Kavlya Trek

Fort: Kavlya
Place: Varanda Ghat
Base village: None
Height : ??
Grade : Easy

Me,Sau,Chaitanya,Deepak,Purvesh,Shailesh,Sharayu,Bhavin,Deepak ,Pankaj did this trek on 9th Nov 2008. Kavlya is a virtually unknown fort on top of the Varanda Ghat some 33 km from Mahad and 80km from Bhor. Last time when I did a ride on the ghats I spotted the Bhagwa flag on top of this hill and asked the locals there as to whether this was Kavlya and they said YES, I had known of the existence of the fort but didn't know its location , now that I knew we decided on a trek to the fort and add it to our existing fort list !

The initial planning by me of the timings was like , we would be able to complete the climb (initial) in 20 mins and time to view around would take around 1 hour and back to the base in about 2 hours and back to Pune by 2pm but that was not to be , read on.

We started from Pune at around 7am post meeting everyone at different points and then a fiasco on the road to the new Katraj tunnel with truckies who with double the load trying to overtake another truck at speeds of 20kmph and blocking the fast lane , they never learn.

Post that it was fun riding on NH4 over the smooth tarmac and broad roads. Stopped at Natraj as everyone was showing signs of hunger, had a nice breakfast of upma and tea and post some entertaining photosessions from Chaitu, Saurabh, Deepak and some timepass left ahead.

Reached Kapurhol (from where we turn to Bhor) in no time. Found out that the others stopped just ahead of the turn as they were unsure as to whether this was the turn or not , and I confirmed that this indeed was the turn to Bhor , as there isn't any sign board on the NH to tell this people do get confused. Got onto the 2 laned road to Bhor and went ahead , roads were good. Entered Bhor at around 8.30am and there was road work going on , asked everyone to follow me as we were to pass via the city and one missed turn could cause confusions, and the last thing we wanted was lost bikers trying to find out the way...:)

The city road was empty in the early hours so we managed to get smoothly out of the city and touched the road to Mahad which was to take us to the Varanda ghat. The roads out of the city were also good for about 5-6 km before the bad roads started , bad as in typical country roads with potholes greater than tarmac, this reduced our speeds but it was not so bad. Amidst cool views of the backwaters of the Nira we went ahead and touched the ghat, the ghat ride was uneventful with good roads and nice twisties beckoning.



We made good time and reached the point on top of the ghat at around 10.15am and stopped for the others to come in. In the meantime ordered chai and bhaji from the stalls there. Others came in 10 mins and we waited for Purvesh who was to come in from Mumbai via the NH-17 and Mahad. Everyone had their share of tea and bhajis and vada paav and post enquiries we set for the fort. It was 11am , the schedule already screwed :)



We got onto the path , thankfully the sun was shining from the opposite direction so we had nice shade all the way but the path was very slippery and sloping downward, but not so dangerous. It was a nice payvaat all the way , we reached the top of the fort in about 20mins and then I realized that the fort expanse on top was way too huge to be completed in 1 hours time. Post some photo sessions on a rock at the extreme end. The fort top is covered with knee lenght grass and 6-7 feet tall karvi bushes.


We went to the right side of the fort , climbed via the payvaat via thick bushes and went ahead towards the extreme end of the fort, passing remnants of some old structures and finally reached the extreme end of the fort which had a bastion and a flag. Post some photosessions , I went towards the other end from there to just explore as in what is there but didnt find anything of interest so came back. Had nice lunch of theplas and thaali peeth thanks to Purvesh and Sharayu and we started back. The sun was at its peak and we felt the heat , in the middle me , Chaitanya and Bhavin slided down over a particularly steep stretch of descent , me for the sheer fun of it did it.





