Rock climbing

Ramanagar hills have been the earliest rock climbing locations in South India. Climbers have been undertaking technical climbing since the 1960s onwards. Those that are popular for rock climbing are; Ramadevarabetta, SRS betta and Thenginkalbetta.The region has several tall granitic hills which are famous for many short rock climbs, typically 1 to 2 pitches in length. Grades vary from 5.8 American to 5.11 American.

 Some of the interesting climbs are on the Wanakkal wall ("Gabbar ki asli pasand", "Labor pain"), on the Rainbow wall , on Anna-Thamma ( the name Anna-Thama means 'elder-brother-younger-brother' in Kannada). There are multiple bolted routes here, put up by various local climbers. Some of the older bolts are in precarious condition. There is very little free climbing possibilities as the rock is compact. Additionally, the forest department since a few years has been insisting on a permit system to climb here, and getting permits is typically a laborious process, considering that these have to be obtained during weekdays from a Forest office close Ramanagar, thus precluding this place for Bangalore based climbers in recent times.

Ramanagaram is also famous some of the world's oldest granite outcrops. The hill Ramadevarabetta, along with Savandurga was one of the shooting locations for David Lean's A Passage to India. Small door like grottoes were made in the rock to resemble caves. It was also in this region that the path-breaking Hindi movie, Sholay, was shot. Now this hill is famous as Sholay hills.


View from Ramadevarabetta.......

Other well known hills in the region include the Revanasideshwara hill and Handigundi. These hills have been threatened by quarrying and also plans to carve these hills into statues. The region is covered in scrub forest and is home to threatened bird species such as the Yellow-throated Bulbul and Long-billed Vultures The hill is today one of the few locations in south India where Long-billed Vultures nest. The region is also home to numerous sloth bears.Tigers were found in the region in the 1900s.

Silk city

Ramanagar is famous for its sericulture, and is nicknamed Silk Town & Silk City . The silk produced in this region forms the input for the famous Mysore Silk. Ramanagar is the largest market for silk cocoons in Asia. 50 tonnes of cocoon a day arrive at the town.

Silk produced in this town is one of the finest silks found around the world.

About

Ramanagaram was previously known as Closepet,named after Sir Barry Close before independence.A Taluk in Indian state of Karnataka.now known as silk city.

This town is located to south-west of Bangalore. Approximately 45kms from Bangalore. Ramanagaram is located in Bangalore-Mysore highway State Highway 17.With 1,91,273 population this town is now the head quarters of Ramanagar district.