Hampi Bouldering

Hampi is a bouldering Mecca, with endless miles of boulder clad hillsides. It is also a beautiful rural area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and very traveler friendly, especially for the dirtbag international traveler. Cheap lodging and decent food are plentiful (except around Christmas-New Year, when the prices skyrocket). During the main season (Oct-Mar), there can be a couple hundred climbers on the island, from a couple dozen different countries, and at least as many non-climbing backpackers.

The bouldering is on beautiful but sharp granite. Familiarize yourself with Font grades - the Verm scale is not very popular. A couple days of bouldering usually take off enough fingertip skin to force you into a rest day. Which is easy to do. There's plenty of things to do besides climbing: check out the temples and ruins in the area (close to a thousand years old), go for a swim in the river or the lake, rent a motorcycle for about $10 a day and go exploring, or stay in and eat, drink, slackline, or go to a yoga lesson. 

A huge number of the routes here were pioneered by Pil Lockey and Harald "Hari" Vierroth in the '90s. The area was much less crowded back in those days, but its popularity saw a sharp rise after Chris Sharma visited in the early 2000s with Katie Brown and Nate Gold. Big Up's "Pilgrimage" starring these three climbers put Hampi on the climbing map, which on the one hand informed a global climbing populace of a beautiful destination, but on the other, led to all the usual issues that arise from having a rapid surge in visitors to a previously idyllic location. For good or bad, Hampi is no longer the secret bouldering paradise that it was two decades ago.

While the Island is a good place to start on your first visit to the area, there are plenty of great problems to be found, and even some longer routes on splitter cracks, if you prefer to stay away from the throngs on the Island and go climbing in the neighboring areas. After a while, you might never go back to the Island if you enjoy the peace and quiet of the surrounding areas! There are tons of great routes at Paraport - plan to go camp there for a few days (see Pil's topo below in the comments section) - Jungli Plateau, around Anegundi, and really as far as the eye can see, if you're willing to go exploring. If you're carrying a rack, some bigger pieces, like cams in 5" - 7" are great to protect some of the excellent offwidth lines in the area. The Rishimukh itself has a handful of good, longer mixed lines (bolted, but most also take a few pieces in finger to fist sizes to protect well) from 5.7 to 5.11.

Guidebooks:

1. hampi.in/bouldering-guide-g…

2. Also see 27 Crags