Reached back to the place of descent from the fort , Purvesh,Sharayu,Sau and Deepak decided to try the difficult left hill part and we decided to stay put and climb down as we didnt want to try stuff in the sun that is. We started climbing down and got onto the narrow path , slipping and struggling over scree we made it down to the road and to the stall and gorged on glasses and glasses of nimbu sarbat and taak and waited for the others to return. The time read 2.30pm and we needed to start fast for home. The others came in by 2.45pm including the adventurous bunch and then they had their share of nimbu sarbat and taak and bhajis.

We finally started back at 3.15pm parting with Purvesh who had to go via Mahad to Mumbai and we started back for Pune via Bhor. The ride back was uneventful with stops at the back water views of the Nira and photos with Sharayu deciding to let her legs in water at a bridge and enjoy the coolness. We hit the NH-4 via Bhor at 6pm and came home by 7.45pm thoroughly exhausted with the riding. Nice trek!!

Sagargad

Fort: Sagargad
Height: 1357 feet (above MSL)
Grade : Easy
Base village: Khandale
Region: Raigad

Missed posting this one from a long time. This was done on June 8th 2008. Myself, Vindya, Addy and Anup did this trek. Pune was as usual climate with the rains just set in with an occasional drizzle or two or drizzling throughout the day.

The monsoons just started so we thought we should do some trek and zeroed in on Sagargad a fort near Alibag. We were expecting heavy showers to hit us there so that we would enjoy the trek thoroughly and we got lucky later!

We started in the morning at 7am in a hired Sumo with Vindy, Anup and Addy picking me up at Chinchwad and we sped towards Khopoli. We took the e-way and stopped at a food mall enroute to have breakfast. Done that we started again. The climate was humid with occasional rains here and there but not much.

We turned off at Khopoli towards Pen and Alibag and went ahead. The roads were quite good all the way. Finally we crossed Pen and got onto the road connecting to Alibag and crossed the NH-17 turn at Vadkhal and went ahead.

There is a toll road ahead here and the road is OK-OK. There was no sign of rain here too but the clouds seemed looming , a sign of rain but when!

We finally reached near Khandale village near Alibag from where to the turn to the fort goes in. We went into the village and went ahead via a kutcha road and ahead. We could see a big waterfall there at a distance. This place also houses the Siddheshwar Math.

We finally got off our vehicle and went ahead on the path to find the steps that lead to the Siddeshwar Math and Sagargad Machi (village) and finally Sagargad ahead. The climb was uneventful but the humidity was at its peak and we were profusely sweating and due to that it made the climb tiring. Anup as usual was the ben johnson and sprinted ahead.

We stopped in between to view the nature around and after having some water to drink we went ahead. Some distance ahead we could see Sagargad Machi a small village at the base of the fort.
We could see Anup also waiting for us. We went ahead from here asking the path to a villager and came across a path via slush and mud. It started raining here.

The rain came down in torrents and went away as soon as it had come. We took the steep path ahead and reached some point where there were some stones indicating the fort entrance or something. Stopping here we took photos and followed the path ahead which got us onto some section of the fort maybe the initial part, we followed another path ahead and went ahead via a narrow ledge like path with a steep fall on the right side. Going ahead we came across a plateau and heard sounds of toads and frogs on top. We could see a huge pool of water formed there and toads were creating a racket there!

We could see the walls of the fort clearly from here and one of the doors of the fort. We could also find karwandache jhaad here and took fancy to it as we all liked it , Anup was collecting them for taking them home and we were eating the fruit like they were peanuts. Going some more distance ahead we went into the fort via a beaten down path and got onto the top. We could see a small temple on top and some remnants of the wada on the fort. There was heavy cloud cover on top of the fort with the rain falling in torrents in between. We went to (or rather thought) to most of the parts of the fort and came to a place which had tree cover and had a great lunch brought by us - discussing stuff of interest while having lunch. Finally winding up we started back down , missing one path while coming down but finally coming back to the plateau and then the path down.

We missed one path and went ahead and Anup took another route, realizing something amiss we called out to Anup who said he was on the right path so we went there and followed him down and we finally reached Sagargad machi and washed ourselves in the stream which had formed there and started to go down there. At a distance we could see the sea as the clouds had parted for sometime.

