I have been adventurous all my life and from the time Toby
has arrived, my adventure quotient has risen. He and I did several treks which
involved technical stuff like rock climbing & rappelling. After Nalichi Wat
at Harishchandragad, I searched a lot and we purchased a good rock climbing
harness for him online. We did a good abseil at Sandhan Valley in May 2019. Having him on treks has been a treat. Many a
times patrons on treks of Zenith Odysseys also inquire whether he would be
joining or not. He is a well behaved dog whilst on trek which is not really
expected from an Indian dog. So taking
him to a climb, putting his harness to good use and pending items my bucket list
were pointing to Lingana.
Lingana is also looked upon as a Mecca for the rock climbing
community of Western Ghats of India, however, many commercial trek operators
organize rock climbing events here and the mountain has lost its sanctity.
The urge to visit this place was getting stronger day by day
and I started looking for team. I am usually look for a team with certain qualities like stable mind,
ability to perform under pressure, respect towards the nature, physical
capacity and stamina, team spirit and of course technical knowledge. Apart from
playing team, I usually have couple of non playing captains who in case of
emergency can handle rescue if required.
I messaged “The BMC bud” & “The
BMC Kid”, another lady friend and few other regular patrons of Zenith Odyssey. “The
BMC Kid” said yes unconditionally and “The BMC bud” put up a condition of
choosing weekends. I strongly wanted “The BMC bud” to join as He, “The BMC Kid”
and I would have made an awesome team. We three are batch mates of Basic
Mountaineering Course and have been glued to each other since then. Initial
plan involved just 5 people and then there were few additions. However, the
rains lasted much beyond expected and some withdrew and some were on wait and
watch mode. One fine day, “The BOY” messaged he wished to take The DOG, a breed
dog to Lingana and I thought of taking two dogs to summit. So the plan was
shaping up nicely and we forgot about it in few days.
Then again “A FRIEND” asked about status and we all came
back to life. As “the climbing season” for commercial trek operators had already
begun, we decided to climb on weekdays. With this decision few others along
with “The BMC bud” dropped out. I chalked out a rough itinerary and we decided
to leave on 18 December early morning and return by early evening of 19
December.
Two days prior I started preparing. I borrowed few stuff
like branded harnesses and a Jumar etc. from a friend and also bought some stuff
for Toby. “A FRIEND” chose to look after food. It seemed like “The BOY” and I
had all the required gear. By the nightfall on 17 December, Toby and I were
ready to move out next day. “The BOY” and I had been planning on introducing
Toby and The DOG before the trek however due to other commitments I couldn’t do
that.
I was up by 345 on 18 December and we all were already
exchanging messages on WhatsApp. By 5 AM “A FRIEND” and “The BMC Kid” had
arrived and few moments later “The BOY” arrived along with his friend “The
GIRL”. I was surprised to see her since it was never discussed that she would
be joining. “A FRIEND” mentioned he was carrying food for only four people; I
assured him it would be alright. In the
morning we tried very hard to make Toby and The DOG friends, however both kept
growling at each other and then I decided to give up after around 20 minutes.
It was a noisy start of the day for the entire neighborhood. I removed Toby’s
stuff from my backpack along with his backpack. My baby looked confusedly at
me. I could not even hide my disappointment in my fate and left. By the time we
finally left from my place, it was 0605.
We reached Velhe and hungrily searched for a place to eat.
Torana Vihar hadn’t opened yet so we decided to eat at the only place
available.
The road after Kelad khind (pass) seemed ok until a point and
after that practically just because it looked like something which looked like
a road because handful of heavy duty vehicles could pass. We reached Mohari
Village at 915 and prepared for the hike. I removed some more stuff and left it
in the car. Time was 940 and we were delayed by almost one and half hour
already. At that time it just meant less rest between lunch and final climb and
it didn’t matter much technically.
We walked nonstop till the starting point of Borata Naal –
the Gorge that goes down closest towards Lingana. At the entrance of the gorge we took a small
break and “The GIRL” already looked tired. I was worried but pretended
otherwise and carried on. Time was 1030 AM.
