‘Never say Quit’…Enduro all the way

5th February, 2011… 1.30 am

I am completely pooped and want to rest my legs desperately. It’s pitch dark at 20:30hrs at Ghisar village- our time check (TC-5) halt. From here we have another 40 odd kms to trek with our cycles to reach Thangaon for our night halt. We grab a small bite and start on our trek.

It’s chilly and we are struggling to find our path. I am wheezing terribly but still not keen on stopping because if I stop I will feel sleepy. So I quietly follow my team mates Ashu da and Kirti. We are in the middle of some huge mountain trying to find our way to Dangi Notch khind..our land mark to find this place is a red light that we can see close by. We are following a corporate group who are also looking to reach the same spot. The idea is to get to this spot get our passage check (PC) stamped and then proceed as fast as we can to Thangaon—that’s where we are supposed to be having our mandatory halt for the night.

As per race rules every team had to pass through all the TC and PC in the prescribed sequence and failing to do so would lead to disqualification.
It’s already very late- 12.30 am. Finally, after much struggle and to and fro trying to find the path we reach the red light. We are told by the marshalls here that Thangaon is probably another two and half hours or more depending on our speed. Damn! I think I rather get some sleep instead of moving ahead. But I find myself alone in this decision so follow the gang quietly.

As we all move forward lugging our cycles along the narrow path we reach a point where we are forced to halt. We are told the entire path is blocked as the teams ahead of us have stopped to rest. So we too decide to park ourselves along the path way. I got into my sleeping liner and covered myself from top to toe, stretched myself completely and slept on the rocks. Kirti got into my sleeping and curled himself like a baby and slept. Ashu Da too caught up with some sleep. I thought it was required as the next day was going to be no mean task.

In the sleep I thought to myself endurance is good and need to be tested at some point in time in life—but did I have to do this to test my endurance? I wasn’t here to prove to anyone how high a bar I could jump, I was here to enjoy myself. Just as I thought I was getting some sleep I was woken up by a team of cyclist who were all headed to Thangaon. It was 05:15 am.. we all had to wake up and follow suit.

I was excited just with the thought of participating in Enduro 3 for the first time ever. I knew of it as an adventure race which includes cycling, trekking and other activities like rifle shooting, river crossing, rappelling etc… I was under the assumption its all fun until the race started and I realized what I had got myself into. Enduro 3 as the name suggests is the ultimate adventure race of India. It's a race which will test your skills in endurance, physical fitness, team spirit, leadership skills, crisis management and the power to make the right decisions.

The pre-race registration began at SP College around 6.30 am. We were staying about 15 minutes away from the college so rode our way on our B Twin Rockrider 5.0 and Raleigh cycles to the college around 8 am. As we reach the grounds, we get to hear music and the signature song of Enduro 3 playing. We were part of the Ameature Mix team. As we reach the registration counter we are asked to wait as the Enduro vests haven’t arrived.

After about 15 minutes the team leaders are requested to report their teams and collect the vests, direction map, route plan book, energy drinks and caps. As we adorn the vests and read through the route map and glance through the Google satellite map, there are still teams cruising into the ground with their Hercules, Atlas, Firefox, Rockriders and Trek’s. There were even many with simple cycles without gears as well. We are now asked to move to the college ground and assemble as per our respective categories. We are told that we are waiting for a political dignitary-Raj Thackeray to flag off the race.

At about 09:45 hrs. Enduro3-11 is given a flag off. It’s a tremendous feeling to witness the swarm of bikes flushing out of the red carpet. Man, You really need to be there to experience it!

We are all headed to Khadakwasla which is about 35 odd kms from SP College. In minutes, Pune roads are taken over by the red brigade (our vests were Red in colour). There is heavy vehicular movement and nobody is stopping for us to move. We just need to follow the traffic movement and rules and pedal away. I was under the impression that our race had already started..but no it hadn’t we reach Khadakwasla at around 11 am and here we are told that the race starts and our time starts now. Here is where our first ‘Time Check’ (TC) begins. So all the 1.5 hours of cycling we did was a warm up ride before the actual race. Our time started at 11.35 am

Prior to the start of this 140 kms race, I thought that 80 percent of the roads that we were supposed to ride on, would be proper tar roads and that ‘dirt tracks’ was only for a short patch. Little did I know, it’s going to be just the opposite. The first few minutes are wonderful ride until the ghat started. We were heading to Khondanpur.