We came down without incident in about 30mins came to our vehicle and after a change of clothes started back home. We stopped at Vadkhal for some snacks and came home by 8pm.

Nice monsoon trek drenched to the skin!

Malhargad aka Sonori

Fort: Malhargad aka Sonori
Height: 3166 feet (above MSL)
Grade: Easy
Base Village : Sonori (near Saswad)

Thought of going to Malhargad this weekend(27th Sep 2008). Had got the route info from Vindy and thought would visit it anyways. Friday night was as usual fun with a movie at esquare and coming back to a friends home slept in the morning at 2am or so. Had to wake up around 6.30 to start from there!

Morning the alarm sounded but i put it to off and went to sleep again. Some time later I woke up oblivious to the fact that I had to go so saw the time and it read 7.20am. Freshened up and bidding adieu to my friend started towards Saswad.

The route read Baner - Pune Camp - Kondhwa - Bopdev ghat - Saswad. Crossing the Bopdev ghat went down and went on towards Saswad. In the middle I was somewhat confused as to whether the turn for the fort is immediately post Bopdev or what as I didnt see Vindy's mail thoroughly as I could see some hill which resembled a fort :) , so when I was around 2km from Saswad called up Vindy to confirm and he told me that I needed to go into Saswad and get onto the road which goes to Hadapsar and had to turn off right at Dive village and continue thereafter. So there were 2 ways to saswad from Pune , one via the Dive ghat and one via the Bopdev ghat and I had to go to the dive ghat road towards Pune after coming into Saswad.

I reached Saswad around 9.15am and as didnt have anything from the morning had a great breakfast of misal and chai at a hotel in Saswad. Saswad seemed like a small quiet town.

Finally satisfied went out and paid the bill and asked the hotel owner about the road to Dive Ghat and was promptly directed to a left turn ahead at the chowk. Took the bike and turned left from there and went ahead crossing the Saswad ST bus stand and ahead. Around 2-3 km ahead found the board for Dive and the primary school which Vindy had talked about where i had to take a right for the village Sonori. Got onto a bad road and went ahead and asked a local there about Sonori who said it was ahead so I convinced I was on the right road rumbled on ahead.

The road turned from bad to worse but I kept good pace and entered Sonori village and could see the fort at a distance. The fort being small in height isnt visible until you enter the village so I went ahead passing the Sardar Panse wada in between and going ahead on a kutcha road finally could see the fort in front of me. I decided to park my bike at some point and having locked it securely went ahead.

Took out my DSLR and started shooting the fort first. The climb was uneventful and it took all of 15 mins for me to get to the top via a broken part of the wall. Most of the fort walls are intact but majority of them have crumbled and fallen. I traversed the periphery of the fort and saw that the fort had 2 levels , one the outer and the second the inner higher level. I went round and saw the Mahadarwaza and the other door.

I entered the 2nd higher level of the fort and saw there were 2 temples there. One of Lord Shiva with a Shivaling and the other of some God I couldnt identify , maybe Kaalbhairav or something. Not sure. The temple's have been maintained by the locals in good shape. There is nothing much to see on top of the fort other than this and some dry wells :)

The mahadarwaza is a nice piece of architecture like other forts and the view from the top is cool with green everywhere with water bodies in between attributed to the rainfall that was active a few days ago. Now the weather was clear.

Finally done with the fort I started the climb down from the other side of the fort near the door and down going fast and coming down in like 6-7 minutes and got to my bike. The area near the fort is quite barren and occasional small flowers nothing apart from that.

Coming down took my bike and started back. Stopped at the Sardar Panse wada the outer walls of which are intact. Took a look inside, it has a crumbled wada in it and an old temple. There is a small field inside the wada now :)

Getting back was not a problem now as I reached the highway back and came into Pune via the Dive ghat which is a cool ghat with amazing twisties. Finally entered pune and into bad traffic (as usual) and came home by 2pm.

