‘Kothi Raj’ scaled up Karinja hills on Sunday

Rock climber Koti Raj scales Karinja hills in Bantwal, plans sports club for youth training in adventure sports.

Rock climber Jyoti Raj, popular as ‘Koti Raj’, scaled up the Karinja hills, a hillock located in a picturesque setting and a popular destination of many devotes, in Bantwal taluk of Dakhina Kannada, on Sunday.

Mr. Raj started to climb from the rear side of the hill. He started in the sunny conditions at 10 a.m. He scaled atop the hill to reach the Karinjeshwara temple at 10.30 a.m. Lot of people had gathered at the foothills and also atop the hill to see Mr. Raj climb.

On Saturday he came to Bantwal and did a trial of climbing up the hill. He took one hour to reach atop the hill on Saturday.

Later Mr. Raj told reporters on Sunday that he has scaled up Gadaikallu or Jamalabad fort, near Belthangady. He has also climbed few buildings in Udupi and Mangaluru towns. “There were lot of demand from my admirers to climb Karinja hills. I have done it today,” he said.

Mr. Raj said he is planning to build a sports club in a two acre area in the State where he will train youth in rock climbing and other adventure sports. Scaling up the Karinja hill was part of his effort to collect funds from donors of the region for building the hostel. Mr. Raj said he has sought permission of district authorities to climb tallest building in Mangaluru.

Karinja is located at a distance of 36 km from Mangaluru, off Mangaluru-Tumakuru National Highway 73. The hillock that houses Karinjeshwara and Parvathi Temples has a beautiful pond at the base. Devotees climb a fleet of stairs carved on stones to reach both the temples.