KOKANKADA WALL CLIMBING - EVERY CLIMBER DREAM IT

 

''All through my life, I have been tested. My will has been tested, my courage has been tested, my strength has been tested. Now my patience and endurance are being tested.''- Muhammad Ali

Western Ghat is a mountains range that runs north to south parallel to western coast of the Indian peninsula i.e. Maharashtra to Kerla. The section of the Ghats that runs in Maharashtra state is called ‘Sahyadri’ where black ‘Basalt’ rock is the predominantly found. The section of the mountain that falls in the Karnataka & Kerala state is covered by thick green forest whereas in the section of Maharashtra state is full of black solid basalt rock on the upper side of the mountain & forest on the ridge & at the foothills of the mountain. The Sahyadri range receives heavy rain fall during the monsoon season which causes landslide through the whole mountain range. This helps Mother Nature create beautiful cliffs & pinnacles that sharply falls down upon the 'Kokan' side of the mountain which fascinates many adventure lovers of outdoor life like trekkers, rock climbers and the nature lover. Hence, it is favourable environment for rock climbing activities, as the Sahyadri range invites rock climbers with some of the challenging cliffs and pinnacles.

In the upper section of the north Maharashtra, the famous ancient fort ‘Harishchandragad’ is situated & spread its arms on the borders of three districts of Maharashtra namely Thane, Pune & Ahmednagar. It is just 91 kms away from ancient Kalyan city (ancient name Kalian) which is a main railway junction nowadays on Mumbai's Central Railway suburban route. One can board a state transport bus goes through Malshej Ghat region to reach Harishchandragad.

‘Harishchandragad’ is mainly famous for its cliff called ‘Kokankada’. It is a 1800 feet high cliff that’s concave in shape ('C') with overhangingly stretching out around a one & half miles facing Southwest side of Fort Harishchandragad. Number of rock climbers have tried their luck to ascend it but ‘Success’ here is real tough to achieve. As, upper one third part of the cliff is overhang of around 140 to 160 degree, posing a real challenge to best of the rock climbers.

  

To get the full glimpse of the ‘Kokankada’ one has to reach ‘Valhiware, Bailpada’ village at the foothills of the cliff & get fascinated by its rough beauty. Because having a nature's fascinating creation like Kokankada every nature lover has an affinity with this mountain.

Climbing History of Kokankada:-

In 1985 Mr. Vasant Limaye & his colleague from ‘IIT, Mumbai’ had successfully ascended and opened the Kokankada rock climbing route. Those were the early years of rock climbing era in Sahyadri. Hence, it was commendable achievement considering the resources available in those days.  This climbing route is known as ‘Left Route’ which is about 100 meters to the left from the centre route & has a moderate grade of climbing.

In 1987 most difficult central route was successfully ascended by Mr. Milind Pathak & his colleagues of 'Summit Hikers-Mumbai' & 'Pune Ventures (TELCO group)' & this route is most fascinated to all the climbers till date & every climber who born in ‘Maharashtra’ is always dreamt to ascend Kokankada by centre route once in a life time. After the first ascend, number of club has mark their feet on the cliff by choosing the traditional centre route but the number of failed attempt is more than the successful one.

As time passed by, the route was completely got destroyed due to regular rock falls & expansion bolts have been no trustworthy as anchor points for climbers to hang on due to years of corrosion. There were some accidents due to such conditions. In one such incident a girl is got severally injured in the rappelling expedition. In another incident a rock climbing group from ‘Kalyan’ has to give up their attempt in midway due to these tough conditions, they also had to leave back some un-retrieved equipment on the cliff itself. Number of clubs attempted to re-conquer the cliff but failed due to which we also got curious.

So we ‘Giriviraj Hikers-Dombivli’ decided to let’s try our hands & collected all the information by doing a detailed recce (survey) of Kokankada in the month of June 2006. When we visited the place & make a full survey of the cliff we almost got all the information of its toughness & we fully understood why most of the expeditions miserably failed. We decided to take up the challenge & it was going to be become only a second virgin attempt after Kokankada first ascended 19 years back.

The centralised height of the wall of the Kokankada cliff is around 1800 feet. When starting from the foothills one has to climb around 300 ft. of moderate grade. After that it has an angled climb of around 500 ft.  After that the cliff asks you to drain more sweat. The next pitch of around 350 ft demands considerable time and effort. Here you reach on the 1150 ft ledge which stretched out of the cliff & has spread up to both the ends. 

