Lingana - Adventure

Lingana Triple Thrill Camp Valley Crossing / Rock Climbing / Rappelling

Region : Mahad (Maharashtra)

8th April'04 has created history as far as adventure sports in India is concerned. What started off in the minds of climbing veterans as an almost impossible feat culminated successfully into the 5 day hardcore adventure called “Experience the Triple Thrill – Lingana Valley Crossing, Climbing & Rappelling Program ”. This is the thrilling and detailed account of that historic climb. About Lingana  Geographically, Lingana (585 ft.) lies in Mahad whereas Rayling Hill falls in Pune Region Lingana is the toughest natural rock climb in the Sahyadri mountains. The rock/soil found on Lingana is of Basalt type. Linganawadi is the base village for this hill/fort. The route to the caves from the base is a challenging one with steep slopes near the caves. The climb further up to the summit is the most difficult and arduous due to steepness and severe exposure to around 1800-2000ft. To traverse above the caves requires good climbing knowledge. Some of the caves have perennial water supply and to stay in them is quite a thrilling experience. During the ancient days, Lingana fort, situated in the mid-portion of the hill used to be a prison housing hardcore prisoners. These prisoners were made to climb to the fort with the help of ladders and subsequently the ladders were removed once they reached the fort. The prisoners were kept here without food and water. As it is not possible to climb or descend the fort without proper aid, the prisoner died either of hunger, thirst or of fatal injury. Post Maratha period, this fort was completely destroyed by the British. In the year 1978, Hira Pandit & 13 other courageous mountaineers first summitted Lingana Pinnacle. During those days there was not much equipment available and these climbers had to do their climb with basic equipment. Following years have seen many successful and unsuccessful attempts to summit the pinnacle, some even resulting in severe fatalities. Some rock climbers have rated the Lingana climb as 5.9 – 5.6, 5.10c as per rock climbing standards. However, these ratings are still not so accurate and are considered debatable. Raigad and Torna are two prominent and strategically located forts that can be seen and accessed from Lingana. The ConceptIn Dec 2003, Holiday Hikers, a prominent trekking group from Mumbai under the leadership of Arun Sawant along with the technical support of Dhumketu Trekkers, climbed Lingana to celebrate 25 years of the 1st Lingana Climb. During this camp, Arun Sawant came up with the idea of conducting a camp at Lingana that would involve multiple activities such as rock climbing, rappelling and valley crossing between Lingana & Railing Plateau (a distance of 1020ft) using the flying fox technique- a daunting task by any measure. Discussions with various climbing groups regarding technical support and expertise received major flak from all quarters. Finally, Dhumketu Trekkers decided to take up the entire responsibility of hosting and managing this mega event all by themselves. Additional manpower support and base camp infrastructure was provided by Dhananjay Madan of ‘Nisargamitra – Panvel' & Dr. Rahul Varange of ‘Sahyadri Mitra Giribhraman – Mahad'. Most important of all was the involvement of Mr. Hira Pandit in this project. There have been few such programs involving valley crossing and rappelling organized in the past in the Sahyadri ranges, wherein valley crossing was done by the traditional method called ‘monkey crawl' . This was to suit the short distance between two points ranging to a maximum distance of about 500ft. But Arun wanted to do something different. His idea was to attempt a feat that no other adventure organization in India had. Gathering all the technical expertise available around him, he chose the best technical equipment currently available only abroad for the mammoth 1020 ft. Valley Crossing using the Flying Fox technique. Arun's worries were twofold: one, whether the participants would be able to go through this rigorous adventure, and two, how to organize the finances for conducting such a mega event. Keeping their fingers crossed, Arun and the Dhumketu team brushed aside all their fears and set forth to organize this fun, sporty adventure program. Pre-event Logistics: No sooner had the bookings started the organizers received an overwhelming response and within a few days the event was over booked. They were 140 confirmed participants and they were separated into 5 batches. Each batch would take 3 days to complete their program in the following manner. •  Day 1 – travel to base camp. •  Day 2 – complete all activities. •  Day 3 – return home. High quality climbing & abseiling ropes, other related technical gear such as body and seat harnesses, different types of carabiners, pitons, chokes, mittens, etc. were brought and checked thoroughly. The task of fixing the ropes from Rayling Plateau to the caves in the middle of Lingana mountain was not an easy one, not to forget the challenging task of fixing the rock climbing ropes right up to Lingana Summit and rappelling ropes