The mercury is rising and along side you are rising equivalently on the saddle. The trail goes on for about two hours and finally we reach a spot from where its downhill. There’s smile on everyone’s face. The very thought of downhill is such a relief but like all good things in life are short lived this is also a short lived happiness. There is a huge uphill…impossible for me to cycle all the way …but I was not alone I was glad to see many of these well built guys doing the same so felt good.

Unlike the last Enduro 3, this time around the entire race was largely cycling. There was equal amount of uphills and downhills and complete dirt track mountain biking. I never expected I could do dirt track cycling but was glad that I had good control over my cycle and thankfully had no mishap with my cycle although I did fall couple of times and bruised myself. My team was lucky as none of us had any cycle issues. The long stretch of dirt track downhill cycling was by far one my best ever. Had never done anything like this before or even imagined to do something like this before. Thoroughly enjoyed the cycling.

As we ride along the tar road we reach TC 4 at around 17:30 hrs and here we are told that its special stage and the task from here is to reach TC-5 in the next half hour. We immediately started off and midway through I think to myself whoever on earth thought we could do this stretch in half hour? It was a real bad stretch with red mud, huge stones and it was sundown and dark.
Amidst all this thinking Ashu Da and I realize that Kirti has way ahead of us. We could find him through the trail. At one point it was only Ashu da, myself, the surrounding eerie silence and our headlamps. Not a single soul or vehicle in sight. We were not even sure we were on the right path but kept going until at one point we see some marshalls. I had a sigh of relief and we now told we have 5 kms more to go. The time was around 19:30hrs.. Now all thorough this route we tried to ride our cycles but it was very difficult as the red mud was blurring the vision and our headlamps had white light which was not helpful either so we walked the entire distance and that took a neat three hours to reach TC5 at a village called Ghisar.

From here we are told we have to head to Thangaon by mid night so that we could get good nights sleep and start the day early tomorrow morning. We started at around 21:30 hrs for Thangaon. It was supposed to be a short trek along with our cycles. We lost our way and had to stay put midway till early morning. We once again set out at around 5.45 am and reached Thangaon around 8.30. At this point I really thought that we would be depositing our cycles here and then start our day two trek. No that’s not what it was we had to once again ride all the way through.

At Thangaon we meet our friends from team Panthara (Kapil, Anita and Sandesh) after having done brilliantly all of the previous day and reaching Thangaon by 22.30hrs they were in for a rude shock in the morning when Sandesh cycle gave away. His tyres were road tyres not at all meant for dirt track biking. While they were busy repairing the puncture we went ahead and completed our two other activities namely river crossing and Kayaking. River crossing only the team leader Ashu da did and kayaking all three were a part. While my fear for water remained I still enjoyed Kayaking. It was a short distance in Panshet lake. After we finished these activities we once again checked our cycles for air and brakes and immediately set out.

At this point there was a slight bit of anxiety amongst us as we were trying to find out where our second team was Odati 2 (KK, Aruna and Dhiraj). We tried to find out from the organisers at Thangaon if they could page and find out where they were. BUt immediately we got no response although we were told that they would try and find out. At Thangaon we also hear that many teams gave up in the night itself. I particularly did not want to believe that they would have given up unless ofcourse something drastically went wrong. We were optimistic and decided that at every TC and PC from here on we would try to find out Odati 2's whereabouts.. There were many teams still reporting at Thangaon. From here we have another 40 to 50 kms more before we end the race.

My only aim now was to finish the race. Kirti’s excitement was reduced on hearing there was more cycling. But we had no trouble motivating him and Yo! We made it …the last four Kms was the best ride ever… complete downhill and that was awesome…..and bang on at 6.15 we completed the race. It took us 32 hours to complete the overall race…Phew!!

All in all, it was a fantastic experience. All's well that ends well. We meet Sandesh at the canteen who tells us that he had to give up teh race mid way and head to Panshet Water Resort as his cycle completely gave away. Kapil though was demoralised with Sandesh's exit and had almost decided to quit, moved on..on seeing Anita's motivation to complete the race. She aimed to completed within the first 10 teams. Infact they did brilliantly. Kapil and Anita completed the race within 23 hours i am told. Unlike us who were freed of the last trek they did the last trek to Koshimbir top as well.