(There wasn't a challenging task up to 1150 ft. ledge, so we had decided to follow the traditional route up to the ledge. From 1150 ft. ledge our route is getting separated up to the summit) 


This is the only only place between the top and foothills of the cliff where you can set up a camp for ease. But an inch of negligence can make a disaster so need to be careful while doing your activity on this ledge. The part of the cliff of around 650 ft. above this ledge makes the big difference during the expedition as it is stretched out overhangingly at around 140 to 160 degree & requires artificial climb. When you reach on the 1150 ft ledge & look above, you start thinking what you are going to face. Most of the expeditions have failed here. When you start climb on this part, one cannot get a glance of the rock down which he just now climbed up & cannot see above what he is going to face due to overhang.

There is a ‘Sasanyachi Ledge’ in the midst of this 650 ft part of the wall which is an only place where 2 people can stay overnight if became necessary. (‘Sasana- 'ससाणा' -Falcon’. ‘Sasana’ is a Marathi name of raptors family bird. Due to the toughness of the wall & only braveheart can reach up to the ledge; so it is named by the Falcon).

Since 14-15 years most of the rock climbers have used this route to climb up but now the route has completely got destroyed as time passed by. So we decided to set up a new route in the centre & fix up the new expansion bolts manually for anchoring.

At the same time we ‘Giriviraj Hikers’ were reborn after a long 10 years of wait. Most of the founding members of the club were given up the climbing & were busy in their family needs. So one of the founder member ‘Kiran Adfadkar’ who himself is a daredevil climber & also introduced rock climbing without rope in Maharashtra in late 80’s, started again practising on natural boulders & walls at ‘Mumbra’ nursery near ‘Thane’ city.  Here he accidently met his next generation pupil Ashish Palande, Yogesh Sadre, Diwakar Bhatawadekar, Rahul Shinde, Pradip Mhatre, Manish Pimpale etc. They started practising together & Kiran transfused his skills to his new pupils. Once the new team got confidence they started conquering the highest pinnacles in ‘Sahyadri’ by virgin routes i.e. Vajir, Tavli, Moroshi’s Bhairavgad, Baan, Nanacha  Angtha etc. As time passed by, team has gathered lot of experience to take up the challenge of ‘Kokankada’ now.  They also visited ‘Pandavkada’ near ‘Taloja-Panvel’ in the weekends to practice for roof bolting & ladder shifting as the route we selected to climb on ‘Kokankada’ has two roofs.

The financial condition of the club were not too good so we started looking for sponsorship as it is going to be a lengthy expedition of around 20-25 days. Mr. Charuhas Joshi a well known yesteryear's climber came to our rescue & offer financial help for photography & video through his company 'Hills & Trails’ of Thane.  But to our bad luck, a professional person who were appointed for the video shooting went back to home on the very first day of the expedition for urgent work & came back again on the last day of expedition. So, the event was shot by the club members only but it has absent professional touch. As we were not able to gather much of the help so we contributed ourselves & finally were ready for the expedition.    

How to reach:-

‘Harishchandragad’ is 91 kms away from Kalyan city which is a main railway junction on Mumbai's central railway suburban route. One can board a state transport buses goes through Malshej Ghat region.

Basecamp site at the foothills of the cliff:- One has to reach Kalyan ST Depot opposite railway station & board the ‘Murbad’ bus. Get down at the Murbad bus depot & board the ‘Valhivare-Bailpada’ bus, the village is situated at the foothills of the Kokankada.

Basecamp site over top of the cliff from Khireshwar:- One has to reach Kalyan ST Depot & board the bus for 'Nagar' & get down at 'Khubi Phata', a place on top of the ‘Malshej Ghat’. Start your journey by walking over the wall of ‘Pimpalgaon Joga’ water reservoir. From there we reach Khireshwar village which is around 4 km away. Proceed further towards 'Tolar-khind' which is a Pass between 'Harishchandragad' Mountain & 'Bhairav' mountain, after reaching 'Tolar-khind', on the left hand side we came accross a rockpatch in a few minutes where railing is fixed by the villagers. After ascending the rockpatch we reach on the top of the vast plateau where one can see some vegetation & grassland. Proceed further & cross the seven small hills & reach at 'Harishchandreshwar', the temple of Lord Shiv. After getting blessings of Shiv bhagvan proceed further towards the Kokankada, the way goes over the small hill situated behind the temple. This is very difficult way to reach with loads of equipment as it takes around 5-6 hours to reach at the site.  