on 3 different sides on the hill. Between January & February'04, volunteers from Dhumketu recced the Rayling Plateau area a total of 5 times to finalise the exact location from where the activity could be organized. Finally they decided on a small area at the edge of the plateau, which faces the eastern portion of Lingana. The volunteers then cleared the entire area and flattened most of it so that they could set camp on the plateau. The camp, including a huge kitchen to cater to all the volunteers and participants over the next 10 days, was set on 4/4/04. Testing and mock runs were conducted on all the activities for at least 2 days to ensure complete safety and technical satisfaction. The Triple Thrill ProgramFinally the eventful day arrived. Participants arrived in batches into Pune from different parts of Maharashtra . They were then transported to the nearest base village called Varoti, which is about 3 hrs away from Pune. From Varoti, participants trekked for about 3.5 hrs to reach the base camp. Beholding the massive huge Lingana hill right in front them, the participants were not only roused, but eager to perform the mammoth feat they had been waiting for so many weeks! The program started off well and the first 7 people who did the valley crossing were taken right up to the summit. Going up to the summit was an extremely difficult task as many of the participants were not familiar with the abc's of climbing. In view of all possible constraints, the summit attempt was cancelled. However a 125ft of rock climbing was introduced for climbing novices so that they could still enjoy the sport. During the valley crossing, there was a sense of wonder amongst all participants on what might be the scenario if one loses ground only to travel at blazing speed across the valley at a height of 1800 ft and reach the other side within 6-8 minutes! Once they reached the other side however, their joy knew no bounds. A sheer sense of achievement could be seen on their faces. The participants then attempted a 125ft rock climb higher on the hill. This was conducted with proper technical support. After the rock climb, the participants rappelled 125ft down to the cave situated next to the valley crossing landing point, completed the final rappel of about 360ft down the hill, and reached the column between Lingana and Rayling hill. They then carefully traversed the base of Rayling hill climbed up a mountain pass called ‘Boratachya Nal' and returned to the base camp which involved at least an hours trek. The entire program went of well as per schedule and was a tremendous success. The volunteers finally returned home on 13 th April'04 . Reports on the success of this event have since been flashing in most of the newspapers, Internet news sites and on television. Since then, Dhumketu Trekkers have approached the Limca Book of Records to record their remarkable feat of the ‘Longest Valley Crossing – 1020ft' in Asia and hope to receive a favourable response. Kudos to Arun Sawant, Dhumketu Trekkers and all the participants who made this event an adventurous and memorable one… A few hard facts one should know about this camp •  Base Camp Trek : 3 hrs trek from Varoti Village to Rayling Plateau (base camp) •  Valley Crossing : 1020ft – Rayling Plateau to Lingana Caves •  Rock Climbing : 125ft – Above Lingana Caves •  Rappelling : A total of 485ft – from final Rock climbing point to the base of Lingana •  Camp Setup : 4 th April, 2004 •  Camp Schedule : 8 th April, 2004 to 12 th April, 2004 •  Camp Closure : 13 th April, 2004 •  Types of ropes & length used : Special Ropes made by M/s. Todi & Company, Mumbai •  14mm dia Rope used for Main Valley Crossing-1400 mtrs •  10mm dia Rope used for Push Pull technique for Valley Crossing-1100 ft. •  10mm dia additional Rope used for Valley Crossing - 2200 ft. •  Total Equipment Weight : 1.2 Tonnes •  Technical Experts involved : Mr. Arun Sawant, 10 Members from Dhumketu Trekkers and an additional 10 people were trained for support. •  No of batches & participants : 5 batches with a total of 167 people completed the Valley Crossing (140 participants & 27 guest members) •  No of participants who finally summitted Lingana : 7 participants •  Youngest Participant (Boy) : Anuj Singh – 6 yrs old •  Youngest Participant (Girl) : Aroshi Sawant – 8 yrs old •  Oldest Participant : Digambar Jamdade – 72 yrs old •  2-People Valley Crossing : Rakhi & Kartik Mahtre, mother & son duo, did their valley crossing together. •  Special Comments : Umesh Padekar – The only handicapped participant with polio trekked up to the base camp and successfully completed the valley crossing and rapelling activity. For Pics of this special adventure activity click on the link below : https://picasaweb.google.com/dineshnairtreks/LinganaValleyCrossingRapellingApril2004 For Webpage : http://www.hikesandtreks.com/lingana.html ....................................................................................................................................................... Dinesh Nair  P.S. the writer himself participated in the above activities and is proud to have been part of such a memorable event.