The hike down was pretty easy but slow. I didn’t want to
push anyone to stress themselves and make things difficult for themselves and
others. The rock was heating up and Sun was teasing us with every minute lost.
By the time we reached the traverse, it was 1130 AM. This is where I started
calculating daylight hours left and making equations as to how much time would
be required to reach cave.
During the planning, “The BOY” and I had discussed a
possibility of climbing the summit before sunset and rappelling in dark to the
cave. At that point of that time, it looked very much possible, but every time
I looked at “The GIRL”, I could feel that this possibility was now diminishing.
We reached the col below Lingana at about 1330 and I declared that we would be
just pushing to the cave before the nightfall and would attempt the summit next
day at sunrise.
“The BOY” was our lead climber, his rope management and
climbing skills are top notch. He fixed the rope and helped us climb. Looking
at the losing daylight, I suggested two people climbing at same time. And then
I realized that we were so smart that we were carrying only one static rope and
other one was left in the car. I literally wanted to abandon the climb and
return home right from that spot.
As per the original plan we should have been in the cave by
1400 having lunch. And here we were just beginning to climb with hungry
stomachs.
During this climb, I also realized that “The GIRL” knew close
to nothing of climbing and also that the rope had severe abrasions near the
midpoint. The entire climbing activity looked like a grave mistake and it would
have been wiser to return home immediately. However, hiking back would have
taken far more time since “The GIRL” was almost exhausted and also we were
short of water at that point. The water source and shelter was available some
hundred meters above us. It was a catch 22 situation. I made certain notes in
the mind.
We put great efforts and the team finally reached the cave
near the water source. First thing we did was that we had the sandwiches “A
FRIEND” had brought for us. Time was 1700. I declared that now we rest and do
the rest of the climb next day morning. Everyone agreed, I didn’t want to let “The
GIRL” climb but didn’t know how to put it forward. Thankfully, she herself came
up with the suggestion.
“The BOY” and “The GIRL” helped refilling the water. We “A
FRIEND” had also brought ready to heat dinner for us all, Which we had by 2130
and slept off in no time. Although, the night was pretty much uneventful, I
didn’t get good sleep. Perhaps the thoughts of next day kept me disturbed all
night long. We woke up by 700 and it was already late to start the climb. The
breakfast preparations and packing the stuff after that took almost an hour after
that.
We all had kept only climbing gear outside and had packed
everything else inside. I had also left a Swiss army knife with long cord. We
had a set of walkie talkie to facilitate communication across stations. I
handed over one set to “The GIRL” who was going to stay back in the cave, One
to “The BOY”, One to “A FRIEND” and one was to be shared between “The BMC Kid” and
me. I had specifically requested everyone to be careful with the sets and keep
them in the zipped pockets of the clothing. “The BOY” took out cord of my Swiss
army knife and attached it to his set of walkie talkie without my knowledge.
At about 815, “The BOY” started climbing and even before he
had reached first station he shouted watch out. We glued ourselves to the
rockwall and saw some small object falling. He then informed me that it was his
set of walkie talkie. I was terribly frustrated already. We who were at base
station tried to look for it however realized it was way too dangerous to move
even an inch towards the valley without proper safety. We gave up the idea and
I decided to climb with the dog on my local uncertified harness. It just felt
way too risky because I kept feeling that the sewing of the harness might just
rip off. Also due to load and incorrect placement of the Jumar, it kept locking
up. Seeing me struggle that “A FRIEND” said he didn’t want to go to the top. I
didn’t push him and suggested we all give up the idea of summit and start our
journey back home, which “The BMC Kid”and “A FRIEND” agreed with no questions
asked. Same time, “The BOY” tried to give similar suggestion from the first
station. And due to wind and “The GIRL”s over enthusiasm to reach “The BOY”
with her voice was causing hindrance. Somehow “The BOY” got the message and we
wound up the climbing plan. In few minutes, he was back to the base station
near water source.
“The BMC Kid”said the walkie talkie set had fallen in the
grass nearby and we could perhaps retrieve it. “The BOY” took the responsibility
on himself and anchored himself and went downwards on the face of the mountain.
