Rock Climbing 01 Day
If you want a cliffhanger experience in Nepal, the Kathmandu Valley perimeter offers some hair - raising spots. There are some terrific, dizzying places for those who get their kicks from crawling up vertical cliffs. If you are not making it to some of the kingdom’s high peaks, here’s another opportunity to get a high.
Of late, rock climbing has found increasing popularity among the tourists coming into Nepal as well as for local enthusiasts. Trekking agencies too have jumped into the bandwagon and some of them now offer the rock climbing experience.
Most of the spots are situated to the north and northwest of the valley, in the vicinity of the Nagarjun forest and the Shiva - Puri Watershed and Wildlife Reserve. Your rock climbing trip can therefore be combined with bird watching, game watching and experiencing some of the last of the valley’s wilds.
Where Nagarjun (also known as Jamacho) is a verdant hill l cated to the northwest of the Swayambhu stupa, and believed to be the place where the famous Buddhist philosopher Nagarjun meditated. The cliff here is located inside the Nagarjun forest reserve (or the Forest), suitable for both beginners and wallrats. The limestone rockface is about 12 - 15 m high and bears to remnants of earlier climbs, what purist would describe as ‘piton scarred’ or a ‘def - aced face’. You could always do a free climb if experienced enough or use the friendlier chocks.
Shivapuri
The Shivapuri hill, to the north of Kathmandu, has a fine rock wall on its slope. This is the valley’s second highest summit, commanding a spectacular view of Ganesh Himal (7,111m), Langtang Lirung (7,245m) and Dorje Lakpa (6,966m). The granite faces of this hill lie scatt - ered about and the central big cliff is the challenge. It has and ‘equipped’ route, the regular climb, but you could go ahead and do a free climb and go exploring around.
Mountain Adventure Trekking (Pvt.) Ltd.