SuruFest 2024

Events

10 min. 30. 11. 24

The things you do not plan will surprise you and you will enjoy them the most. Who would have thought in 2022, when I moved to Malta, that 2 years later I will go to a multisport festival in India? India has never been on the top of my travel list, and I have no clue why. Maybe because of my fear of spices and spiders? Who knows? I’m just glad that I met Suhail Kako in Malta, whose enthusiasm for climbing in Ladakh was infectious. He spoke so much about this mysterious Suru, that in April I decided: let’s go!

Let’s be honest. I am not the best organizer. I prefer to just follow my instinct and see where life goes. I knew that we would land in Delhi first, then from there we would travel to Leh, where the festival has organized buses on 25th August. One more thing off my "Things to worry about list", but I had two more to deal with: vaccines and visa. I don’t know which was more painful. Once I had all of these, I was just impatiently counting down the days back. 

On 22nd August, I was finally on the plane. After nearly 50 hours of traveling, we arrived in Leh. Leh is at an altitude of 3,524m. Fun fact: when you arrive in a city this high, you have to be patient and stay on your butt until you get used to the lack of oxygen. Otherwise you will end up like my friend who almost fainted on the street and was sick for a few days. So even though we were excited like a kid in Disneyland, we took Suhail’s advice and didn’t leave the guesthouse for a day. Just sleeping and drinking a lot of water. We had to be careful on the second day, when we were exploring the markets and the Namgyal Tsemo Monastery. I don’t think I ever had so many problems with stairs as I did on that day.

The Crashpad Team made sure that we knew all of the important information, and created a huge whatsapp group where we could sign up for the buses or organize transport for ourselves from Leh to Suru which is a 235 km long ride with an endless serpentine road. It felt like I was on a highschool class trip again. While we were slowly gathering in a parking spot, you could feel the excitement. People chatting everywhere, trying to reserve the best chairs to sit, sharing snacks, trying to remember each other's name (a nightmare for my goldfish memory).

Once everybody settled we started our seven hour long ride through beautiful mountain peaks. I tried to take a few pictures of the mountains, but to be honest, after a while I just enjoyed the view and tried not to be sick. The first half of the journey the bus was full of laughs and stories. As we went into the afternoon everybody went silent. Some slept, others were just watching the trucks go by. We were about 30 minutes away when a bunch of Urdu kids and adults stopped our bus. Sometimes frantic and sometimes scary conversations started between our drivers and the locals. As foreigners who cannot speak the local dialect, we were like kids getting tired, sitting on the bus quietly and waiting for news. It was nerve wrecking. 

PEOPLE IN THAT AREA DON'T LIKE WHEN PEOPLE OF LEH CARRY TOURISTS THROUGH THEIS PARTS.

Luckily they had their own buses, so we just had to get off, put our stuff on the other bus then resume our journey. This little intermezzo added almost two hours to our trip, so it turned into a good nine hours travel.

Personally I like to arrive at a campsite in the dark. When you arrive just after a sunset, everything is suspicious. You cannot be 100% sure what you will see in daylight. How tall are the mountains? Will I see a glacier? Like the night before Christmas. You go to sleep with the knowledge that something wonderful will happen to you in the next morning. But before you close the tent look up and your jaw will drop. Holly molly how many stars! SuruFest is a five star festival. Three meals per day, endless chai (local tea with ginger and other spices), possibility to rent tent/sleeping bags, free use of crash pads and all time access to the local team who are more than happy to chat about the nearby crags. Or anything else.

A typical day at Suru starts off with a yoga session with Tre Munroe at 8 am which goes on for an hour (if you have never done yoga like me, it feels like three hours). Post yoga breakfast was served in the community hut with some hot chai. After breakfast climbers pick up crash pads, water and head out to a sector of their choice or they can join the Crashpad guides and go with them. 

You can choose from more than 500 problems

If your sector was further away, Crashpad team makes sure you will have enough energy to keep climbing during the afternoon and bring lunch and extra water to the crags

Around sunset we head back to the campsite to chill, slacklining or learn some basic juggle tricks from Swadesi treks before dinner. This year we had the chance to sign up for workshops on our rest days (if you had one): longboard with Terrasurf Longbaording, highline by Slackistan, Diskovalley made sure we have a safe way down with the MTB, or if you wanted to give a go for the vertical life, you had the chance to learn more about trad climbing by the organizers.

I climbed almost everyday (except when I was sick. What can I say? I didn’t pay attention for one second, and in India, that can cause two days of stomach problems), practiced slackline, watched the Milky Way, and talked to interesting people from all around the world. During the week, I had the chance to climb with Jammy who is one of the main organizers of Suru and Maya, who is a very talented young woman climber. I asked them about their lifestyle, about Suru’s present, past and future. Well, you can read about this yourself in the little interview.

INTERVIEW WITH MAYA AND JAMMY

Please introduce yourself. Who are you, where are you from and how did you meet with climbing?

M: My name is Maya, I come from Andhra Pradesh, India. I grew up in a rocky, hilly environment where I liked going high on rocks. I like the thrill of being up. So later when I went to college I liked going to nature and that's when I started trad climbing in England with the university club to be out in the mountains. This happened already five years ago. After my first Suru Fest in 2022 I joined the Crashpad Team near Delhi and I got more into bouldering.

