Secret Majick house

Paraport Eagle

 Paraport, Hampi, wild area

It was a great new area and a good but open cave at the Eagle rock plateau, just a one hour walk from civilisation near a big pinnacle where eagles always stay. I would sometimes get woken up by animals but I would always pretend to be asleep and inspect things later. The logic being that nothing will attack you if you pretend to be asleep. Monkeys never slept on the big Eagle rock pinnacle and when I went to the base of it I realized that either it’s unclimbable even for them or they are scared of disturbing the sometimes aggressive birds. It’s a massive multi levelled plateau with a lot of great boulders scattered around. One of my favourite problems was this steep ramp line of perfect greyrock. Technical climbing on small holds and slopers then a violent move to a jug. Then you can chalk and contemplate a 6c topout. Because of that move I gave it the name. 

      

Violent Liberation with sit 7c

 Violent Liberation standstart 7b

There are a lot of hills and valleys to cross on the way back to the nearest village of Sanapur and it was one of those days once a week when I had to go back there for shopping. When alone and if it’s not too hot I always try to walk a slightly different way through these complex hills to explore any possible good areas. This time It was a new way back to town and I stumbled across a flat grassy plateau with an impressive overhanging ramp line on a big 7 metre boulder. Definitely worth coming back for this I thought but is there anything else?  After walking round and round the big rock a few times I realized it was the only real way up or down the thing. I also saw a smaller boulder with some easier warm ups and classics just nearby.

Then something majick started to happen. For some reason I became magnetized towards the big hill 20 metres away. Just trees, bushes then bigger and bigger rocks. For some reason I pressed on through the trees, spiky bushes and round a few more corners and boulders before it suddenly appeared in front of me. A little doorway totally hidden from the outside world by the vegetation and rocks leading into the hill made with dry stones and strong mud blocked round the edges with more stones. A secret house !?

The hidden doorway 

I was entranced and wondered just who made this place and why ? It felt very strange entering as if I was going into somebody else's world but luckily it was empty. After more inspection of the interior I realized, nobody has lived here for a very long time as there are no signs of fires or human items. My mind was running riot imagining who was last living here. A secret cult of sadhus? Illegal animal hunters? A hippie gang in the sixties? Outcasts on the run from mainstream society? Maybe it was from the Tungrabadra canal construction in the 1950’s or maybe from Vijaynagar times when just 4 or 5 km away was the biggest city in South India.  

  

 It was nestled inside the hill under some huge boulders and I just sat there for a while trying to soak in the feeling of the place. Somebody had put a lot work in to make it protected, but probably from tigers back in the days when there were lots more than now. It was all built up round the edges with mud stone walls to back up the boulders making a big open plan room with another side door but you would have to crouch like an elf to squeeze through that way. If an estate agent had been showing me the place I would have had just one complaint, it smelled of cat piss!

  I thought to check further inside the hill so clambered and squeezed through into what seemed like another series of caves. Round another corner and It was getting eerie now with just thin shafts of sunlight showing the way. I stopped still listening to the place and wondering which animals all the bones were from spread all over the place. Some were big, some small, all types of bones were there. I guessed it was a gang of hiyenas who had dragged animals in there to feast on. Not to worry, I thought but I’d gone far enough so went back on myself and to the main cave again.

 Hungry for more boulders I went outside again and just behind off to the side found a lovely garden area with lots of nice looking blocks for climbing. Everything looked quite hard and I was attracted to an extremely overhanging groove line with a finger jam half way up. I felt the hold and imagined making progress up from there, yes I could do this I thought. It looked hard but I was desperate to try now so decided, I will come and stay here for a while.

 I hadn’t really finished with the Eagle rock area but collected my shopping from the village and main luggage from the old cave to stay in what I first thought of as the ‘Secret majick house.’ I really wanted to do the nice 6c, 7a medium hard things first before getting stuck on something harder like that beautiful groove. 

Majick house groove 7a the first good thing I saw on that walking day so the first proper thing I climbed after 'moving in'

If you stay in a completely new cave it can be a bit scary as you really don’t know what else lives there or nearby.  The cat piss smell thing was dwelling on my mind a bit but I tried to forget about it. You will get those medium size jungle cats staring at you at night but they are just curious and not a threat like leopards or tigers. But I couldn’t tell the difference between all the cat family smells, to me it’s all the same, just cat piss. The first couple of days there was just a lot of ants, red millipedes, a dangerous looking jet black snake that I evicted and a big black scorpion who I made friends with.