Basecamp site over top of the cliff from Pachnai:- One has to board Mumbai local train on Central Railway's suburban route to reach at 'Kasara' station. Get down at 'Kasara' station & board the State Transport bus which leaves based on the train timings or hire a jeep to reach at 'Rajur' city. After reaching 'Rajur', board the state transport bus to 'Pachnai' & get down at the base village ‘Pachnai'. One can reach at the site from base village in 3 hours & it is advisable to select this route with loads of equipment.

Journey to conquer yourself:-

25^th October, 2006

With lots of enthusiasm we left the ‘Dombivli’ on the night of 24^th October, 2006 & reached at the ‘Khireshwar’ village in the early morning. The villagers got amused after seeing heavy loads on our shoulders. We enquired for help from the villagers to carry out extra loads by compensating them financially but after seeing the overload nobody came forward as the trek route we had chosen to reach on the top of the cliff was tedious & it could be more difficult with heavy backpack on our shoulders. So we had no option left but to dump more load on the shoulders of our members only. Normally it takes around 4-5 hours to reach without load, but we almost took up around 09 hours to reach on the top of the cliff where we had planned to set up main Basecamp. After reaching the ‘Harishchandreshwar’ temple of ‘Lord Shiv’, we took his blessings for our expedition & proceeded further to set up a Basecamp on the edge of a cliff. After doing some grass cutting & putting efforts for levelling the earth we had set up a Basecamp.

One can set up a basecamp here as there is enough space is available for placing tents & it is just few meters away from the edge of the cliff/climbing route. One can easily manage their activities from this place. A small water stream is flow over the plateau & one can set up tents beside the stream. In an emergency like rain there is a natural cave carved in by the Mother Nature are few meters away down the site in the midst of the stream that flowing down on the opposite side of the cliff. (In October, at the end of the monsoon season normally the plains at the foothills are quite dry but this place receives rain sometimes)

Self made Tent by Kiran Adfadkar

Self-made equipment:-

In the late 80’s when we were planning for big wall climbing, we found ourselves got stuck due to absence of modern equipment. We were not financially able to buy modern imported equipment, so we decided to make it on our own. Some members of our team are well aware of the metal & able to handle the lathe machine. They have made carabiners, bolts, harness, descender, pulley’s etc. & the equipment have been tested in the laboratory also.

Bolting: Bolt is permanent anchor fixed into a hole 'Drilled' in the rock & this is the method used in various parts of the world. But we choose to do it manually. Our lead climber always fixes the volt while climbing on by making a hole with hammer & centre punch. It takes almost fifteen minutes to half an hour to make a single hole. 

27^th October, 2006

Expedition leader Kiran Adfadkar & selected colleagues wake up early in the morning & started descending down at the foothills of the ‘Kokankada’ by the way of ‘Nalichi Vaat’ (नळीची वाट ) (It is famous among trekkers because of its ever-changing movement of rocks due to monsoon washout). To reach early down the lane they mistook the wrong way & at the end of the day they found themselves unable to reach at the foothills of the cliff in time. So they decided to spend the entire night into the ‘Nalichi Vaat’. As there was no place to fix the tent they spent the entire night in an open & for that night they became amateur astronomer instead of rock climbers. 

28th October, 2006
Since the timetable is already got disturbed due to yesterday’s mess up, today we must have to start the climbing at any cost. So Kiran & colleagues started descending down the ‘Nalichi Vaat’ & reached at the foothills of the Kokankada at around 12 O’Clock. They have set up a makeshift camp here as we might have to spent couple of nights over here. Finally the moment that every climber dreamt is came around. After praising our rock god ‘The Sahyadri’ for accident free expedition, newly trained ‘Manish Pimpale’ as First Man & ‘Rahul Shinde’ as Second Man started the climbing of this most awaited expedition.

Today they got less time for climb, still they got the momentum & in a half day they have almost climbed 300 ft. above of moderate grade & at the end of the day they fixed the rope there & climbed down for night stay.

29th October, 2006
Diwakar Bhatawadekar & Prakash Mhatre geared up them & reached the point where climb was stopped yesterday by Manish. They have successfully climbed up around 850 ft. in a whole day. The first 500 ft. climb was easy & second pitch of 350 ft. climb of a moderate grade. As decided earlier they followed traditional route up to 1150 ft & they found old bolts in between the route, hence it make them easy to gain maximum height in a single day. Now they have reached on the 1150 ft. ledge. It was decided earlier that another basecamp has to be set up over here for ease. But both the climbers reached on the ledge late in the evening, so fixed the rope there & came down for night stay.

