Boulder Clash: Opening New Lines in West Sikkim

On the morning of 13th March, a procession of climbers set out—as if on a grave mission—through the undulating trails of Rock Garden—a lush, 26-acre expanse of boulders and rock faces. Led by local volunteers who knew the terrain well, they moved from one boulder to the next, feeling out holds, visualising routes, and cooking up strategies for what lay ahead.The air was fraught with tension, broken every now and then by small (and necessary) distractions—like when a few climbers, spotting gemstone-like crystals in the rock, joked about ditching the comp altogether to collect them instead.Boulder Clash, a self-paced outdoor bouldering competition, took place in Zoom, a lesser-known village in West Sikkim. Organised by Zabarvan in partnership with climber Tenzin Jammy Jamyang, it drew climbers from across the country.“Zabarvan started with snowboarding,” says Sehan, the brand’s founder. “Then, from just one winter sport, it expanded into extreme mountain sports. Last year, we scaled up to downhill mountain biking. And for the past year or so, we’ve been planning to expand into bouldering.”In 2025, Zabarvan recruited a climber—Sachin—and from there, it only made sense to organise a bouldering event. “Given the number of people climbing in India, expanding in this direction just felt right,” Sehan adds.The prize pool—₹1 lakh for first, followed by ₹50,000 and ₹25,000—was significant, but winning demanded more than strength alone. It called for pacing, judgment, and the ability to balance competition with the unspoken expectation that you’d still help the person you’re technically up against.Before the Climbers CamePhoto Credits : WalterClimbing in India has been on a steady upward trajectory in recent years—you can tell not from the data, but from the number of indoor gyms and festivals popping up across the country. Still, when it comes to outdoor bouldering comps in the country, there’s never been much to talk about.Jammy first visited Rock Garden around 2018, and its potential stayed with him. Over time, though, the area slipped into neglect. In the months leading up to Boulder Clash, a small group of local volunteers took on the slow, unglamorous work of bringing it back to life. “We spent around two months here,” says Ridam Chettri, one of the volunteers. “We created trails through the jungle, cleared overgrown areas, cleaned some of the boulders, and set up basic facilities like running water for the campsite.”It helped that access here wasn’t so much of a battle. As Jammy put it, climbing often involves scrambling to find spots, often followed by being asked to leave. “Here, people have been very supportive, and we’ve had the whole garden to work with from the start,” he adds.For Jammy, the intention was fairly straightforward: open new lines, create some form of opportunities for locals, and nudge indoor climbers toward real rock. Moreover, climbing in India doesn’t often pay—this, at the very least, made it slightly more worth the effort.Strategy, or Something Like ItPhoto Credits : Pranal ChaavanFrom the morning of the 14th until 4 pm the next day, climbers had a fixed window to rack up as many points as possible.First ascents were worth the most, but they also came with the added responsibility of grading your success. “I must grade accurately, or [other climbers] might think I’m weak,” said one of the participants. Those grades didn’t go unquestioned either. At least one other climber had to agree, and every send was recorded. Repeats earned half the points, which meant they were still worth doing.The format made things interesting. Strength mattered, obviously—but so did strategy. When do you move on? What’s worth projecting? Who do you climb with? Who’s going to spot you?The night of the 13th was spent mulling over these questions. Every athlete had strategies and priorities, albeit wildly different across the board:Target a bunch of first ascents early, then clean up repeats in a comfortable grade range.Find a GREAT partner to spot you, clean boulders, and offer emotional support.Just go with the flow. Day one would be chaotic anyway.A little after dawn the next morning, Rock Garden was already alive with the buzzing of sleepy yet determined climbers—crash pads being dragged around, teeth being brushed, protein bars being gnawed at. “If you casually say, ‘let’s go climbing,’ would anyone even wake up? But for a competition—see the difference.” Ridam remarked, smirking.Early Sends and Questionable HoldsPhoto Credits : Pranal ChavanWithin the first few hours, athletes were already several climbs in—six or seven routes wasn’t unusual, with a healthy number of first ascents in the mix. The competitive edge was obvious, but it didn’t override the collaborative side of things, with people spotting each other, offering beta, and giving psyche. On a slabby line, Lekha, one of the competitors, spent a good amount of time cleaning the top-out, making it easier for others to finish the climb.The approach to Rock Garden cuts through forested hills and terraced fields before opening out into a series of rocky clearings overlooking the Rangeet river, making it a pretty epic spot to climb. The property is dense with ancient trees, and somewhere in the middle stands a giant frangipani—bare at the time, but a quick favourite for many. The boulders are covered in patches of orange and yellow moss.“I think the boulders here have weathered in a tropical way,” says Abhimanyu, a climber from Delhi and a regular on the indoor comp circuit. “So it’s kind of sharp and a little slippery. It makes the climbing really technical—you have to be delicate with your movement, because a lot of the holds break off.” At the very start of the comp, one did. He pulled on it and took a fall. During the rest of the comp, more holds came off mid-climb—an expected part of opening new lines, but not a particularly welcome one.No climb really ended the moment it was sent. Grades were debated almost immediately, often mid-breath. Some would try to push them higher.“If I dyno it, would it be one grade harder?”“What if I skip a few holds?”