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.