The place felt great and I was settling in well, enjoying the climbing and just loving being in this wild new hill with fresh rocks. It was on the 3^rd night in the cave when I heard some big feet slapping around on rocks further inside the hill. It must be a really big monkey, I joked to myself. Monkeys don’t walk around at night though and for a good reason. It was late and I’d finished my cooking so the fire had all but gone out, just a few embers. I was trying to think positive but it was too late to pretend to be asleep and I had already got it…….Catvibes! This was it. I was totally out of my depth. Suddenly it was there and crouched about 4 metres away looking and checking me out. There was still a small boulder between us so I could make out half of it’s body. It seemed big so I didn’t want to move. It was a staring competition in the half dark cave so I wasn’t going to move at all, not yet anyway and I was determined not give out any 'fear vibes.' I was gripped and It’s heavy breathing continued but still neither of us wanted to move. I think it was deciding if I’m worth eating or not and I was aware that if it attacked I would almost definitely lose the game.

No jungle cat this but the big one with spots, Churtah (leopard.) I could only just make it out in the moon light but it was the breath which was scaring me also. That heavy sound was somehow loaded with tension and indecision. Anybody who has played with a cat knows how their minds work, getting aggressive when something moves quickly. That’s just what I kept thinking; only If I move quickly will it attack.

 A few minutes passed like hours in that stalemate situation. I didn’t want to move at all never mind quickly but I couldn’t take the tension any more. We were both totally still and then I got a brainwave. Two metres behind me were some embers left and dry grass nearby. I just carefully and really slowly backed up not leaving its presence and reaching behind me scraped some dry grass onto the embers. We had hypnotized each other into a kind of trance but when the fire came the trance was broken and it was gone. After that night I changed my nickname for that place to “cat cave”.  I was probably near to its territory area. 

That night I didn’t sleep that well not letting the fire go out properly and listening to the darkness intensely. Should I leave not just for my safety but out of respect for the animal was also a recurring thought. In the morning I decided to stay as I was enjoying being there so much. It was still on my mind for the next days though and I would always get a small fire going even before cooking. Then every extra day that passed the more I started to relax again. 

It had taken me weeks just to do 20 or 30 problems but some were hard and took days to send. That groove had me totally hooked even though I’d done it from standing quickly adding the sit start took another 4 or 5 climbing days. I didn’t mind that much as it’s great to have a quality project 20 meters from your place. I solved it in March after a few weeks in the cave and even named it Rare groove

 Rare groove sitstart 7c+

 Rare groove standstart 7b+

 Soon the little garden and the blocks around were climbed out and it was time to walk further every day. Even though it was Hot season now I wanted to stay longer in the catcave and explore more nearby areas. The temperature was at least 10 c degrees cooler in the huge cave so perfect for chilling in the afternoon.

 That 1^st season in the catcave was like heaven. Even when I’d exhausted the garden I soon realized that the next good boulders were not far away at all. I saw the leopard only once more from quite far but it ran away. It seemed like it knew me and as we had hypnotized each other it let me ‘borrow’ a small piece of the hill. Its almost psychic ‘super senses’ had realized that I was no threat at all.

 I was quite happy being alone but then someone gave me a note from an Italian girl I'd met in Manali. I went to her guest house and met her sraight away. When I told her I was staying in a great new cave her eyes lit up. Dressed in long cotton pants, long shirt and equipped with just a torch and some beedies we got the shopping and she trekked up there with me that very evening. 

When we walked in I could see she was entranced by that place also. “How the hell did you find it?” she asked. She was very scared of spiders (there was a few) but stayed for 7 or 8 days and loved it. I was just all the time desperately hoping that after sunset we wouldn’t run into the leopard or even worse, the oh so unpredictable mummy bear! I didn’t tell her about the experience with the leopard for fear of putting her off coming. 

 Paola was quite enjoying  the new life as a jungle girl even doing her share of the jungle duties like collecting and snapping sticks, feeding the fire and suchlike.  Watching me climbing was amusing enough and she was always laughing when I fell. That was the best bit for her except when I actually got to the top of something then she was even more pleased. “Wow you’ve actually done something today,” she said. It must be strange I thought, watching boulderers projecting things when you don’t do it yourself. All that effort, day after day, falling, falling, falling. The afternoons were beautiful in the big secret cave chilling, cooking and doing yoga. One afternoon she went outside and didn’t return for ages. I got worried so I went out looking for her. All around I walked shouting her name repeatedly but to no avail. Well never mind I thought and went back to the cave still half worried. When she returned 2 hours later she looked really serious, “I was sleeping next to a bear shit” she said. 