Thankfully he retrieved the walkie talkie set which was undamaged except for missing
back cover.
We went back to the cave. Did little bit of rearrangement of
all the backpacks to share the loads as to reduce the weight from “The GIRL”’s
backpack and help her walk a bit freely.
I have never lost my temper in the mountains but this time and I shouted at “The GIRL” and used all sort of offensive words for throwing up
tantrums during the abseil. Although it was just abseiling, it took us almost 5 hours to reach the col. I was on the verge of break down when we reached there.
I sent texts to We took a quick break of
about 15 minutes to re-hydrate and relieve ourselves and started immediately.
all the three backups – non playing captains that we had
finally abseiled safely. It was a great relief that everyone had reached safely
to the base.
Now the second part was the upward hike towards Railing
Plateau and later the easy walk to Mohri Village. We did have food and
hydration yet I wasn’t really convinced that we would make it to Railing before
sunset.
I was literally coercing “The BMC Kid”to exchange his
backpack with “The GIRL” (his backpack was lightest; I knew it since I had
packed most of it). Nonetheless, “The BMC Kid”and “A FRIEND” volunteered and we
shuffled some more stuff). The climb went through far better than I had
anticipated and we were out of Boratyachi Naal (the gully) by 1720. I have
never been that grateful to the almighty as I was at that moment.
I wanted to go near the cliff of the Railing Plateau and thus
suggested “The GIRL” to rest and “The BOY” to accompany her. “A FRIEND”, “The
BMC Kid”and I went on the small hike without our heavy backpacks. So it was a
quick walk of about 10 minutes and we could see the entire vertex of Lingana in
single glance.
During the return hike, “A FRIEND” had said that he felt bad
that we gave up our summit attempt because of him. I had tried to convey that
it was not at all about him but various other reasons. And with experience I
knew that a complete picture would tell him the exact story.
So when three of us were standing on the edge, I pointed
towards the cave and elaborated the climb that we had abandoned. He seemed
relieved. “The BMC Kid”had a funny reaction,” Did we go there just for camping?
We could have simply pitched our tent right here and looked at the mountain.” I
sincerely felt sorry for the kid. We didn’t wait for the sunset and rushed back to the point
where “The BOY” and “The GIRL” were resting. We picked up our bags and walked
back to the village. We just dumped our backpacks in the boot and drove off. We
took a stop at Velha again for dinner. It was almost 2230 when I reached home.
Although this climb was not successful, I did learn certain
lessons that I am sharing below:
- Strictly no strangers on the technical climbing
activity. Ideally I should have declined to venture out in the outdoors
especially on a climb like Lingana with a girl who was a complete stranger. But
because of my inability to say NO, we did. I now feel “The BOY” was also a
stranger to me when it came to outdoors. His outdoor ethics seemed far
different than mine and it did make me uncomfortable throughout the climb.
- Strictly no last minute additions on the climbing. Apart from reasons mentioned in the blog, it also affects the logistics like food, water and equipment.
- My ideology of small group in outdoors again proved to be correct! This time we were 5, I would add just one more person who would be capable of climbing.
- The equipment should be sufficient. We left second rope in the car. We had only one Jumar, carabineers were just numbered. One lost or broken would have put us in unwanted - unpleasant situations. There were no Prussik cords available. We didn’t have enough gloves / mittens.
- All equipment should always be branded and certified by UIAA. Period. (More about this in next blog)
- Gather all the equipment at least two days prior to the activity in one place.
- Check all the equipment prior to the activity. There were abrasions on the rope.
- No dogs on multi pitch climbing. No questions asked!
- Adhering to timelines. I think this is enough said!
- This is a personal learning: I should develop the skill/ tact to be able to say no or stop when things don’t seem right. This climb could have turned into a grave fatal accident. I will be guilty all my life for having jeopardizing lives of my friends and myself and the dog. Mountains are never forgiving. They’ve spared us this time, but that may not be the case every time.
- I am usually look for a team with certain qualities like stable mind, ability to perform under pressure, respect towards the nature, physical capacity and stamina, team spirit and of course technical knowledge. But going forward I should be following this strictly!
Lingana waits...