Jivdhan Fort - Khadaparshi : Adventure

Region : Malshej Ghat (Maharashtra) Height : 1144mts - 3754ft

Program : Trek : Jivdhan Fort (3754ft / 1144 mtrs) Valley Crossing : Jivdhan to Khadaparshi Pinnacle (200ft) Rappelling : Khadaparshi Pinnacle (425ft) Date : 18th, 19th & 20th February, 2004 About Jivdhan Fort : On can reach Jivdhan by two routes, from Naneghat or from Ghatghar village. From Naneghat follow the cart track to Ghatghar village for about 10 min, turn right and walk towards Vanarlingi, the prominent pinnacle visible adjoining Jivdhan. On the way one can come across a small farm and then one more cart track coming from Ghatghar village. Cross this and move towards the pinnacle. After walking for about 15 to 25 min through grass one comes on a plateau. There is open plain on the right side and dense jungle on the left side. At this point one comes across a set of boulders. The route to Jivdhan goes from this jungle from the right side of these boulders. Walking straight upwards encountouring dense jungle one reaches rock cut steps. From here follow the route to reach the Jivdhan rock wall. There is quite good amount of scree and is dangerous during monsoons. From this rock wall, one path goes to the right to the base of Khadaparshi (also called as Vanarlingi) while the left path leads to a set of broken steps after a walk of 5 to 10 min. On moving forward, one comes face to face with a col and a steep climb for about 10 min. There are cuts in the rock which serve as holds. After climbing sucessfully one reaches the main entrance of Jivdhan fort. It takes about two hours from Naneghat to reach this place. The entrance is blocked by large peices of rock which have fallen down from inside and there is enough room for only one person to enter at a time. Views from Jivdhan : To the North – Vardya, Harishchandragad, Nakta, Alang-Kulang-Madangad and a faint view of Kalsubai. To the East – Vesni, Budhlya, Ghatghar village, Junnar in a distance, Kukdi River & Manikdo dam, Kukdeshwar Hill. Note : Chawand is behind the Vesni hill and cannot be seen from Jivdhan. To the South – Excellent view of the 1000 mtrs drop of the Sahyadris into Konkan (like Harishchandragad-Kokankada), Durg Killa, Dhakoba, Gorakhgad & Machindra Pinnacle. To the West – Naneghat, Nanacha Angtha & The Konkan Plains. Khadaparshi….The height of Khadaparshi is 425ft and has been climbed by several climbers. It takes about 5-6 hrs to climb this pinnacle from the base. The Organising / Support Team : The Jivdhan-Khadaparshi Valley Crossing & Rappelling Program was organized by Hi-Tec Adventure Group based in Mulund. Tushar Modak headed the organizing team supported by a group of well-experienced climbers, namely Hemant Rao, Sumant, Vaibhav, Pradeep, Amol Pendse. Vaibhav & Sandeep had climbed the Khadaparshi in about 5 hrs and had aligned all the valley crossing ropes. The program was conducted over a period of 3 days. Starting from 18th Feb’04 to 20th Feb’04. The group was very familiar while conducting this activity as they had earlier held the same program in year 2001. A total of about 60 people accross all age groups participated in this program. MiStory :Ruzbeh had already registered for the Valley Crossing & Rappelling program since the dates were declared. Since then, Ruzbeh has been coaxing me to join the activity. However, I was not sure if I could make it. Things did come my way and I joined Ruzbeh for this deadly stunt. We met up with the rest of the group (about 40 people) at Kalyan S.T. Stand by 8am and moved on to Naneghat. We reached Naneghat phatta by 11:30am and subsequently reached the Naneghat caves by around 1pm. The climb was quite exhaustive due to the intense afternoon heat. After a quick lunch the entire group walked towards Ghatghar village (about 3km). We reached Ghatghar by around 4:30pm and proceed towards Jivdhan Fort. We kept the fort on our right and walked towards the woods at the base. Enroute we can also see an old temple with a Shivling. After the temple, the cart track leads you to a common coloumn shared by Vesni Hill & Jivdhan. The route ends at an opening on the right into the bamboo woods. After we climbed thru the woods we come to large rock patches which we had to climb without any support. We climb several rock patches until we reach the final steps of the fort. The steps are blown off, however some of them have niches on one side for climbing support.The view from here is very good. Just before the entrance there is a 90 deg