If you are tired of pushing yourself for workouts, here is a fun-filled way, which will send chilling thrills down your spine. The 35-foot ‘Climbing Wall’ at Fit Rock Arena in Pallikaranai is Chennai’s first rock-climbing gym. The gym is an initiative of two friends, Shyam Sundar and Sathya Narayana Prasad, both 27-year-olds. They wanted to get more people into climbing and thus, build a community of climbers.
They studied automobile engineering at Hindustan College after which Prasad worked for some time. He went on to pursue a mountaineering course from Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports, Himachal Pradesh. The climber who has completed his master’s in manufacturing engineering, had a short spell in the corporates. When he was in the seventh standard, Prasad was taken to Mukurthy dam for trekking and the boy went on a trekking spree to Hemkund, Yamunotri and Beas Kund.
Sundar, on the other hand, pursued his master’s in construction management in the UK. He was working with JMC Projects in Mumbai before joining his father’s construction company in Chennai.
Mounting interest
It’s Prasad who pulled Sundar into climbing. “He showed me the thrill of climbing and taught me the ABC of the sport. Whenever I visited Chennai, he would take me to climb one rock or the other," says Sundar.
Marking out the route
The duo, from 2013 to 2015, kept climbing; they would trace the track to reach the top of the rocks. Prasad recounts, “We had traversed Malaipattu in Manimangalam, an abandoned quarry. Rajambuliyur in Gingee and Ekambarakuppam in Andhra Pradesh.”
They reached the pinnacle of a boulder near the lighthouse in Mahabalipuram, which is 14-foot tall. Sundar chips in, “When we solve a route and reach the top, we feel accomplished, it is like connecting the dots.”
The ascension
It took a year to bring up the dark blue and yellow wall. “Coach Manikandan Kumar helped set up routes for us. Ranga from Hyderabad emailed us his wall’s layout, which enabled us to structure it. Prasad made the 3D prototype that came handy in the designing,” says Sundar. Prasad adds, “The wall’s body is made of iron, panels are of plywood and handhold, and foothold of polyurethane. We had to export the holds from Spain and a special kind of bolt from China that can be opened from two sides.”
Metamorphism
Deepak, a software professional and a regular at the gym, shares his elation, “Suspended midair, we feel like Tom Cruise from Mission: Impossible II. We dangle, leap, spring back and slip, all to make the climb successful.”
He adds that weight reduction is a bonus. In other workouts, weight reduction is the core and one has to push himself/herself to do it; but here, tricky and tenacious activity is the core.
“What pulls you is adventure and excitement, and weight reduction is a sweet side-effect.” Deepak highlights that the wall has revealed his body strength. “When I made certain movements, I realised how hard I should work on my strength. I am given a set of exercises to improve that core.”
Wall-climbing is so safe that Deepak has enrolled his three-year-old daughter. “When we first put her in the 35-foot elevation, she was overjoyed. Courtesy climbing sessions, if she sees a wall, she starts climbing and is now able to stand on the edge,” adds Deepak.
Fit Rock Arena has a boxing ring, and separate zones for Zumba and strength training. There is a 16-foot black and yellow mobile wall that excites and amuses onlookers at carnivals. Besides, they have an assortment of activities for corporates on communication, and team building.
The climber duo is now working on making a topo which means mapping the routes of climbing area in Ekambarakuppam, Andhra Pradesh, so that climbers can easily find their way.
While people are making a beeline for a franchisee, Sundar’s future plans include “raising the wall’s height to 60 feet by 2018”.