  Exploring continued unabated with easier climbs coming to hand and classics in every direction. Only 5 minutes away ‘coffee shakes’ sticks in my mind as an absolute classic big arête with a great fat ‘in the sun all day’ sloping blob hold right at the top. I named it after drinking too much sickly strong black coffee to try and wake up and beat the sun on the morning I climbed it. As oppose to the real ‘ice coffee shake’ which in the cave I could only dream about! 

 Squib from Isle of man on Coffee shakes 7a+ in 2014

Staying in the cat cave seemed so majick. Even when I was alone again it felt great as it’s got a feeling which is obviously special. I stayed and made it my base and didn’t get even one visitor the whole season except for that Italian girl Paola who I had shown the way to get there. Sometimes I heard shepherds passing 100 meters away but they never came and didn’t know I was there. Unlike other more open places I’d stayed nobody simply stumbled across this cave by mistake (except when I was magnetized in the beginning) It was too hidden behind bushes and boulders. Almost anybody would walk straight on past not realizing it’s there. 

                               Inside the catcave 

One morning I was wandering around near the cave with my big machete knife in my hand messing around with bits of wood for the fire when I saw a local guy with some wood in his hands also carrying a machete. Suddenly he looked terrified and dropped all the wood and went haring across the small garden down the steep hillside. I went to edge of the plateau where I could see him going so fast that he was almost falling and sliding down slabs. I started down the hill after him and after 10 metres he looked around to see me and started to go even faster almost losing his flip flops. Then I stopped and thought to myself; what the hell am I doing? With a big knife in my hand, chasing another guy with a big knife in his hand, in the middle of nowhere in the wild area. I wandered back to the cave trying to work it out. It’s like the cat when something moves fast they just want to chase it. Maybe I’ve been staying too long in the forest I thought!

I had to have a day away from the cave on HOLI festival which I never missed in the days before the demolitions.

 

 When Hampi was Hampi, Holi 2007

INFO, Why Paraport? - TOPO

 link to  Paraport-Overview maps, boulder topos and directions


Hampi - Why Paraport?


 It's a tribute to a special place which was perfect with so many huge trees and boulders everywhere, "empty rocks only" as the locals would say. To us they were far from empty giving lots of good climbing. It's still great as they have stopped blasting just near the climbing and go to other places. This could be due to the climbers who pleaded with them not to take those rocks.

Why would anybody go and live in that area in the first place?
 Too many loose flakes on Hampi island?
 Too touristy and overpriced?
 How and why did they escape from Planet Hampi?

People thought I was peculiar for going to stay over there in the forest and the locals told me it's very dangerous. Go back and stay in Goa corner resort with the others they would say. I just had to tell them, look it's free and the best boulders are out there! My old friend Gopalswami the boss of Mowgli guest house always laughed at me, "jungle boy" he'd say. I was laughing too, "MR. Mowgli V.I.P." I'd say back and watch with amazement at his rapidly expanding Mowgli empire. All the guest houses on Hampi Island were expanding at a super fast speed.

Some of the hills are frequented by more bears and some leopards. You can tell by the shit that you find. Too much bear shit and it’s scary especially at night or sunset walking back to your cave when you hear the grunting growling sound of that beast. The year before I had found a high hill with two big pinnacles and boulders scattered on the plateaus in front so I plodded up there to check it out for another time. When I walked behind the pinnacles it was a flat grassy plateau with loads of rocks big and small.


Suddenly standing there this time it felt special, It felt so right. There was no sign of any rock blasters then. It was high up and I was looking down all the way back to the imposing Rishimuk on Hampi island. A long way from anything here that’s for sure. I assumed nobody had ever lived there as it was too far to the water spring and few people would ever pass. It was in the middle of nowhere and so beautiful. I would make this place my base.


Now I could spend every day climbing the easier problems and live on next to nothing. At first I would do classics which I could do quickly. It's nice not to get stuck on projects sometimes.

 One day I could feel a finger tendon so I went to do these two classic new problems 7a and 7b. When I'd finished the pain had gone! Sometimes it's just like that, you can 'climb away' injuries.

        
     After a while this boulder was on the hit list for the blasters but refused to break. DONT BREAK 7a

  DESTROY THE FUTURE 7b+

 DESTROY THE FUTURE!  I To me it seemed like the blasters were doing just that. Then after too many tries and seeing my finger tips I thought I was destroying my own future also. But for one or two days only. Fingertips heal themselves and get stronger. Broken blasted rocks can't be healed so fuck your mind if you think too much about it.