30 October, 2006
The first part of the moderate climb by ‘Traditional Route’ was completed, now we were going to realise the toughness of the cliff. There was no need of makeshift camp set up earlier down the cliff, so we tied up everything & the things which were not required sent back to base-camp based on the top. Mangesh Sadare and Prakash Mhatre went to top with unwanted things. Then remaining climbing team reached on the 1150 ft ledge with the help of rope fixed by climbing team yesterday. At the same time Yogesh Sadare & Ashish Palande rappelled down from the top of the cliff to discuss future course of action. After inspecting the whole ledge we thought it would be better to set up a tent over here, so we can save time in jumaring up to the top or rappelling down the cliff every day.

The rock fragment that has accumulated through periodic rock-fall from adjacent cliff face was spread all over the ledge. After pushing down the some rock fragment we managed to make place to set up a tent over here & at the end of the day all the people went up on the top for night stay by jumaring 650 ft. to get some refreshment before facing big challenge as from the next day onwards cliff was going to show its inner colour.

Up to the 1150 ft ledge our strength was not challenged by the cliff. We were little bit nervous as the most difficult part of the cliff is about to start from where most of the earlier expeditions had been failed.

31 October, 2006
The morning came with new hopes. At sunrise everything was luminous but not clear like our plan today. We were little bit anxious as we found ourselves at the same place from where the most of the expeditions failed earlier. But the joy of life comes from our encounters with new experience. To reach somewhere you need to leave something behind. It's best to leave things at the right time otherwise you are left with too many regrets. So it is the right time for us to leave behind the footprints to next generation to follow. Someone said ‘No matter how far a person can go, the horizon is still way beyond you’ but a mankind is never stop to reach new horizon.

With great enthusiasm the climbing team left top basecamp & rappelled down on the 1150 ft. ledge. (One supply rope was formed away from the climbing route to ease the activities between Top basecamp & 1150 ft ledge, it also made easy to replace the climbing teams) Yesterday we had prepared a place to set up tent over here.

Now the artificial climb is about to start as the part of the cliff is stretched out overhangingly over the head. It was going to test our endurance now.

Today Pradip Mhatre started climbing & showed some awesome free moves at the height of 1200 ft. & gained around 200 ft. height above the 1150 ft. ledge. At the end of day he fixed the rope there & climbed down at the 1150 ft. ledge for night stay. Food & water was supplied over the supply line from the top basecamp based over the cliff.

01st November, 2006
Ashish & Yogesh took up the batten from Pradip today. They started climbing up where Pradip had ended yesterday. Now the cliff was started showing its inner toughness. Unfortunately they faced loose rock in between the climbing route. The every bolt they were trying to hammer in was coming out without putting any efforts. Still they try to do their best to keep the momentum but failed again. They got bewildered and found no answer how to gather strength from distress & lost the momentum of the climbing. The night was looking much darker.

02nd November, 2006
Today, Pradip & Avindra met with the same fate that Ashish & Yogesh faced yesterday. We were started thinking about future of the expedition. We started praying that it should not be ended here like earlier expeditions tried by others.

Helpless Pradip & Avindra came down on the 1150 ft. ledge, 2 precious days has wasted without gaining anything. Suddenly the situation became like an emergency. The situation discussed with the expedition leader ‘Kiran’ over the ‘walky’ & then he decided to came down on the 1150 ft. ledge to lead the climb.

03rd November, 2006
You cannot create experience, you must undergo it. And Kiran was the only guy who had most experience in his kitty to override the hurdles like the other climbers faced in the last two days. Kiran took Pradip with him as a second man & started climb up. The bolts were placed by the earlier team were no trustworthy as the rock was very loose. So Kiran brought out an idea from his past experiences. He started hammering the whole 6 inches ‘Centre Punch’ into the rock. After fixing the punch fully into the rock he tied a sling around its neck for anchoring. After asking Pradip a second man to keep ready for belaying, he started going up with same idea. By using this idea he managed to reach up to the ‘Palichi Ledge’ ('पालीची लेज') - The rock was lookalike lizard & lizards Marathi name is ‘Paal’, so it is named as ‘Palichi Ledge’)

After successful ascend over the loose rock section the environment within the camp was became joyful. But our celebration ended in next couple of hours as the returning monsoon washed out the whole camp site. Hence, we had to spend the whole night underneath of a cave. The cave was not such big that we 5 people can accommodate ourselves, we had to spend the night while standing in it. The rain tested our endurance through the whole week & we had to rush continuously towards the cave due to the falling debris & rocks.