After having completed the race, our foremost agenda was now to locate Odati 2.After having left a word with the organisers we leave the premises to head to Pune with our cycles. Mid way into our journey we get a call from KK saying the team has reached Panshet Water Resort...a sigh of relief in all our faces. As they say 'All's well that Ends well'

My closing remarks: The one thing that Enduro3 has taught me is ‘Never say Quit’! Next year I aim to compete better!!

Route Snashot!
Overall 140 kms race that included dirt track biking , trekking with your cycle, river crossing and Kayaking

Route: SP College-Sinhagad Rd-Khadakwasla-Sinhagad Toll Botth (here is where the competitive race started-Sinhagad toll booth-Kondhanpur-Karanjwane- Khariv-Dhanep Phata-Vihir-Ghisar-(trekking along with our cycles started here )- Thangaon-(here there was river crossing and kayaking)-Tekpole- Koshimbir base- Abhiruchi base- finish at Panshet Water Resorts

My first pinnacle summit: Tel Baila

250 ft of sheer basalt dykes on the edge of the Western Ghats. Breathtaking views and awesome landscapes that’s how I can describe Tel Baila.. Scaling Telbaila pinnacle is no mean task and it was my second pinnacle attempt.

It was a challenge not only for me but for the regulars as well who had done the pinnacle before. From Lonavala, Telbaila village is 36 kms away. (about 10 km ahead of Amby valley at the edge of the Western Ghats). From here one can see Korigadh on the way. As I understand from the villagers the area is too remote and there is only one ST Bus that plies to this place. The bus starts from Lonavala at around 12.30 pm in the afternoon. And in the morning there is a bus at around 7.30 am from the Telbaila village to Lonavala.

The group comprising of Zenosh, Ritzz, Sneha, Kinnari, Meenaz, myself, Mallik, KD and Jay Sheth set out from Mumbai at 6 am. We had no issues as we got to the village by Car. After unloading our sacks as well as equipment from the car we sorted the equipment and left back few things that were not required in the car.

We set out on the trek at about 10 am. The trek is a pleasant one and in 30 minutes one can reach the col of the two walls of Telbaila. The Left wall is called Telbaila Fort, where in the col a small temple with two water cistern exist. Both the water cisterns did not have drinkable water. We were well aware of this and therefore carried lot of water with us. Also we were confident that since the village is only 30 minutes away we could alwys go and get water from the village. The temple is well maintained by the local villagers. There’s a concretized plane that has been built by the villagers where trekkers and climbers can rest well. In the Fort wall there exists a cave which is where we decided to cook our night meals.

As per our plan we were to climb the first Col near the temple on Saturday and the next day we were to climb the tough route that’s the village route.

Equipment we carried:

We were carrying with us two 60 mts (10.3 mm) dynamic rope (One Edelwise. One Beal), One 8mm static rope (Todi) and one 100m rope. Apart from the ropes we had 25 quick draws, 15 carabiners, 8 belay device, 15 tapes and slings, 8 jumars (ascending device), helmets, harness and climbing shoes.
We started our climb form the temple side. There are bolts & pegs on the way for anchoring. Mallik took the lead & fixed the rope till the first ledge. He was followed by Zebnosh and the others followed one after the other.

By the time I reached the first ledge which was roughly at a height of around 100 feet, Zenosh had already started his lead climb to the summit. Within 20 minutes he summitted. Soon after Zen summitted the rest of us followed. By the time it was 5 we had all summitted and rappelled our way back to the temple. Zen was the last man to rappel down. By the time he came down, our Head cook Mallik was ready with some tea and had already started preparing for the three course dinner.

Next morning we were all up and ready for day two climb from the village route. While some of us stayed back to clear the place, the rest of the gang accompanied Ritzz and Zen for the climb. Ritzz led the climb upto the second leadge. The climb from the village route was a real challenging one. Sneha followed Ritzz and thereafter Zen, Jay and Meenaz followed. By this time I had given up and said I will not climb. But thanks to Meenaz, Farzin, Kinnari and Mallik who encouraged and motivated me. Not having climbed for so long I had no confidence and was not sure if I could climb. I was happy clicking everyone’s pictures at the base.

