Sports Reporter
JAMMU: Joint Secretary, Sonam Sidharth and senior member, Shashi Kant of Tawi Trekkers J and K on Tuesday left for Delhi to attend Belayers’ course at Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), the apex body for adventure sports in the country.
The four- day course is being conducted by IMF from tomorrow 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.
Whereas Shashi Kant, the present trainer of the State sport climbing team who qualified as a Belayer with A grade last year, has been selected by IMF as an understudy faculty for the course, Sonam Sidharth, a trained mountaineer and a senior sport climber shall attend the course as a trainee.
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 and K there is only one qualified Belayer and four Assistant Belayers. As such, professional belayers from Delhi and other states are
invited for conducting all the State sport climbing
competitions.
The training of State climbers as qualified Belayers would, of course, lessen our dependence on belayers from other states and also enable us to organise competitions on our own.
Earlier, Sonam Sidharth and Shashi Kant along with General Secretary of Tawi Trekkers J and K, Shawetica Khajuria called on General Secretary of Mountaineering Association of J and K, Ram Khajuria. Khajuria lauded the efforts of Tawi Trekkers to sponsor its members for the technical course and promised all possible support to the club for the
promotion of sport climbing in
J and K.
