Hill Climbing Sport Competition

My dear adventurer, hiker, trekker and rock climbing friends, get ready to test your fitness and agility. You have been climbing hills and hiking slopes for fun now how about doing the same for glory and to compete with others of your kind?

The Gujarat government is organising a hill climbing competition at Girnar Hill in Junagarh district. The Girnar Hill is part of a series of mountains with the highest point being at 3600 ft asl. A long, winding and knees-testing, 9,600 step ascent takes one all the way to the top-most point via several peaks. Girnar Hill, around 300 km from Ahmedabad, has around 10,000 stone steps to climb before one finally reaches the ultimate peak of Dattatreya.

The competition will be held early next month (February 3, 2008) and will be completely sponsored by the Gujarat government’s Sports, Youth Services and Cultural Activities Department and the Junagadh district administration.

The competition is open to all school and college students and categorised into 14-18 years and 19-35 years. The men in the former category have to traverse 2,200 steps uphill and downhill in a span of one hour and 15 minutes. The time limit for women in the same category is two hours.

Those desiring to participate in the event can contact Devkumar Ambaliya at +91-9825261871 or at 0285630490. Ambaliya is a Junagarh official and he had set a record in climbing the Girnar hill around 1979 that was unbeaten for almost 20 years.

This Girnar competition was started in 1971 by a local newspaper, Phoolchab, as a way to mark its golden jubilee. The newspaper held the event until 1979 before handing it over to the Junagadh civic administration.

Here are some pictures of the ascent to Girnar I found on the web



Source: MSN

Pictures: Flickr and Pbase