Kinnaur Rock Climbing

Kinnaur is a somewhat remote district in the state of Himachal Pradesh. The Sutlej river valley cuts through the Himalayas here, and there are lots of granite cliffs. Unfortunately a lot of it is no good for climbing, but there are also a lot of decent cliffs. The area is just beginning to be developed, in two sub-areas: Kalpa and the Sangla Valley. The crags described here are accessible from roads with maximum of 20 minutes hiking.

Kinnaur is right in the middle of the Himalayas, so it gets a "modified monsoon season". This means that it's not as dry as Ladakh or Spiti, but also doesn't get drenched for 1-2 months in the summer. The climbing season here begins in early May, once it's warm enough, and goes until late October, once it's too cold. (Although this is whimsical; snow might not arrive until mid-December.) Expect some rain in July and August, but not enough to ruin a climbing trip. We were there from May-June 2014 and September-November 2013, and at no point during the day was it too hot or too cold to climb.