A nice small trek there!

Photos at : http://picasaweb.google.co.in/jayaramk1983/Malhargad?authkey=r2D8QsNibwE

Prabalgad and Kalavantin Trek

Fort : Prabalgad and Kalavantin (extension of Prabalgad)
Height : 2300 ft (above MSL)
Base Village : Prabalmachi and Thakurwadi
Grade : Prabalgad (Medium) , Kalavantin (Hard during rains , medium in other season)

We decided on a 2 day trek to Prabalgad and Kalavantin Durg near Panvel (13/14 september 2008). This was a long pending trek so me , purvesh, deepak, tushar, sau , sachin, chhaya and neha decided to do it.

Morning 6am I started on my bike towards Talegaon phata where Deepak and Sau were to meet. Sachin , Tushar, Chhaya and Neha came in at 6.50am at the phata and then Sau and Deepak came in. We started going in at a sedate 60-70kmph because of the wet roads. It was drizzling but continuously.

Sau filled petrol near Wadgaon and we went ahead and crossed Lonavala in no-time. We came across the Rajmachi point and decided to stop there for a dekko at the views there. The nature was amazing there and the view of the waterfall was refreshing. Starting from there we descended the ghat towards Khopoli in thick fog which was persistent all through there.

Once at Khopoli it was the boring NH-4 towards Panvel. Purvesh was to meet us at the toll naka before Panvel (5km before Panvel) as he was to come from Dombivali. We met at a hotel just after the toll naka. Had a great breakfast and started for Shedung from where the route to Thakurwadi goes ahead.

We finally reached Thakurwadi at parked our bikes at a safe location and then started on the trek towards Prabalmachi. The initial route is via a narrow tar road which goes ahead and climbs up from where the tar road vanishes and there is a kuccha path which climbs up.

The views from here are amazing with waterfalls et. all but as it was humid we were getting tired , the path goes via thick bushes and ahead. We could see the wall of Prabalmachi. Finally after 1 hour of climbing we reached the Prabal machi entrance where there are some remnants of the fort walls and as we go ahead there are steps which house a temple of Ganeshji and Maruti raya. Going ahead we got the first look of Kalavantin Durg. It was massive and inviting :)

We went ahead via green patches and into Prabalmachi village where Purvesh already had asked a villager about staying in at his place for the day as we were to do Prabalgad today and then Kalavantin the next day. The atmosphere was cloudy and rainy and rain was falling intermittently all throughout.

We then kept our bags in the house and took small sacks and pouches with some food and water and started towards Prabalgad. The whole area is covered with thick bushes and trees and one can always loose his way if he doesnt get the right path and so we did. We went ahead passing the actual path and then we were lost , Sau and Purvesh went ahead to look at the way to go up and finally found the way so they called us up and we went ahead. The initial path is all mud and stones so it isnt a problem. Once we reach the col like place its huge slippery rocks through which water was flowing because of the rains and it was a slow progress up towards prabalgad. The region witnesses tremendous landslides during rains and it was evident from the loose rocks all around. Once in the col we climbed up on and on when we reach a supposed wall of the fort which is broken and we enter. Again there is a steep kutccha path from here to go above and when we reached the top it was a jungle , a thick one at that.

If one gets lost on top of Prabalgad then the person will never find the way out , the jungle is that thick. We stuck to a path and went ahead and ahead. We found some sculptures on rocks and went ahead. The whole top of Prabalgad is void of any fort remnant just a whole plateau. We finally reached the Kalavantin side of Prabalgad but the clouds were so thick we couldnt get a glimpse of Kalavantin which everyone said was amazing and a must look, but we couldnt see that because the clouds never parted. We had biscuits , chiwada there and did some tp in there before starting back. We were disappointed firstly to see nothing on top and secondly we no view of Kalavantin but then we did Prabalgad. We climbed down via the same path through the slippery rocks and mud. Climbing down was an ordeal just as going up and the rains made it even more difficult. We finally touched the path down in around 50 mins and started towards Prabalmachi.

