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The Lower North-West Trail

  • Grade context: US

Description

A cluster of high boulders with cracks located about a kilometer from the Prayoga parking lot, or about half a kilometer up the trail, before the strip of the slab along the trail.

Another quicker way to access this section, if only using a high ground clearance vehicle or motorbikes, is to drive north from Prayoga towards the Ravugodlu village, turn right (east) at the village, and along the road for half a kilometer, and just before the road turns north, at a mantapa, turn right onto a tractor trail heading south (and back towards Muthurayaswamy Betta). Drive past the lake, until you can view the boulders of the trail section to your right. Park and walk across. The access is less than half a kilometer from this point.

On this aforementioned trail, please park responsibly. The tractor trail is used extensively by the local villagers. Do note that the trail is only passable for 4- by-4 vehicles or for motorbikes.

The lines facing north (which is the case here mostly), are best climbed in the afternoon or the evenings. The late mornings can be brutal with the sun on your back. But most of the lines documented here were first done in the late monsoon season with high humidity and searing sun overhead.

Routes

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Grade Route

Located along the trail, closer to the top, but halfway through.

The left most crack going up straight. Jams, jugs, crimps, and jams. The crux is towards the top and the top out. Read the line wrong, and it might feel like a

5.11.

Rack: A hand-sized and fist-sized cam or passive pieces.

Top Anchor: Finger- to fist-sized crack directly above it.

Natural anchor: Potentially in a few years, the sapling behind might turn into a tree. Boulderable line.

Documented on Oct 13, 2021. Sohan, belayed by Kartik V and Akhil Menon.

The traverse from right to left, along the crack, and top out through the Decepticon line. Creative placements in the crack for the traverse. Vertical crack is well protected.

The crux is the traverse section to connect to the vertical crack.

Rack: Hand-sized pieces and below.

Top Anchor: Since a traverse, a top-anchor that would connect the entire traverse might be complex. However, a top anchor from atop the boulder could be setup using small pieces, or just pink-point as your project the traverse, with pre-placed gear in the crack.

FKA: Aalok Bharadwaj pink-pointed on, Dec 11,2021.

Via the right-side crack, past the crack, the rock has potential for a stiff line.

With the last piece of protection in the crack below.

Top Anchor: Small cams to tricams.

Chimney/Offwidth

Immediately to the right (10 meters) of the Decepticon Boulder.

Single move Chimney crux till the deep fist jam, and then the route is quite done. Easy climbing to the tree for the top anchor.

Rack: One #3 cam, and cordage for the tree.

Top anchor: The tree

Natural Anchor: The tree

Documented by: Prakhaar Gaur & Sohan, Oct 31st, 2021

Finger & Hand crack

The thin finger crack on mildly overhanging wall, converts to a hand crack after about 15 feet, following by top out via a mild roof. Another body length of climbing over slabbish section to the flat top.

Sustained line for the grade with beautiful movement, intense gear placements, and with a satisfying top-out. The right beta will make this line either a 10ish route, or if you blow the beta, will seem like a 11ish line.

While the lower section is easy at the grade, the gear placements could be difficult to make while climbing until the ledge. Hence the PG.

Exit: After the top-out, walk left over to the next boulder, and chimney down, through the cave.

Rack: Finger- and hand-sized pieces to lead, and hand-sized pieces for top anchor.

Top anchor: Along the crack on the slab section, hand-sized pieces. Or further up on the top, larger hand-sized crack.

Natural anchor: A tree further behind and to the left of the top-out. Between 5 to 10 meters in length of cordage for natural anchor.

FA: Sohan with Akhil Menon & Kiran Kallur, Oct 23rd, 2021

Chimney/Offwidth

Immediately to the right of the Bhandup ka Popeye. Easy, but exciting top-out, especially if you don’t have wide-gear.

Starts as a squeeze chimney, then converts to an offwidth at the top. Most common top-out is by going over the edge to the right of the crack.

Possible to protect with smaller wide-gear or a couple of fist-sized pieces, if ok with running it out in sections.

Rack: Wide-Gear (BD cam# 4, 5, & 6 ideal) or Fist-sized pieces (doubles) with run-out.

Top-Anchor: Hand- and Fist-sized gear, and long anchor (30-foot cordlette)

Natural Anchor: None

FKA: Sohan & Kiran Kallur, Oct 23, 2021

Project

A potential project of high grade.

The seam that runs along it, offers potential to get a piton in

Project

A bird nest was found the last time we looked at it.

But looks like this is often bouldered

Offwidth

The first of the high-boulder cracks along the trail.

Will need a #5 BD cam size to protect the crux, which is about 10-12 feet from the ground.

Rack: #5 BD Cam, #4 BD Cam (Optional), and hand-sized pieces (#2) just before the top out.

Top anchor: Finger sized pieces to fist-sized

Natural Anchor: None

Around the corner from the Idli Swamy, and on the same boulder.

A series of horizontal seams and shallow cracks facing west.

The lower horizontal seam was explored to see if it would take longer pitons.

The pitons do not go in beyond a couple of centimeters deep. The upper horizontal crack can take smaller pieces.

This crack is essentially the same crack as the Idli Swamy offwidth crack, running along all the boulder, splitting into two and runs down the other end.

Could have been much more fun, but the base has a mid-sized boulder the top of which is an easy scramble from the base. The crack is available for about 4- 5 meters from atop the aforementioned boulder and does not offer significant climbing challenge. But an excellent beginner crack.

Take off crux, and thereafter good holds and ledges.

Project

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Wed 24 May
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