Then I was told I should climb up till the second ledge which is about 150 feet. So finally I decided yo! I am giving this a shot… but I had to remember the fact that once I stat climbing there is no option but to keep climbing till I reach the second ledge…there was no way I could climb down… I was prepared.

So I too climbed the vertical patch…the rock had excellent friction holds, cracks, pressure holds. I was glad I was getting some good grip..but yeah, the exposure on one side did get the adrenaline ticking faster..at one point I was right on top standing on my two feet with my index finger of my right hand in a finger hold and stretching out my left hand to get a good hand hold that Meenz was directing me to. At this point my legs were shaking..not due to fatigue, but I guess it was more out of fear of the sheer depth below…I finally managed to pull myself up and get on the first ledge where Meenaz was stationed to top belay. Phew.. the climb was indeed thrilling. With Meenaz belaying me I was also rest assured that I ain’t going to fall.

From this point I had a short traverse and then climb on to the second ledge where sneha, jay and Ritzz were stationed. This was a horrible stretch with lots of scree. I somehow managed and as soon as I got up there I self anchored myself, took stalk of my position and settled down in a narrow space. I knew I had to wait there for atleast next two to three hours before we rappell down. I wasn’t going to summit the village route.

The next three hours spent on the second ledge was awesome. I was literary on the cliff with the valley on one side, trees over on the plain before the valley… The only saving grace was the fact that we were in shade. As Ritzz, myself, Meenaz and KD waited at the ledge we heard that Zen had summitted successfully followed by Sneha and Jay. Everyone was elated. We were running out of time and we had a cut off time of 4 pm. It was already 3.30. So we decided we stop here and rappell down.

Unlike my first unnamed pinnacle climb this New Year’s weekend, this was a better climb. There was no climbing actually during the New Year’s climb. I actually did 250 feet of jumaring (ascending with a jumar device) which was a tiring task. Telbaila on the other hand was all about rock climbing. Infact I was told that its well known as the destination for beginners precisely because the rock is so good for gripping and holding. At the same time, there is a certain thrill factor involved because of the vertical nature of the climb … I personally had an excellent time climbing through the village route.

My confidence level has increased a bit now. I am also very thankful to Ritzz, Meenaz and the rest of the gang to take a novice like me on such a climb.

