scope for possible projects. After almost a year and half spent in our home due to Covid pandemic, we got stronger by training in our home board.

Among one of the classic lines of Rakchham is the hard arête opened by Austrian maestro Alex Lugar called Shilajit.  The route consists of a very hard bouldery start, the first six moves to the second bolt are surely an 8A boulder problem, and if i consider it as a boulder problem it is the hardest one so far i climbed.

The crux revolved around a powerful move from a right hand crimp to a heinous left crimp, then squeezing the arête with the right feet to gain another heinous right crimp then left feet up and throw for the arête with the left hand. So powerful and technical at the same time, very condition dependent and really inspiring.

After this crux i was faced with another added difficulty, after rocking over to the face from the arête i was not able to reach the good rail, so needed to use an intermediate right hand shoulder crimp to get my left feet up to reach the good rail. The top part involved big moves on the rail; here we also had to use some alternate beta. We found some matching sequence on the crimps to execute this section. As the route was south facing we decided to work the route on evening sessions. While working on the route we got some really good days with cold temperatures and cloud cover. As we unlock the boulder problem we realized we could do this line under favourable condition. Our working session consists of mostly trying to link the boulder problem, and we finished the session by linking the top section from the rail.

After a week of working the route, the moves linking the boulder problem and the shoulder move with the intermediate crimp was done and it felt like the route could became a reality. As the spring progressed to summer i felt the pressure that condition might not stay optimum for the send, but the evenings remained cold and gave me the chance to go for the send. 

crux boulder at the start 

Rocking over to the face from the arete

Final moves nearing the top

SHILAJIT 8b+/5.14a ✅

On 27^th, the day was windy and cold, as I warmed up on the moves of the boulder problem the conditions felt really good, so I decided to go for the redpoint. As I started the climb and entered the crux, the crimp on the left hand felt good under my fingers, as I took the right crimp it felt strong and I put my left feet outside edge and went for pinching the arête, the really good friction allows me to stick it and I made the rock over to the face and took the intermediate shoulder crimp. That hold is super small and I felt nervous but with a big scream I was able to hold on to it and put my left feet up and reach the good rail and the rest. I composed myself and rested on the good rest to get my heart rate down and flush out the lactic acid with deep exhalations. The rest was key, as I felt recovered I went for the top, it was an amazing fight, matching crimps and big throws to move rightwards up the rail and a final big move to reach the lip. I could sense all the minutes spend on the Linked boulder circuits on my home wall was so important, to keep fighting and keep going until the end. As I crossed the lip and move over to slab I felt great joy of realizing a seemingly unattainable climb. The darkness was falling, I untied the rope and walked up to the top and then walked down to the base. We cleaned the route next day, this route is such an important climb for me, and it showed me with proper training and tactics, I can go for hard routes.

After Shilajit we took a few days rest and start trying out other staff. The quality and quantity of hard and quality lines are endless. Here we found ourselves psyched on the Gold finger FB 7C on gold flake boulder. It started on the middle of the boulder and traversses a crimpy break to finish on the gold flake line. The final move is a dynamic throw to a good hold from two small crimps. After doing it with rope once we felt confident and decided to go for this line. The crux reloved around taking a one or two finger small crimp with left and bringing the right hand close beside on a small crimp and then throw for the good edge of gold flake start holds. After 3 session working on it we were  finally able to send the problem.

Crux of Gold finger 

Gold finger FB7C'/V9 ✅

We tried and worked on a few other  hard boulders also  but the warmer day temps restricted high quality attempts on really hard lines, we stayed in Rakchham until middle of July, by this time the weather became unstable with rain showers becoming more frequent, so we decided to head back to Kolkata for couple of months, and get ourselves ready for the post monsoon season.      

  

Das Lebende Labyrinth Fb 8A