Actually in the beginning apart from wild animals, strange insects and falling from boulders there was not much to stress about and most of the time I would be so busy anyway. If I am not climbing and searching or exploring then it’s collecting dry sticks and the 1 hour water run. With all the boiling and cooking thrown in plus the yogic activities that's what I'd be doing every day.

It was doing me good living like this I could feel it. When I met people back down in the ‘real world’ I found myself being nicer, more friendly and more sympathetic also. Maybe I was becoming more sensitized by living like that. Or maybe it's just easier to be a nice person when you only have to do it for one day a week.

The only people I ever met out there were the occasional woodcutter always asking for water and some family groups of nomads who travel from place to place with their animals. They stayed on the next hill to be near the water. One middle aged guy came while I was bouldering and seemed interested in me so I went to visit their camp which I could see from my cave about 25 minutes walk across the valley and up a hill.

They were all sitting chilling out in their jungle camp in the hot time. It was what looked like his daughter that struck me. She was so wild looking with her half dreadlocked hair, psychedelic clothing, piercings everywhere, tribal tattoos and jewellery. She wouldn’t have looked out of place at Woodstock or a psytrance bash. If she walked down the street in England she would be automatically branded as a 'dirty hippie.' With her big beautiful eyes and a happy round face she looked amazing but I don’t stare at people for too long so I tried to take my eyes off her and focus on the father. After we talked in a mixture of kannada , Hindi and English he was smiling and made chillum hand gestures. I was off tobacco but got out my small pipe which smoked like a chillum and some ganja. We were still talking as we smoked which seemed to work somehow and he was telling me about the wild animals round these parts and to be careful. The bears would attack he said. They had loads of those lethal spikey bushes to make a circle around the camp at night giving protection for them and their animals. What a life I thought. As far I could know they were a nice family, just happy travellers and I felt like I’d made friends with them when I left.

With the 15 litres in a water ball on my shoulder I wasn’t looking back much but became faintly aware of someone following me. Then she was just by my side, the psychedelic daughter ! I could hardly believe it. She was skipping down the hill with me smiling all the time. She seemed to be excited and happy about something but then 18 year old girls who live in the jungle get excited quickly, don’t they? I thought.

Then I became a bit confused as nothing had happened to me quite like this in India. Women just don’t behave like this normally. Maybe as travelling nomads they have a different system of ethics. But Is she allowed to do this? Maybe she said to her family members that she was was going for a piss and sneaked off or did her parents send her after me saying “go and make friends with that fine fellow.” I didn’t have a clue. What if she wants to be my ‘special friend.’ It felt like I was getting out of my depth. Then just as my cave came into view she stopped, smiled , pointed at my cave then laughing and skipping like a little girl turned around to run and jump back to her camp. Such a happy one I thought, happy with almost nothing, not like the people in the real world.

That night I was thinking about her as I drifted off to sleep. Wouldn’t it be wildly outrageous to get involved with someone like that I thought. Someone so out of the mainstream. Much to their delight I visited the camp every time I went for the water and even though I would probably see them at the same spot next year I was really sad when they left. They had moved on and I missed the ultra friendly gypsy vibes.

I was very psyched for climbing so when in the mood would push myself further and further into the scary highball zone. It was becoming my new cosmic cave and I knew about how to trust the rock but it’s different here, the rock generally more solid but still there willl always be the odd flake. It’s also a little bit far from the hospital or anywhere so the risks are greater. Sometimes on high top outs it's a technique of lock, reach, tap, listen to the sound and decide quick.

Dhal in the Dharma cave.
I would be like this only. With no mobile, no computer, no house, no car, no anything really. The crash pad life was mine now. I'd gone backwards and was loving this freedom more than anything in my life so far. After a while I got a radio though. Otherwise I might lose touch with the real world I thought. If I wasn't already maybe I could become 'uncivilized' or even 'junglized.' 

To reach and stay within the global poverty line of 2$ a day while living a happy satisfying life and not hungry or wanting for anything. I hadn’t meant to but it just happened.  No luxuries, no rent, no fuel for cooking only free wood and a very basic but healthy diet (dhal and rice every day) made it possible. 

EUCALIPTY WALL 7c This sweeping wall of white granite would give an absolute classic problem straight up the middle. Very crimpy body tension moves at the start then a great move up high to finish the route. It's well worth seeking it out in the afternoon when its in the shade.

Real world

Every time I went back once a week or so it was a bit of a mini culture shock. All the people I would meet in the ‘real world’ (Sanapur, Hampi or Hospet) seemed to be on a different level and sometimes made me nervous. I thought about it and yes it was starting to seem scary….. everybody seemed really desperate and are grasping so they can feel happy and satisfied.