Kalavantin was looking imposing and like it was calling us to scale it, we could see the steps on it and it was covered in green. Cool view.

We finally reached the village by 4.45pm and they had tea made by the house owner. Tushar,Sachin , Chhaya and Neha were going back home today coz they didnt plan on the 2 day trek , they just wanted to do Prabalgad and went back at around 5.30pm. Me , Purvesh, Sau and Deepak stayed back to do Kalavantin the next day.

Finally dusk arrived and we had our dinner which we had brought from home. After a full dinner and timepass we went to sleep praying that it shouldnt rain the next day and we should be able to do Kalavantin easily. But nature has its own ways !

We woke up early in the morning and after refreshing ourselves and taking water bottles and some snacks we went ahead towards Kalavantin , the route was via the col between Kalavantin and Prabalgad and was a steep route again via slippery rock patches and we lost our way yet again and finally Purvesh and Deepak found the way and me and Saurabh followed them. We reached the col in about 55mins and there was a rock patch to be done after which the steps started.

The rock patch was least inviting and the wind in the col was too much along with the clouds. Visibility was at its lowest. I decided I wouldnt go any further ahead but only upto the steps because I am wary of rock patches and that too wet ones and the rain wouldnt stop, it became intense so I said to purvesh and saurabh that they go ahead with Deepak and I stop here.

I just sat down on the rock for sometime and enjoyed the silence and the sound of the wind and the rain and then climbed down the col with effort (remember it was slippery rock :))

After an hour Saurabh , Deepak and Purvesh came down sucessful from their ascent of Kalavantin , i felt dejected but then thats fine, I could always do Kalavantin afterwards. :)
We had some biscuits at the col and started climbing down. The rain became torrential and everything was flowing down along with the rocks which became loose. The path down was slippery but we anyways made it down. On the way down we met a group going up and we wished them the best :)

We finally came down to the machi and got ready. The rain was in no mood to relent and it was already flooding the surrounding places in there. We wanted to get down as fast as possible so we started after packing our stuff in the bags in the rain. We finally got down the path where huge waterfalls were full and we crossed them and then finally got to the door of Prabalmachi and went down. The view of the waterfalls from the machi were amazing and we went down to Thakurwadi in around an hour.

Finally getting down to Thakurwadi we got our bikes and then started back home bidding goodbyes to Purvesh at the Shedung phata we started at around 2.30pm. I was home by 5pm after a boring ride on NH4 highway :)

So a trek accomplished but Kalavantin evaded me , but ill anyway do it soon. :)

Photo links:
My photos
Photos from other cam

Sarasgad

Fort: Sarasgad
Region: Pali
Height : 1433 feet above MSL
Base Village: Pali
Grade: Medium




We visited fort Sarasgad on Feb 25th 2008. Me,Saurabh, Purvesh , Deepak , Tushar and Avinash. I started early morning 6am and went to get Avinash from Chapekar chowk and found him and we continued ahead to Talegaon our meeting point with Saurabh and Deepak.

Reached Talegaon early and waited for the guys to come. As usual Deepak and Tushar turned up late and we left Talegaon for Khopoli where we had to pick up Purvesh who was coming from Dombivali.

We reached Lonavala in 30 mins and went to a hotel for breakfast , the time reading 8.45am. We were done by 9.30am and called up Purvesh to confirm his location and he was already nearing Khopoli!

We started fast and covered the distance to Khopoli in about 30mins , in between Deepak riding Tushar's bike went into the expressway instead of the Khopoli exit and we had to wait for them to come back to the proper exit.

Purvesh was waiting for us at the designated place where we turn off for Pen from Khopoli. We went ahead and were cruising and took the left from the bridge for Pali that is famous for the Ashtavinayak Temple and also the base village for Sarasgad. The weather was getting hotter now and the roads were bad.

