Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, May 23: Five sport climbers of Mountaineering Association of J&K including two girls left today for Delhi to undergo Belayers’ course at Indian Mountaineering Foundation, New Delhi.
The three day course is being conducted by Indian Mountaineering Foundation from May 25 to 27 for limited participants from all the zones of the country. However, only those climbers who possess practical knowledge in sport climbing are eligible for the course.
J&K climbers include Shashi Kant Sharma, the present trainer of the State sport climbing team, Ambreen Fatima, the best woman sport climber of J&K, Sakshi Magotra, a good climber and a provisional State level sport climbing judge, Manik Slathia, a trained mountaineer and a sport climber and Syed Abdul Mohsin, a State sport climber from Pulwama.
It may be mentioned here that Belayer is the person who handles the rope technically while the climber is climbing on the wall and is, therefore, responsible for the safety of a climber. However, in J&K there are no qualified Belayers. So the Association has been inviting professional belayers from Delhi and other States for conducting all the State sport climbing competitions. The training of State climbers as qualified Belayers would of course lessen Association’s dependence on belayers from other States and also enable the Association to organize competitions on its own.
Earlier, the climbers called on Ram Khajuria, General Secretary of Mountaineering Association of J&K, who is also Secretary, Indian Mountaineering Foundation, North Zone Committee, New Delhi. Khajuria promised them all possible support for the promotion of Sport Climbing in J&K.
Rahul Sharma, Director of Sprawling Buds School, Chinore, Jammu where the climbers had been training for the last about one month was also present on the occasion.
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