About the Mentor
Picture credit - Shwetank Kumar - Designer, Photographer, Climber, Wanderer.
In the summer of 2016, Gadappa was introduced to climbing through a workshop organised by Bangalore Climbing Initiatives (BCI). He was hooked immediately to the movement; the flow state brought by intense focus and fear; the welcoming and eccentric community; the possibilities of geeking out and the opportunity of being in the middle of nature far from the maddening crowds each weekend.
He had the good fortune of being at the right place at the right time as around the time when he started to climb, the climbing community in Bangalore was starting to mature in terms of the number of climbers and routes being developed. He was and still is fortunate enough to find great mentors and climbing partners.
An inquisitive aptitude and interest in details directed him towards learning the technicalities and intricacies of climbing. He was primarily drawn to techniques involved in rescuing self and others, and alpine climbing.
As he amassed more knowledge of the technicalities of climbing, he began getting more and more excited about sharing them with fellow climbers. Gadappa has had a love for teaching from his days as a post graduate student where he would take classes for the undergraduate courses. He has also spent a one year sabbatical teaching tribal kids in a remote village in the Nilgiris.
Once he started climbing regularly, concomitantly he started to volunteer for the BCI’s ‘Intro to Climbing’ workshops to give back to the community. Post a year of volunteering, he started to lead the ‘Intro to Climbing’ workshops for BCI and became an integral part of the initiative. He has been happily shouldering the responsibility of leading the intro workshop for the past two years.
In 2019, he enrolled in the elite Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) and successfully completed his Basic Mountaineering Course (BMC). This course taught him how to push the boundaries of his own physical strength apart from teaching him ice and snow craft and survival in high altitudes.
Apart from this, he also began regularly volunteering for Anchor and Rescue workshops to keep himself updated and help others learn the critical techniques.
With the experience and knowledge he had gathered, Gadappa got certified as an instructor with the Professional Climbing Guides Institute (PCGI) and in early 2020, he qualified as a Top Rope Guide after rigorous training and the subsequent examination. The certification allows him to work as a rock-climbing guide in North America. Click to view certificate.
Gadappa's goal is to evangelize the climbing and help equip everyone with the right skills to practice it safely.