We reached Pali by 10.30am and parked our bikes in the parking. We came towards the main road and asked the way to the fort.We had to go behind the Ganpati Temple and follow a path and go ahead. The way was simple but the weather was too humid.

We decided we would take Ganpati darshan while coming back and went ahead. The path was via a narrow strip of mud which goes ahead where we climb to the first plateau and come to a huge mango tree. We missed the obvious path and ended up climbing the first plateau via thorny shrubs and rock patches. We finally came to the first plateau and went ahead.

The road ahead seemed simple and we took a well trodden part. The front side of the fort was now visible and looked amazing. We went ahead to a point and sat down to rest, we were getting tired because of the hot climate but we continued ahead with the fort coming closer. The path gets steeper and we were getting tired because the sun had come out in full force now.


We finally reached the rock patch to be climbed to get to the steps of the fort. The fort is built from a rocky outcrop infact the whole of the front and the back of the fort is rock , solid rock. We went ahead and found a tunnel where we spent some time seeing what was inside.



We went ahead into a narrow gully which has the steps. From far the steps arent visible , you need to go near to see them. The steps are perfect and we went ahead. There is a huge bastion ahead and then the main door is at the left. Inside the main door as we go ahead there is a huge cave where one can sleep if coming for an overnight trek.


Most of the portions of the door and the caves are of solid rock so they still stand. As we go in we encountered a water tank but it had all algae infested water we went ahead and found a cave - tank which had the coolest and the cleanest water. We drank our fill and went ahead to the back side of the fort.

The fort is made up of 3 levels , the balekilla, the middle portion where we were and the lower portion. The view from here was breathtaking and we could see the twin walls of Telbaila and also Sudhagad fort from here.



The balekilla is one huge rock which stands on top like a crown and at the base of the rock there are many chambers cut which must have housed granaries and ammunition dumps. Most of which are still intact. We had our lunch here and lazed around.



We then went to the side where we came from and climbed up the balekilla, the climb is easy with some scree laden part and we come on top which is bare except a huge water body and trees on top. We have a tomb on top and a shiv temple on top. The view from the top of the surroundings and Pali village is amazing. We stopped for sometime on top discussing things and then climbed down again to the 2nd level and came back to the entrance , had some photo sessions and climbed down the steps and the rock patch.

The climate was still hot but we came down and slowly came to the base village. It was around 4pm and we went for the Ganpati Darshan after getting fresh. After Ganpati Darshan we came out and filled our stomachs with snacks and tea and started back. We reached Khopoli at around 6.45pm and it was dark now, we left Purvesh at the station for the 8pm local back and left for Pune from there and reached home at around 8.45pm. All in all a nice trek.

Photos

Ratangad

Fort: Ratangad
Region : Igatpuri
Height : 4255 feet above MSL
Base village: Ratanwadi
Grade : Medium

We visited Ratangad during February 9-10 2008. I did this trek again with trek-di. Seems like I have a special bond with trek-di now, having done almost 10 treks with them.The reporting time to FC gate was 6.00am, i started from home at 4.45am and came to Yogesh's (a friend) home by 5am and kept my bike there and started for FC on his bike. We reached FC by 5.30am and went to the GoodLuck chowk to have some tea and came back. Coming back we found participants already waiting there along with Shridhar kaka (from trek-di) and Hemant and Dhyanesh (both volunteers for trek-di). We joined them and engaged in some conversation.The bus they had hired came by 6.25am and we were on-board soon and started our journey.

The journey was via Nashik Phata - Chakan - Narayangaon - Sangamner - Akole - Rajur - Ratanwadi. Total 220km one side. We stopped at a road side hotel near narayangaon for breakfast and again went ahead , the roads upto sangamner are excellent and after that are somewat ok , we reached Ratanwadi by 2pm with adequate breaks in between. Had lunch which we had brought. Ratanwadi is a small village but with a rich heritage , old era carvings and statues are present there. Also the famous Amruteshwar temple of Satvahan era is located there.