04th November, 2006
In last 4 days we had gained around 300 ft height. When looked above the section of the overhang, it was inviting us to play on & there were two roofs waiting for us. In a day Ashish & Yogesh placed 15 bolts & reached up to the overhang.

It was taking too much time to jumaring up from the 1150 ft ledge to reach the place where climbing stopped earlier day. Almost 4-5 hours were getting consumed daily & climbers also getting exhausted by jumaring 300+ feet, that is also away from the rock & in the air. So we had made one floating platform by using bamboo so there weren’t be need to come down on the ledge & climbers can spend the night over the hanging float. But one thing missed out of our mind that weight of the platform. Due to which we could not used it & our efforts gone in vain.

05th to 07th November, 2006
Pradip, Diwakar, Ashish & Yogesh put their efforts & hammered in 35 bolts together on the overhang.

08th November, 2006
Now first roof came across in between our route. Roof is more difficult than overhang to tackle. You have to place the bolt over the head. Infact you have to position yourself parallel to the roof’s rock. But Kiran does the trick & after putting his efforts for the whole day he managed to place 9 bolts & override the roof.

09th November, 2006
Pradip has placed 12 bolts on the overhang & gained moderate height.

Now, everyone has moulded themselves used to the situation & forgot the physical hard work they were doing. Everyone was jumaring 300-400 ft daily & that also away from the rock in the air. After reaching the spot individually placing 10-12 bolts every day. And it was a need of an hour. You cannot waste a time in replacing climber, hence a single climber has to keep the momentum in a day.

10th November, 2006
Kiran started climbing in the morning. Diwakar was belaying for him by attaching himself on a bolt below. Prakash was there on a ‘Paalichi Ledge’ as third man. Kiran was bolting on the last section of the overhang & suddenly a big noise he heard and when he looked there, debris was falling down where Prakash was standing on the ledge. Kiran & Diwakar got scared for Prakash’s safety. When the dust storm calm down, they found that a big rock detached from the cliff & fallen down on the ledge just few meters away from the Prakash & due to the impact our excess rope made into the pieces which was kept on the ledge. The incident delayed the momentum but not the courage of the climbers.

Kiran after receiving the setback started again & almost 09 bolts placed & reached on the‘Sasanyachi Ledge’ (Falcon’s Ledge). Now this was the only point from where you can manage your activity up to the summit. The ledge was not too big; two people are forced to accommodate themselves in rest of the place. There were number of rock fragments detached from the face of the cliff & fell down on the ledge. After moving some rocks Kiran & Diwakar makes the room for climbers to sleep if become necessary. And then came down on the 1150 ft. ledge. Now climbing between 1150 ft ledge up to the ‘Sasanyachi Ledge’ is completed, there was no need of camp on 1150 ft. ledge.

In the morning we had planned to shift this makeshift camp over the Sasanyachi ledge where we reached today. But the sun almost set up for his journey on the opposite side of the globe so we had to kept the things reserve for the next day.

11^th November, 2006

Today we have gathered all our equipment spread across over the 1150 ft.  ledge & marched towards top basecamp. It was decided earlier that if we found any ledge above the 1150 ft ledge the climbing will be managed from top & the new ledge. After finding the ledge all the climbers who were there on the 1150 ft ledge reached on the top by supply rope so that the activities can be managed from top basecamp. Climbing rope was already fixed on the ‘Sasanyachi Ledge’ yesterday. Another end of climbing rope was sent on the top basecamp with the help of supply rope which was placed on the cliff earlier. One end of the climbing rope is brought on top & other end was fixed on the ‘Sasanyachi Ledge’. So, we could send the climbers down in the climbing route by ‘Tyrolienne’ zip line now.

In the afternoon Yogesh and Ashish climb down in the route by ‘Tyrolienne’ zip line. They didn’t get much time but still managed to climb 20 ft height only. In the evening they have been provided food & water from the top basecamp as they had to spend entire night on the ‘Sasanyachi Ledge’ itself.

12^th November, 2006

Yogesh and Ashish wake up early as they didn’t sleep well due to congested space on the ledge. Yogesh started climb early in the morning & after working hard physically able to place around 18 bolts manually in a day & it was the record of the entire expedition. The next day other team was supposed to replace Yogesh & Ashish. To save the time it was decided that in the evening both the climbers will come on top basecamp & other team will go down next morning. But both the climbers were got exhausted due to climbing whole day. So by giving top belay the people from the top basecamp started pulling up the Ashish. But the idea didn’t work smoothly & it took too much time to pull him up, in the meantime the sun has done his trick & submerged behind the mountain.

