The Hindu Business Line : Finding a toe hold in rock climbing

`FITNESS' shoes sell at the ladies' counter in Bata shops. But they have a loyal male clientele, burning rubber and buying new pairs, faster than women do. For some of the city's rock climbers, Fitness is a cheap alternative to imported rock shoes, which usually cost a minimum of Rs 2,500 a pair, going up to Rs 6,000.

Climbing is an expensive hobby and `Finger Crisis' at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, a strenuous route. Much after Vaibhav Mehta, one of Mumbai's best sport climbers, cleared what is a real crisis for many, the list of those topping has grown. Amidst the 5.10s, Boreals, Scarpas and La Sportivas of the world, the humble Fitness and its canvas brethren have scored, careful feet placement compensating the lack of sticky rubber.

A far cry from the elegantly equipped climbers of the US and Europe, the National Park's Fitness fans and Mumbra's barefoot brigade, however, seem interestingly placed in climbing.

Sport/competition climbing is today the fastest growing arm of climbing. Its catalyst, the indoor wall, made climbing year-round, bringing an expressive, individualistic sport to youth averse to regulated lifestyles. Besides, where games needed minimum team strength, climbing was easily put together by a few enthusiasts.

Roger Payne, Director (Sports & Development), Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme (UIAA) said here recently, this young variant of the sport has contributed to climbing overall, raising the grade of outdoor rock climbs, migrating its style to mixed and ice climbing.

Still this growth hasn't helped climbing debut at international events such as the Olympics or Asian Games. Payne said that competition climbing will be there at the 2005 World Games and chances are bright for ice climbing and ski mountaineering at the less-crowded Winter Olympics.

But the Summer Games, given a plethora of sports fighting for space in the arena, are tough to get into. Further, climbing does not have the huge following that is required to endorse the plea for an Olympic berth.

Strangely, a solution may lie in the world of Fitness fans and their ilk elsewhere.

Climbing's predicament is like the steel industry's, mines in one place, manufacturers in another. The Himalayas, the Karakoram, the rock climbing hot spots of South-East Asia (even South India) - are significant staging points for global climbing. Yet the sport's guiding perspective was always Euro-centric.

"It is not for the UIAA to tell its members what to do. We react to what they want and obviously there is a very strong Alpine lobby," Payne admitted. But if spirit is the stuff which starts with a Fitness and graduates to a sticky `5.10', then climbing's future market is in Asia where big, populous economies such as China and India are on the ascent.

In climbing, economic development and equipment have more in common than birth in the same alphabet. The former makes the latter - expensive given the sport's high risk levels - affordable, allowing improved access to the sport. Thus, despite the US dollar breaching the Rs 44-mark last week, city-based competition climber and Fitness user, 19 year-old Neerav Ramesh Desai, is still struggling to fund his first pair of imported rock shoes.

Or, this observation by Li Zhixin, Director, Mountaineering Sports Administrative Centre of China's State General Administration of Sports, in a May 2002 issue of People's Daily.

"The development of rock climbing in China had been hampered by its short history and the country's overall economic standard. But I'm fully confident that China could soon be ranked among the world's best."

Indigenising climbing equipment reduces cost. Hard again, for the UIAA-approved testing laboratories are all in Europe.

Ravi Kamath of AVI Industries, equipment supplier to climbers here, recalls a time when he made descenders, testing every piece free of cost at a friend's facility. He tried a local laboratory and the fee impacted sale price. With the market small, Kamath stopped making descenders.

Today, he imports equipment but maintains, "if you can meet quality and safety norms, nothing like making it here."

"It is a weakness. The laboratories are making a lot of money, the UIAA makes nothing out of it," Payne said, pointing out, if the right laboratories are available in India, it should be possible for the UIAA to certify their testing ability. Several such issues need to be addressed before the numbers owed to climbing from the countries around the Himalayas, cuts in.

And with it should come the elusive following climbing needs to debut at the Olympics?

At the busy crags of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (Mumbai does not have a good wall), climbers focused on the immediacy of the sport have no appetite for profound musings.

Save a vague suspicion that the sport is actually gaining strength because these days a small crowd gathers every Sunday to attempt Finger Crisis.

Many of them still, men in Fitness.