After lunch we started towards Ratangad picking our sacks.The route is via forest and the trail is not clear so we had hired local guides to lead us upto the fort and also carry provisions up because we were to stay for the night there. The sun was shining bright but the route being via thick forest did not feel the heat or tiredness. Some people who had come from Bangalore for the trek, however got tired and were slow. I was with Hemant in the middle and we went chatting and laughing.

After about 1.5 hours of climb / walk we reached a clearing where there are two paths , one which goes up straight is the path to Ratangad and the other towards the left goes to Harishchandragad via the Katrabai Mountain. Possibility of taking the wrong path here is high because of these diversions if someone who does not know the route comes here. We could see the Khutta Pinnacle at a distance.Khutta is actually a pinnacle near Ratangad and offer good technical climbing (maybe will try one day).



The last part of the climb to Ratangad was easy and we came to the ladders. To climb up the fort at the last part ladders are kept there because the steps which were originally there were blown off and some have fallen down due to erosion so the villagers have put up iron ladders to climb up. Climbed the first ladder and stood at the base of the 2nd helping people to go up and then went up. The fort door is amazing and offers good views. Once on top through the door , one has to again climb a fleet of rock cut steps to gain access to 1 more level up. This level contains the temple of goddess ratanai and a huge cave , where one can stay, and where we had to stay for the night. We put our bags in the cave and started on to explore the fort... From the cave we turn right to come back to the rock cut steps we climbed and pass it towards another door leading to 1 more upper level of the fort.


The views from here are breathtaking and cool. There is a bastion on the top level which offers great views around. Immediately straight we can see the Katrabai mountain and the Ajoba mountain in front. We went towards the west side , passing water tanks (4-5) which contain potable water for drinking. The sunset was awesome from this point , its always awesome :). After sunset we came back to the cave because it was getting dark and cold.After coming back we saw that Shridhar kaka / Hemant and Dhyanesh were preparing dinner. We tried to help them in some way and finally dinner was prepared around 8.30pm after which everyone sat down for dinner and had a nice dinner. Then we had some talk and people were preparing for sleep. I opted to sleep out for 2 reasons i.e I found that the cave could not fit all of us and the second reason being hemant and dhyanesh were sleeping outside. Yogesh too joined me in sometime because he found the snores of some participant disturbing.



The night was cold..brrrr...it was around 4-5 degrees but i had my jacket ON and slept for sometime. I usually dont get sleep properly at such places...:) Morning woke up to find dark clouds towards the east which had arrived mysteriously from somewhere. The sunrise again was awesome and after breakfast of poha and tea we left for visiting the fort. After some group snaps we went around. Ratangad has a vast expanse which we traverse from side to side. First we saw the Kokan darwaza (door) along with the bastions. Little ahead we could see water tanks (8-9) , these also held potable water. Futher ahead we had to climb up to reach the nedhe (needle hole in rock) which is a natural wonder there. The gusts of wind blowing at the nedhe was something I cannot explain, it was pure heaven. Getting down from the nedhe towards the other side was an experience in itself :) for others because of the scree patch there. On this side we could see the forts of Alang , Kulang and Madan and the peak of Kalsubai (the highest in Maharashtra) clearly. We went down to the Trayambak darwaza which offers a cool view and steep steps below..we went down the steps to see the Baan pinnacle , a arrow shaped pinnacle which is famous for climbing.



We came back up via the steps. (Actually there is a route to climb down from this door down but its a long traverse and takes more time than the other one). We then circumnavigated via the other side towards the place from where we started, here we saw a water tank which is supposed to be the origin of the pravara river. The water was crystal clear and tasted sweet. Finally after some more walk we came to the place where we had climbed in. Myself and Hemant climbed down quickly to prepare lunch for others because we knew other would take a lot of time to come down the ladders and also we were short of time. We reached Ratanwadi in 1 hour and started preparing soup and lunch. All the group members were down by 3pm and we had a nice lunch and started for Pune. We reached Pune by 10pm and finally had dinner at GoodLuck before starting for home from there and reached home by 11pm. A great trek I must say.

