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).