Chattru

Well I'm back in Manali for a day to restock with food and to have a shower. I decided not to go to Leh/Stok Kangri, as it sounds like lots of driving followed by lots of walking up a big hill with an even bigger bag. I'll go back to Chattru tomorrow for another 10 days, then down to Amritsar, Wagah, and Pakistan...

From Northern India

The climbing in Chattru is stunning, and there is really no need to leave. You could spend months here and not get bored, there are thousands of boulders to explore, and when the skin needs a rest, there are huge trad lines, and 4/5000m peaks to have a go at. Then when legs need a rest, there's plenty of bouldering... you get the idea.

From Northern India

From Northern India

Chattru is a 'village' about 7 hours north of Manali. It consists of one broken bridge, one slightly less broken bridge, and four large tents ('dhabas') which house the four families who live there. The tents are their homes, and also small shops and cafes for the passing vehicles on the road from Manali to Kasa.

I'm not sure what the rocks is here, maybe shcist, it looks like gtranite but is a little flakier. It can take a bit of effort to find good trad lines, as often stuff that looks good from a distance turns out much biger, looser and scarier than expected. That said, we've done a coule of classics on really good rock.

From Northern India

(Don't worry I've had a shave since)

The bouldering is amazing, easily as good as hampi, with better climate and less monkeys and annoying locals! The glacier approaches do cause a bit of hassle, but at the rate it's melting, should be clear by the end of the week. There is a guidebook, but so far it's been much more fun just to mooch about and find stuff that looks good.

So far, this is probably the only part of India I would seriously want to come back to. Hampi and Badami were good, but the amount of driving, the heat, and the annoying people take away some of the appeal. The people up here in Manali and the north are so different, not only in appearance (lots of Tibetan and Nepali infuence) and religion (Buddhist) but they are much more layed back, friendly, and less interested in fleecing us than in the South. You could get to Chattru in about 36 hours from London... do it.