Telbaila

Telbaila
Region : Mulshi
Height : 3322 ft (above MSL)
Base Village : Telbaila

Telbaila is basically a watch tower built to guard over the Sahwashni ghat near Pali. It consists of two rock walls , the left and the right clearly differentiated by the col in between. Though not of much historic importance - the rock walls of Telbaila offer great rock climbing opportunities of technical grade.

I climbed the left inner wall on 19-20 Jan 2008 , with trek-di (an organization which organizes treks). This was my first technical rock climb and I was very excited.

We started on saturday from FC at 3pm towards telbaila in a sumo. We were around 7 participants + the trek leader (Shridhar) from trek-di. Rock climbing experts were to join us at Telbaila village in the evening. We reached Lonavala at 4pm and started towards Telbaila via Amby valley , had some tea at Peth Shahpur and proceeded. The road after Sahara city is a mess with big craters on the road. We reached Tel Bail phata and turned right and went ahead. Here there is a kaccha road upto the village. We reached the village at 5.30pm and got a house veranda to stay. The walls were looking cool from here. I was a little apprehensive about climbing but decided to do it anyway.

Some time later rock climbing experts Bhau Satarkar (who is an expert and has been climbing for almost 20 years now) and Hemant came in. They were to fix ropes for us and help us during the climb. As the sun set the cold started creeping it. We learnt that it was "Urus" time in the village and so the village was very crowded and loudspeakers were blaring at full volume. We had a good dinner of chapati-bhaji and went off to sleep. But we could not sleep because the loudspeakers blared the whole night ... it was like someone used to sing bhajans turn by turn all through the night..it was very irritating but we couldnt do any thing :)

We woke up in the morning at 5.30am and had hot tea and breakfast and then got our harnesses and carabiners from the experts and started for the base of the wall at 7.45am. We reached the base - there is a temple at the base and people from the village come there to pray. There is also a water tank at the base with cool water. We then sat at the base while Bhau and the others went about their task of fixing rope by free climbing. The wall is not very difficult but you cannot climb it free style. The route goes in this manner - the first patch is about 60 feet of rock - after that patch we traverse left and walk over half broken steps and come to a small cave - ahead there are steps again broken and there is a cave next where there is a a water tank. Next patch is about 40 feet but its an overhang with no holds in the rock but small cracks , we have to jumar up holding the rocks and go ahead. Above there are steps again broken upto the top. The top is very narrow about 2-3 m wide and nothing to see on top just rocks and the amazing views all around like Sudhagad , Ghangad and sarasgad and others.

One by one all of the climbers climbed the first patch - some climbed fast - some slow. On my turn i climbed successfully , at some points there was absolutely no foothold and I had to literally pull the rope and get up - but that experience was too good. Got some bruises on my hand but nothing compared to the experience. After the first patch traverse was done from the left over half broken steps and to the 2nd cave. Had a lunch of methi parathas here and waited on my turn to jumar up from here. The jumaring part was a little tricky and Bhau was helping us go up by using a pulley and asking us to jumar...me as i was doing it for the first time did it quite fast and it didnt feel difficult but while climbing I used to get a little frightened but i had faith in the equipment. After the overhang i came to the steps and went ahead and in 10-15 minutes reached the summit at 2.30pm. Reaching the top I was very happy and elated...saw some cool views around. On top there's nothing much and its too narrow so we just sat there for 10 minutes admiring the views and started climbing down the same way till the first patch. Then we rapelled down the first patch - that was also a very great experience coming down. It was around 6.30pm when everyone came down and we started for the village down - it was sunset already but the moon was almost full so we found our way fast.

Coming down we started for Pune at 7.30pm and came home by 10pm.

All in all it was a great first experience of climbing rock patch with all the things attached.