Now, Yogesh was there on the ledge alone & it was dangerous to pull him up in the entire black out. So it was decided that Yogesh has to spend whole night alone on the ledge itself. The decision was dangerous but instead of pulling him up in the night, it was better to leave him on the ledge attached to the bolt. Basecamp was too tense due to the Yogesh’s security & nobody was slept entire night. As soon as the sun rose up, we were able to contact him on Walky and after hearing that he has no issues, the tension got released.

13th November, 2006

As soon as the Yogesh reached on the top, the other team comprises Kiran, Pradip & Diwakar went down on the ‘Sasanyachi Ledge’ to start the climb. Pradip has started the climb and Kiran was belayer. Climb was going decently & Pradip has gained modest height so the Kiran also changed his position & reached below the Pradip for ease. Both the climbers were in the climbing route & Diwakar was there on the ledge for their help.

In the afternoon, Yogesh from top basecamp communicated to Diwakar who was on the ledge & asked him whether they have seen a big ‘Swarm of Honey Bee’ fly down in the valley. But the climber had no idea, so they kept climbing up in the route. Sometimes after 3 O’clock when Kiran & Diwakar were chatting to each other, Kiran has spotted a big black curtain flying in the air & reaching towards them, actually it was a big ‘Swarm of Honey Bees’ that Yogesh had informed them earlier. When they understood the dangerous situation they are going to face, blood running through their veins changed its pace. Pradip & Kiran were attached to the bolts in the climbing route whereas Diwakar was on the ledge. So, Kiran has took timely decision & asked all of them not to move & be standstill like a statue. They had no protection to keep safe themselves if honeybee attacks on. Time comes to a standstill like there is no tomorrow. Every second was became an hour. In that awkward situation the Swarm fly over the climber’s body, climbers feel their wings rubbing on their body. But luckily the honeybee’s intention was not attack but they were migrating. Kiran’s idea worked out when he instructed everyone not to move any part of the body & just standstill like a statue.

Even after facing such dangerous situation Pradip has placed in 16 bolts manually in a day.

Again in the evening when the team was ready to go up on the top basecamp another incident happened. Pradip stopped the climb in the evening & he was ready to Jumar on the supply rope. The centre of the supply rope was around 100 ft away from the climbing route, so as to come in the line climber has to give himself a swing or either other person has to belay him & release him slowly so can avoid swing. Kiran was belaying Pradip & suddenly Kiran lost his control over the rope & Pradip caught in the swing & he was swinging in different directions. It was dangerous situation as the swing can make the rope damage. But luckily, Pradip was away from the cliff & hence didn’t smash on the rock. And also rope was not damaged. Kiran also burnt his hand due to the rubbing of rope. By escaping from both the situation, team has safely reached on the top basecamp.

14^th November, 2006

After overcame the overhang & one roof under the climbing route, now we could have smelt the success. There was other roof spread its wings in between us & top of the cliff. Yogesh took up the challenge & started bolting on the roof. He fixed a name plate of our club in the route. Up to 3 O’ Clock he placed 15 bolts & overcame the hurdle of the roof. Now there was nobody in between success & Yogesh. The top of the cliff was just a call away from him. But junior members of the club had decided earlier among themselves that only Kiran being a founder of the club & leader of the expedition shall mark his footprints on the cliff first. It was a tribute to Kiran from his pupils. So Yogesh stopped climbing and gave the charge to Kiran.

Kiran started his journey towards unconquered. After marching through the loose rock fragments & scree for around 35 ft, he kept his foot on the top of the cliff. A dream was kept in his heart for long period became reality through sweat, determination and hard work of the team. As someone said ‘All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them’, we also pursued our dream & found the success.

Basecamp Team: Subhash Pandian, Sanjay Redkar, Sandip Rahatval, James, Rajesh Mhadalkar, Amruta Raje, Pravin Ghude, Yogesh Ambre, Rajesh, Harshad. 

After setting up the route, it was followed by one more climbing group from Mumbai in the year 2008 i.e. ‘Sahyadri Adventure Klub’ by adding more bolts into the route. Our club member Ashish Palande helped them to pursuit their dream.   

One group from Pune has claimed that they had followed the route by Alpine form of climbing & their lead climber also won the prize in one of the yearly ‘Sammelan’, but when we enquired it was found that they only reached up to ‘Sasanyachi Ledge’ & retreated. The route is very difficult for Alpine climbers.    

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