J: I am Tenzin Jamyang, also known as ‘Jammy’. I was born and grew up in Leh. I was always a climber at heart, I climbed trees and small buildings ever since I can remember but I started rock climbing properly when I was 28. I stumbled across the climbing wall at Indian Mountaineering Foundation in Delhi and GraviT climbing gym in Leh subsequently. I was already into trekking and mountaineering, and climbing made the vertical realm more accessible to me, so it was a very natural transition.

How is climbing tourism in Leh? What’s its history? 

J: Lots of strong climbers have visited for their personal projects around Ladakh. Some big multi pitch routes are scattered but with not many repeats. GraviT climbing gym was started in 2009 in Leh by Vaibhav Mehta and in 2012 Suhail and I took over the gym. We started with scouting possible areas to develop for commercial trips and eventually met Jeremy Higle and along with him developed Shey rocks. There are a few other climbers who would climb around Leh and Shey.

we are still in baby shoeS, but our opportunities are endless.

How did Suru get started?

M: SuruFest started with Jammy, Suhail and a bunch of other climbers coming to explore a new climbing venue from Leh. They found this place which is a hidden gem. Initially it was just a few friends of theirs who came on a climbing trip. They opened a bunch of new lines, and the potential was so much that they came up every year during the season and gradually more climbers joined. Now it’s a full blown festival since 2016. During the years more and more extreme sport enthusiasts joined us, to share their expertise with us. Kayaking, highline, longboard.

J: After Shey rocks, we started to develop Suru Valley, near Sankoo. This is the only event that attracts climbers in the Ladakh area.

How do you prepare for a festival like this?

M: Usually we come up just a week or two before the festival to set up the campsite with a temporary common area which we take down at the end of the festival. This year we built a permanent structure. It is built entirely with natural or recycled materials, such as wooden pillars, rocks and mud walls. The roof is made out of old tin oil cans flattened and cut open and fixed like tiles. The idea behind this is so people can stay in winter to explore the potential of skiing and ice climbing in the area.

What are the reactions of the local people towards climbers in the area? What do people from the local small villages think about foreign climbers?

J: The locals are quite happy to see climbers visiting the area and now they also are aware of the sport. It's potential for them. Also, conducting workshops for local children helps with the acceptance of the sport.

How do you see the potential for harder routes? Will they have the attention of world-class climbers? When is the best time to climb in Ladakh?

J: There is definitely a lot of potential for harder lines in all disciplines - boulder, sport, trad, multipitch. We already have 5-10 trad lines and 10 bolted sport routes. Unfortunately we don’t have enough resources to develop them faster. At the moment we have around 300 boulders from 4a until 8A+/B. Lots of unclimbed lines in all disciplines. A strong climber visiting to establish some hard lines will definitely spark some curiosity and enthusiasm among stronger climbers. May to October is really good for climbing in Ladakh. What do you think Adam Ondra? Would you like to join next year?

What about the young talents in India or at least in your area? Are they getting passionate about climbing? Is it easy to infect the next generation with climbing?

J: Now that a few world class gyms have opened up around Delhi it has created a good momentum for new people taking up climbing. Also it's good for the stronger climbers to get even stronger. There is a lot of excitement also to climb outdoors and other climbing events like Gritfest, Romp and CLAW see good participation. A lot of the younger generation are also doing well competitively and the scene looks positive for the future.

What's your favorite discipline? Trad, sport or boulder?

M: Love all three almost equally right now! When I started I loved trad climbing, now bouldering more. I enjoy that almost as much as trad. Sport is always great fun whenever there are bolted routes around.

J: My favorite is bouldering because of its relaxed vibe and almost no gear requirements.

What’s your favorite route and climbing crag? Any plans for this year? 

M: Changes all the time, depending on where I'm climbing, but at the moment it's the Quantum area in Suru Valley! (Totally agree! Quantum has some beautiful lines and more hidden gems than you can imagine! - Amy) Plans with climbing are always getting stronger and also doing some trad climbing this year! Maybe some exploring in Suru and Zanskar Valley for big walls

J: I really like climbing in Zion, which is a crag in Delhi that we discovered in 2015. I like it because it's right in the middle of the city and yet as soon as you cross a few lines of bushes you are in the wilderness. I really like this route called Ka - 6C+ which is an almost vertical highball slab with technical footwork and tiny crimps.

What's your dream destination to climb? 

M: I love to be in the water so I cannot wait to go to Mallorca, Spain for some deep water soloing! 

J: My dream destination to climb would be Bishop in the US. The super large blocks look fascinating!

What's the future of Suru? 

J: We want to create a community space for all kinds of extreme sport enthusiasts where people can spend much more time and explore further. Almost a village of our own where you can learn from one another and at the same time protect the area from mass tourism, help the locals develop skills to find employment opportunities in their own land.

Maya, Jammy and all the Crashpad team thank you for your hard work, these ten days were mind blowing. You guys boost my motivation to train harder and return to finish my open projects in 2025!

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