New Year's Virgin Pinnacle Climb! a great high

It was a new year well spent for me. I had the opportunity to partly scale a virgin pinnacle in the Trimbak region of Nashik. While it was a new beginning for me, for the Bhramanti Group of climbers from Mumbai it was a historic start of 2011. The 4 summitters- Kishor Chavan, Kaivalya, Suhas Shirke and Arun Sawant scaled their fourth virgin pinnacle on 2nd jan, 2011. The other three being Irshal crack, Sunday II virgin route and Bahuli III
It took them 3 full days to scale this 600 feet virgin pinnacle adding yet another feather to their cap. I can imagine the kind of adrenaline rush such a climb can give. For mountaineers and climbers anything that is out of the ordinary and challenging always gives a high. The other support members of the group were Tapan Vaidya, Prashant Sawant, Nitin Devedra, Dr. Narendra Patil, Ravi Bangera, Ritzz, Jay Seth, Meenaz Lala, Anusha (myself) and Sneha Sathe.
The Virgin Piannacle has been named “Rudra” by the Bhramantis, symbolizing hardship of climbing & an unexisting powerful entity. Rudra which is next to Anjneri fort is surrounded by other pinnacles such as Navra Navri, Hanuman, Sunday 1 and Sunday 2. So how was the experience of climbing a virgin pinnacle? Kishor, the lead climber says, “Absolutely challenging and exciting at the same time. We had to battle the cold winds and fixed 800 feet of rope to be able to summit the pinnacle.”
As per the Bhramantis, the virgin pinnacle climb happened by chance. It was not part of the group’s initial plan. The initial plan was to scale the Hanuman pinnacle. When the group reached Pahine, the base village they noticed this virgin pinnacle. When enquired with the villagers, they were told that was not Hanuman and did not know what it was called. The group was also informed that no other group had gone up this virgin pinnacle to climb it. That was enough to get the group excited. Not having the slightest clue of how the climb is likely to be, the group decided this is it and set out.
For Kishor it was the first virgin pinnacle that he was lead climbing. While he says he was a bit apprehensive he was also excited. “In a known pinnacle you are aware of the route and what is required. Moreover there is enough information available about the known pinnacle which you can gather from people who have climbed it before. That’s not the case in a virgin pinnacle you start on a new slate,” says Kishor.
Luckily the group was well equipped as the initial pinnacle Hanuman that they were to climb was a high grade pinnacle. The equipment was carried as per that pinnacle. The virgin pinnacle was attempted over a period of three days. On the first day (30th December) we started the climb at around 1.30 pm in the afternoon and finished by 5 pm before night fall. The first day we basically gauged the difficult and accordingly planned the climb and took the appropriate decisions.
On the second day (31st December’10) we started around 11 am and we stopped the climb at 5.30 pm. Third day we started around 9.30 am and around 3.35 pm I summited the pinnacle. The support team needed to be credited a great deal. If it was not for the support team the summit would not have been possible says Kishor.
It was a 600 feet vertical pinnacle but the route we fixed required more than 800 feet of rope. A group which is looking to attempt this pinnacle will require 3 coils of 100mt rope for the whole pinnacle. The first protection that Kishor had was at 100 ft and little above this point he fixed the first piton. I climbed further fising pitons and went a little more above and reached the first ledge. It was a good ledge to stay put. So the first day we stopped at the first ledge. Kishor was supported by a very strong climbing team that included Kaivalya Varma as the second climber, followed by Arun Sawant and Suhas Shirke.
On the second day Kishor jumared upto the first ledge and started the climb from there. We reached the second ledge and stopped here. The second ledge was at a height of about 250 feet. On the third day, the climbers started at around 9.30 am Kishor jumared till the second ledge and then started the climb once again from here. But he had a battle quite a few cactus growth on the way to be able to climb well.
After the four main climbers had reached quite a distance a decision was taken to let us amateurs climb as well till the second ledge. I was excited as it was my first ever pinnacle attempt. We did not climb but jumared the entire 250 stretch and then rappelled down.
On the third day the climbing team had kept a cut off time of 4 pm. As per the cut off time the climbing team had to stop the climb irrespective of whether they summit or no. It was decided that wherever the lead climber has reached if the clock ticks 4 he would return back from that point itself. But just as I got closer to the summit I could see the summit but it wasn’t easy to reach the summit. It was already 3.15 pm and we had really worked hard to get till there. So Kishor then finally decided that come what may he needs to summit in the next 45 minutes. Fortunately, for Kishor as he started his climb again he reached the summit within the next 15 minutes. It looked difficult but ended up being quite easy. Followng him Kaivalya, Arun Sawant and Suhas Shirke also summited by 4 pm. As they say all well that ends well
A little bit about the Bhramanti Group has been in existence for last couple of years and has been conducting several treks, cycling, rock climbing and mountaineering expeditions in the Sahyadris as well as in the Himalayas. Kailvalya was the group leader
The day finally ended for us at around 11.30 pm in the night. That’s when we reached the village. After reaching the village the biggest task the group had was to sort out the equipment. After having done that we finally left the village at around 1.30 am and I reached home early morning at around 7 am on January 2, 2011. It was indeed a great beginning of a New Year and a weekend well spent.

About Trimbakeshwar:

Now just a bit about Trimbakeshwar. It is a famous pilgrim place. Trimbakeshwar is also the origin of river Godavari. Trimbakeshwar is one of the 12 jyotirlingas (and the eighth one in the series) of Lord Shiva and this one is considered to be the main jyotirlinga. Monday is a scared day here and Shivratri the holy day of Shiva Puja in a year is celebrated here. The Goddess in this temple is called Trimbakeshwari. This temple was constructed by Raju Balaji Baji Rao who ruled Maharashtra. Very near to the temple, Papaharini Theertam is located. People take bath here before visiting the temple which is considered as a holy bath. This place is formed by river Godavari after falling from Brahmagiri. The Temple premesis is called Brahmagiri, also considered as the most sacred place of river Godavari (Brahma Sthalam).