I realized that by striving for less I was going totally in the opposite direction from almost everybody else. People started to think I’m wierd though and the locals told me all the time not to stay like that in the wild forest area. Real reason – they are not getting any money! So try and scare me, it didn'y work but I knew they would be scared to stay out there for even one day. When I met other foreigners I tried not to tell them what I was doing but I couldn’t lie if they actually asked where I’m staying I had to say it, “I live in the forest for free.”

For boulders like this. It's the reason for staying out here. When I get a rock with 4 or 5 classic problems it makes me so happy as to be almost ecstatic.

Fantastic rock with three 7a's, one 7a+ one 7b and a hard project. Unfortunately this boulder is just outside the agreed 'no blast zone' so we can just hope it stays.

With very small holds at the start and a hard move to finish it's MAJICK FINGERS 7c and like a short powerful version of KUNDALINI RISING. It's a classic line which draws you in, don't miss it. This problem also got left out of the guide but it's just near the main pinnacles area. Take the original topos with you if you go there. It's got a lot more problems and is lighter to carry than the in the guide

A special piece of rock this is. I found it in the mid morning half way between my cave and the water hole. It was slopers in that groove you can see and full moon so I went back to climb it that very night. SHINING GROOVE boulder 7a and the special thing is a superb project round to the left of this.

PARAPORT PINNACLES

VISIONS OF DOOM 7b+

It's here I can view straight across the valley to the pinnacles.

When I'm resting between tries I get a sinking sad feeling as I have a perfect view over the valley to Paraport. Not one blasted boulder is vivible they are all behind the pinnacles. The real world, the poverty, the blasters, the need for material wealth all sitting BEHIND those pinnacles. It's ironic that of all the places I could have come to escape the march of materialism it would arrive here anyway.















 FLASH 

Not many people came to Paraport but a climber called Squib came and liked it a lot. After repeating most of the problems he also wanted to find new things.

This photo was an area on a seperate lower plateau nearby and exclusively developed by Squib. It was brilliant and he did some 20 or so problems but there was still more to do. One climb was tall and he had to try for a couple of days before I spotted him on it. He did it that day, a beautiful 7b and more like E5 also.
The next year he didn't come and I saw the blasters had taken a liking to this area being easier to get a tractor to. What we see here in the photo is just the start of their campaign. If you go now there's not one boulder left. All his classic problems are gone.
Most of the boulders at Paraport and nearby are still there though and we begged them in the nearby village not to blast there. We watch as people destroy the hills but never say anything harsh to them. It's not their fault they are victims of systems way beyond their control. As a boulderer it's so sad to see the boulders just disappear one after the next and essential to try and stop them. I'ts still great now at Paraport partly because of this effort. Unlike a lot of hills and plateaus beyond and to the west which are now boulderless.
Help to preserve this area by going to climb there and go to the village (Yahadeli) 2km away on a rest day. Just tell them what you do and how great the place is. The more people who tell them this the less likely they are to blast it. They've got so many other 'active places' so don't lose out and the locals told us they hope to soon get permission to take all the rock from just one hill rather than running between so many boulderfields. We can hope so too.

Original topos and how to get there, logistics, water etc. on the pdf with about 250 problems to go at.

   link to  Paraport-Overview maps, boulder topos and directions




All the following problems still exist for now so must be attempted...

TICK LIST
LITTLE ARETE 5+ left and right version both good
PARAPORT TRAVERSE 6a brilliant steep traverse
JUNGLE PEOPLE 6c –JUNGLI block pinnacles area, pockets wall great finish
PARAPORT WALL 7a – pinnacles area high classic
SEARCH FOR SOMA 7b+ – Soma block, slopers jugs crimps its got everything
PARATRANCEPORT 7a+ - Paraport boulder,
PARAPORT EXPRESS 7b+/c -long moves very steep and fingery
IRON GRIP 7b+ - Karadi area, crimpy dynamic throw and tricky finish
DHARMA KAYA 7b – Dharma cave area, superb bulging wall
STONED IMMACULATE 7b – classic undercut arete
MAJICK FINGERS – 7b+/c - near east pinnacle. Hard to decide the method. Static? Jumping throw? mmm.
THE MILKING WAY 7c – karadi area, superb sloper problem. Milk the sloper!
EUCALIPTY WALL 7c the field. fantastic climbing up a beautiful bulging white wall

JUNGLFEVER 7c+ great move to latch the top.

WORLDS IN COLLISION 8a – pinnacles area. Great climbing and compelling line.