“Maybe we should keep a vibrating phone in our pockets to make it harder.”Phones, in general, were everywhere—recording sends, replaying attempts, verifying lines. Storage became a minor but recurring problem.Kids, Fear, and Hanging AroundPhoto Credits : WalterAmong the competitors was a sibling duo from Kolkata—the youngest at the event, 12 and 17. They were mostly glued to each other through the day. When asked why she started climbing, the younger one shrugs: “I just love to hang,” which feels like a complete enough answer.Her older sister, Srishti, has a more considered reason: “When I came across this competition, the first thing that came to my mind was that I’m very scared of the outdoors. Really, really scared. So I thought I wanted to come here to get rid of that fear. And also learn from the other climbers, because whoever comes to a competition like this is going to be really good. I think competitions are a really good place to learn, more than practice itself.”The blood-pumping spectacle of chalk-clad humans climbing up boulders drew a sizeable audience—mostly locals from nearby villages. They were, rightly so, impressed and amused by this seemingly new concept of patthar chadhna, while also being proud that their village had attracted athletes from across the country.Most watched demos with intensity and engrossment. Some kids wandered down to the boulders, throwing themselves at routes far beyond their abilities—grades, fortunately, meaning nothing to them.“Now that we are here in Sikkim, the locals know about climbing,” says Abhimanyu. “So I think comps like these can happen everywhere, and you can integrate small communities into the whole climbing concept. Especially the kids—so that they can maybe one day become competition climbers or outdoor climbers.”Day One, Somehow OverPhoto Credits : WalterAt the end of day 1, the send videos were screened on a projector. People tried to identify boulders from shaky clips so they could go repeat them the next day and score points.“Where is this?” someone asked.“Near a tree,” someone else replied—an answer that applied to most of the property.There were conversations about teaming up with non-competitors, offering them a percentage of potential winnings in exchange for finding hidden boulders or helping clean lines on the final day. None of it actually materialised—it was mostly banter—but it said enough about how seriously winning was being taken.The next morning, fatigue had set in properly, but was quickly overridden by high spirits. “I woke up feeling so sore, and my fingers were really sensitive,” says Lekha. “But getting back to the boulders and seeing other people climb—it just puts you back into that space again.”A Slightly Damp FinishPhoto Credits : WalterIn the final hours of the competition, back at the campsite with a couple of hours still left, no one seemed particularly interested in slowing down—despite bruised fingers, calloused skin, and muscles that had clearly filed complaints.“We still have two hours, man—we can’t just stop climbing,” someone says, before heading back out. “What if I lose by just a few points simply because I didn’t push in the last few hours?”It was hectic. Desperate, even. Abhimanyu, riding the last of the adrenaline, claimed he wouldn’t compete outdoors again in a format like this one and would rather “let these dogs fight for a piece of chicken”—the chicken in question, evidently, not a small one.With about an hour to go, it starts pouring. Climbers start heading back, half-drenched, holding crash pads over their heads in a system that’s clearly not built for this but is being trusted anyway.“It was perfect timing,” says Lekha. “I was trying one of the 7As all the way down because it felt wrong to come back early and just sit. I managed to send it, and then it started raining. Felt like a nice cool-down, celebration shower.”Numbers, Finally!Over the frenzied 30+ hours of climbing, the 10 participants collectively opened 65 new lines from 6A to 7B (beginner to expert)—which, in excited post-ceremony conversations, everyone agreed was likely some sort of record. “In Mangar, it took us about four months to open 100 routes,” Jammy noted.In a jaw-dropping performance, Varun took the trophy in the men’s section with 127 points, with Sachin close behind in second and Abhimanyu in third. In the women’s section, Lekha took first with 71 points, followed by Maya and Srishti.“A competitive climbing event changes the dynamic from festivals that just celebrate the sport; it brings out a more competitive edge,” Sehan says. “It’s also a grassroots way to scout talent. You get climbers from across the country, and you see what they’re capable of when they take things seriously.”Where This Is HeadedPhoto Credits : Maalav DuttaClimbing at Rock Garden is going to live on. Jammy envisions hosting another bouldering competition next year, perhaps at a much larger scale. The rules will obviously be tweaked now that there are well-established lines, which will eventually be compiled into a guidebook for climbers who want to come here and climb without the looming threat of scoring systems.“I think it’s about to become a [popular climbing] destination,” says Abhimanyu. “If someone’s wearing climbing shoes for the first time, a lot of other areas in the country are hard for them to navigate because things are slightly harder. But over here, there’s something for all levels.”Jammy also plans to make Rock Garden the base for a new “Crashpad”—a climbing hub focused on developing the outdoor scene and sport and community living more broadly—something they’ve experimented with before in other locations.“The idea is that we want to have multiple sports here. There’s a possibility for highlines, downhill mountain biking, and even some sort of running,” he says, adding that the local government is keen on developing adventure tourism in the state, making this a good time to strike while the iron’s hot.Photo Credits : Maalav DuttaAbout Zabarvan: Zabarvan is an Indian outdoor sports brand committed to developing mountain sports by means of designing bespoke equipment, funding athletes, and organising competitions and community events across the country.About Tenzin Jamyang: Tenzin Jamyang is a professional climber and organiser working to develop India’s outdoor climbing scene. He co-founded Crashpad, a climbing community hub, and has helped establish several climbing festivals and camps across the country, including Ladakh’s Suru Fest.