Routen in Banyan Tree Pillar, Hotanagudda, Savandurga

Left of Louvre, apparently, a stiffer 5.11ish route that was climbed as a top rope route from the tree that marks the end of the Louvre first pitch.

Philip Coquard & Dominic Danard.(1989)

Located exactly below the rap off station, the nasty looking off width with a name that is self-explanatory.

FA: Mohit Oberoi, Kanhai Dutta, Gani & Dinesh Kaigonhalli

About 30 feet to the left of the base of the rap station, you would find this route, going up amidst large pockets. Seasonally the pockets have bird nests. Avoid climbing, if you find birds nesting.

Four bolts and no top anchor station. At some point, a top anchor station needs to be established.

Around the corner from Unnamed. Starts on a short boulder. The first bolt can be a bit runout.

*No top anchors.

To get here, proceed on the goat trail towards Banyan Tree Pillar, and keep right of the fork. Circle around the hillock, for a few hundred feet, climb over the old fort wall, and the route starts about 40 feet post the wall.

P1: 5.10b. 20 meters.

Starts off on a right- to-left diagonal crack. Takes intermediate to cams upto #2. The pitch one ends on a ledge.

P2: 5.10b. 30 meters.

Two lines at this point. The right-corner easier line is part of the ‘To Bee or not to Bee’.

Follow the left-corner crack. Thereafter, it goes over a short slab, and then broken rock, until you are facing the famous crack that defines Khoday Neer for next 25 feet. The crack line goes at 5.7 grade but is an exposed section and the most remarkable part of the entire climb.

Rappel station to the right, Paul Zeltner leading the Khoday Neer with Jacob Jo belaying. Summer of 2015. about 10 feet.

FFA: Mohit Oberoi & Dini K. (1990)

Crack line

Follow the trail to Khoday Neer, and the route starts just over the fort wall.

Rack needed: a set of nuts, and cams up to #3. Maybe a spare of #3 for anchoring at P3 start.

P1: 5.7G. 20 meters.

The route begins right next to a fort wall in a chimney, and traverses right after about four meters. A small but growing tree sticking out of the narrow chimney poses the crux of the pitch.

Past the tree, the line traverses to the right diagonally for about three meters.

Then the route continues straight along the dihedral crack. The corner has block of rocks chocked into it. Watch out for the odd shaky chock stone wedged in the crack.

Belay stance from a triangular ledge.

P2: 5.7R. 20 meters.

This is the same ledge from where the Khoday Neer P2 starts. Instead of following the left Khoday Neer crack, look to the right corner dihedral crack for the ‘TBONTB’ line. The crux begins right at the takeoff; an option is to high step on the right wall, while using an arm bar in the left crack. Very little to protect the take-off, until you get over the crux. But crux gets over quickly, and there-after, it is a 5.4 climb.

Keep right and go over a boulder to reach the base of the Pitch 3.

P3: 5.7G. 15 meters.

Pitch three gets interesting. It is a knife blade edge on a crack. It runs straight up for about 10 odd meters. This final pitch is the second half of Khoday Neer’s top pitch.

The crux presents itself after the first five meters. The problem here is not the grade, but the quality of the crack. The right-side edge of the crack is an inch- wide sheet of rock, or a flake. As you grip it, you realise that it will eventually break off.

FA: Kinsroc folks

Sunny Jamshedji climbed this line in summer of 2016 and connected back with Khoday Neer's thin crack at the top.

Per him, “Protects with a BD #4, if I remember correctly. Climb through the ‘cave’ under the left crack.

Belay from the ledge and then traverse right to meet up the other route that goes up the flake.”

Per Mohit Oberoi. “The route "adventures of cyhric joseph" can be seen very clearly here... the "thin" crack " on the left of the huge off width seen in the center here. it traverses from the right to the blocks / ledge seen in the center and traverses to the tuft of grass and then straight up the crack. seemed like 5.10? then.”

The two obvious single pitch cracks below the fort wall, to the left of TBONTB are Cane Toad and Bombs Away.

Thin crack in the corner. Single pitch, up to the tree. Exit off the tree.

A Mohit Oberoi route

Another 20 odd feet to the left of Cane Toad is Bombs Away.

Root growing out of the upper part, where it eventually turns into a slab.

Sometimes has a beehive on the route.

Exit off the tree.

A Mohit Oberoi Route

A local classic, and a fine intermediate crack line. The continuous fist to finger crack runs for about 180 feet, with a large ficus tree growing out of the rock, exactly at the middle of the route.

Gear: A set of nuts, cams up to #3 (doubles of #0.3 through #1), 70-meter rope, and a dozen alpine draws, and anchor gear.

To get to the Base: If you are hiking up the goat trail towards the BT Pillar, veer left, just as you get about 10 feet to the base, as the trail forks. The trail goes through overgrown undergrowth, over a pile of rocks and finally requires an eight- foot jump from a boulder to a platform. The ground gives away on either sides of the boulder and the platform for about 20-30 feet, so could be a bit hairy for some folks.

P1: 5.9+. 30-35 meters.

Hand crack that narrows down to finger crack, and eventually to a seam. Considering that the left side of the rock overlaps the right side, requires either awkward jamming or laybacking for considerable distance. The first 10-15 meters is the crux, a bit of pump-fest, but well protected.

The crux for us locals is the finger crack section, about 20 meters from the base. If your finger crack technique is solid, no sweat. Note: The cheat here for the new leaders is using a root growing out of the crack. Here’s a bit of a tradition; if you are following, avoid using the root! Leave it for new leaders on this route, if they need it in desperation. The finger lock works just fine. The root seems become fragile after a couple of people have used it on a single day.

The first pitch of Louvre can consume eight-11 placements for most intermediate climbers.

P2: 5.7. 30-35 meters.

Fist crack mostly, and extremely enjoyable and very airy finish to a classic climb. Two sections of 5.7 cruces. •D

The route was initially explored by Philip Coquard, Dominic Danard and Dini (1989), but eventual full route FA was by Mohit Oberoi (1990).