vertical rock patch. We negotiate this with utmost care and reach the entrance. We then climbed ahead and reached the remants of a house (one could only see the entrance and the rest of it was like a cave – good architecture inside). A tent was pitched alongside by the support team and this was our base camp. We settled for the night and after a good dinner prepared by the support team, we were briefed about our program. The next morning was hectic and after our breakfast, we were divided into 2 groups. The first group of about 25 people would complete their activity by noon and then the 2nd batch of 15 people would complete their activity by around 6pm. The first batch moved towards the valley crossing site and the second batch was entrusted with the responsibility of taking everybody’s bags to the Chorwat Steps (another route of Jivdhan Fort) as one could reach this place after rappelling and go to Naneghat and need not comeback to the Jivdhan base camp to collect their bags. We were in the second batch so we did the porters work. Nevertheless, this also gave us a chance to explore the Chorwat. Actually this was the main entrance to the fort and is directly accessible to Naneghat (1 hr). However, the steps on this route has been completely blown off and the entrance is also a bit to negotiate. One also has to pass thru dense forest to reach the base on this route. By around 4pm we were informed that only 17 members of the first batch could complete their activity as rappelling took quite some time and therefore 6 members of the first group and all 15 of us from the second group were stranded. We were then shoved with a suggestion to wait for one more day and complete. Quite a daunting task for everyone as we had all thought that we would reach Bombay that evening after completion, but now we all had to make this quick decision on whether to stay or go back (which was also quite difficult). After a few phone calls everyone decided to stay whatever come may to their worklife / family etc. I must say that each one of us were well-determined and focused. We again descended the Chorwat and brought back our bags to the base camp settling down for another night on Jivdhan. It was quite a long night for all of us to pass. The next morning we all got ready quite early and reached the valley crossing base by 9am (again after dropping off our bags at Chorwat). Ruzbeh went of first and I did my valley crossing at around 10am. Hemant Rao checked my gear at the final point andpushed me onto the ropes. I started pulling the ropes with both my hands. After a few minutes my forearms became so stiff and I just could not pull the rope. Needless to say, I was dangling at height of about 1000mtrs. Looking down was indeed extremely scary and looking up into the shimmering blue sky was quite a relief. I reached the pinnacle and was greeted by Vaibhav and Sumant. Vaibhav pulled me up, dislodged my valley crossing gear and made me sit on one side of the pinnacle. Gosh! What a place to be on….after about 10min, I was pulled onto another side of the pinnacle from where we had to rappel down. This was the second time I was rappelling (the first was a minor stint at Borivali National Park). The rappelling gear was fixed around my waist and the ropes were checked. I was then told to descent carefully from the first ledge which I did not. I slipped a bit and got a few bruises on my right hand. Most of the people had a problem at this starting point. I managed to get my act together and rappelled down with ease. The members who had descended earlier were cheering up the participants and the whole exercise took us about 20-25min. After reaching the pinnacle base, we collected our bags and hurriedly descended towards Naneghat. Reached Naneghat by around 2pm. Had lunch and descended Naneghat and reached the road by around 430pm. Took a jeep to Tokavde, then onto a ST bus to Kalyan and reached home by 9pm. Alas! After 3 days. Personally for me it was a tremendous sense of achievement…for not even once was I scared of doing this kind of adrenaline stuff. It also gave me a strong foothold for doing similar events in the near future….. ' We were awarded certificates for completing this program on 14th Mar, 04. Three Cheers to the Hi-Tec team for their superb feat! Happy Trekking… Dinesh Nair For Pics please follow the link https://picasaweb.google.com/dineshnairtreks/JivdhanFortKhadaparshiValleyCrossingRapelling2004 For Webpage - http://www.hikesandtreks.com/jivdhan.html