Abhisekh Kadariya
Jan 17 the day when our boards of Fourth Sem got over and it was the evening of the same day Hiking Club sent the form for the wall climbing. The excitement of completing the papers was on peak and the mail from hiking club added fuel to the fire. Without any further delay, I applied for the participation and got selected for the adventure. Jan 21 was the day of the event of Wall Climbing. We reached to Astrek Wall Climbing which is located in Thamel at 8:30 am. The instructor of Astrek arrived at 8:45 and started giving some brief instruction about the wall climbing and the precaution that we need to consider while climbing. Altogether we were 18 in number and some of us had already done wall climbing before. It was my first time though. A little brief info about Astrek. Astrek Climbing wall is one of the popular climbing walls in Kathmandu. It is located at the Bhagwan Bahal, Thamel.
Astrek Climbing wall is Nepal’s tallest climbing wall with the height of 50 m. There are 20 different routes so that people can experience all levels of climbing. Another thing that attracts people is the mini wall for children where children can also experience the thrill of wall climbing. When I reached the venue, and saw the spot of wall climbing I said to myself, " Today another adventure is getting off your bucket list". I so much wanted to go at first place but I had to look how it was done to gain some idea and strategy so I waited. The harness strapped in the waist and the rope it was attached to, was all the protection that I had and it was my lifeline for that moment. I started the climb and guess what I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. My adrenaline was high and the spirit to climb to the top and strike that bell was going in my veins. It was a piece of cake on my first try to go up. When I rang the bell, and looked down it was quite a feeling. Coming down was also interesting in its own way. After I touched the ground I realized my fingers and hand was paining a little but it was worth it. I did it for the second time. This time I choose the side where there were little number of hooks. It was a little bit challenging than the side which I climbed for the first time. But then again it was worth it. Some of us were struggling but the joy and adventure spirit in the eyes of everyone were very much fascinating. We had that spot booked for 4 hours so nobody was in rush. Most of us climbed it more than twice as well. Everyone was successful to go to the top and ring the bell. Hiking Club gave us some refreshment in between to boost up our energy level. We returned home at 12:30 with many pictures and videos of our adventure. "You can't fall if you don't climb. But there's no joy in living your whole life on the ground".
