30th January 2011, 09:20
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| BHPian  Join Date: May 2007 Location: GardenCity
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| Bangalore Aavalakonda Annual OTR 2011 | Participants Report Guys, I had a Great Time on Friday 28th Jan 2011, Got to meet many New people & greet some familiar ones. It all started up with a line up after Hebbal Fly over. Was pleasantly surprised to see many vehicles at the spot ON-TIME, post checkin the first group was quickly flagged off, Pritivi was leading the group, we drove in formation till the turn post Kamath hotel, we continued The route, leaving a Jeep at every turn to guide people coming later. I had put up a T Brick at some small dirvation & made a Tire stand in the road to indicate diversion (where SV Santosh & I Met up), later arrived at the cam site, registered again to get Jackets & stickers, parked the ride, had breakfast it was very delicious (was starving since 5:00 AM to 10:00 AM) Idly Vada Sambar & Chetni with Coffee.           After some waiting the first batch left, led by our Shepherd Giri in his Red Classic. Every participant was given one liter Pulpy Orange & 2 bottles of water wih a lunch pack (Veg Pullov with a little curd side dish), a Garbage bag & thus began the trail on a Bright Sunny Friday morning.  The trial entrance was narrow & bush polish to all wide body vehicles! The first Obstacle was a tricky Z decent & a much higher Z Ascent, My Bro Shiv broke his rear bumper right at the beginning as he did not place the wheels correctly & The 410 just Thud fell in a V Rut.  Just could not beleave the way this LWB was driven / belted up !! Watch for the Leg Nice Modded Gypsy Lovely Red 550 My Bro & his MG410 Cougar SWB: TigerStripes: CL500 & UBS Sir: Wolf (What a lovely driver!) & his Green 550: Me & the Tank: The second Obstacle was a quite a easy one that climbed on to a rock face, it was trick as the vehicle would loose traction on diagonal wheels on mid of the climb. A petrol jeep had hard time climbing it. but its engine sounded so very smooth, we waited to sew the TLC do it but it led by a an other mm550 avoided the obstacle.  Shiv: TLC: PetrolJeep: CL500: The Third one was a Steep decent, I was kind of confused here by to marshals who seem to be recommending to do opposite things! (at least thats how I read them) so later backed-up & approached it in a better angle. the tricky part was that added to the step decent, it had 2 steep steps near the ending & a sharp right immediately, all throughout had small loose boulders too. Cougar SWB: Me: The fourth one was a real bummer!! any one who DID NOT listen to the marshals, & believe Me there were many such super human I-Will-Do-What-I-Want-You-Buzz-Off types, Seriously wonder why people cannot even listen!! Giri and his red Classic was anchored on top of the obstacle ready to winch many who could not make it all the way to the top, The challenge here was that the terrain has a steep Ascend, the slope at the start is not the same in the middle nor at the top, especially near the first 1/3 rd and the 2nd 1/3 area intersection the angle is such that your vehicle will inevitable skid to LSH and the loose mud surface has very less traction too. the second part intersection has a very big boulder on the LHS & if you clear the slippery Ditch & the boulder you will make it to the top. Many vehicles were winched, some I climbed on The top RHS & helping it to ge traction on the RHS, on the last such endeavor, the driver even after repeated shoutings, pleadings, just rubbed me on the RHS bushes, after clearing the obstacle, leaving me with scratches on left elbow & on my back :( The TLC Parado was completely trashed by bushes on the side & now the RASH Gunning of it & hence landing on the ditch & then later wheel stuck to the boulder, we had to use 2 winches to pull it up, what a Mess that could have been easily avoided, only if some patience & guidance was put to use!    Cougar SWB: Me Crawls Up: My Bro: Bro Winched Out, Thanks Giri: Later I left, so do not know what happened here, we reached the lake side Lunch spot, had lunch, slept for a while but still no sign of others, learnt over the wireless that a Jeep had toppled, we continued our wait.     Anaconda's taking a Nap @ Avalakonda  Almost 2 hours now Later we know an other has toppled now MP Sir wants to go back & check on it, I offer him a Drive, we reach the Spot to see a MM550 lying on its left side, many fluids had drained, The TLC Then winched a Jeep, it was too much for the winch, some weird sounds, winching Issues, so they left the spot. For the first time I saw recovering a fallen jeep, pretty simple pretty effective, some one was mentioning its called snap recovery I doubt if it is!!, later some confusion if other Jeeps down need to avoid the obstacle or continue, Some marshals asking to back off but the participants persistent to try, the fallen 550 was pushed back, the other jeeps almost 10 of them came up, some needed help & I toed them with the Gurkha from top with 2 toe ropes, later left the spot as Arka was with the fallen 550 repairing it & Dwarak was leading others from the lunch spot. The mm550:     Others who lisetned to the Marshals & made it safe to the top:    Reach the lunch spot (almost 3 hours lost now) asked Robby what the plan is, but he was waiting for other marshals to com in, we sat around for a while but it was 5:10 pm & will quickly get dark, no one at the lunch spot now knew the route to base-camp or had a wireless! so drew back again to the obstacle, told the marshals that 20+ jeeps are waiting at lunch spot, immediately, Vijay readdy was sent with me to lead the guys, more Chennai guys who cleared the obstacle followed us to the lunch place & we all left form there to the base camp clearing one more obstacle, a steep down followed by a decent climb both were a S type ones, by now Dwarak sir and others were also giding the way back, Gypsy Boy was at the exit to main road place. Me @ the 5th Obstacle Shiv: Later we reach the camp, by now I had inhaled lots of dust, didn't take any snakes (My Bad first time) had a pulsing headache. reached the camp site, we were welcome by RED-CARPET  nicely laid out tents, beds, gen set, reception type tables & chars, hot tea & biscuits were served, but my head was increasing with every kind of smell I inhaled, ( I think it my issue, i cannot tolerate any smell, good or bad like perfume, deodorants, room/car freshener, cigarets, alcohol, old bedding & diesel ) its too cold too, so I decided to leave & my Cousin Naren joined me, My Bro Shiv & other Cousin Raju stayed back. (I know Raju would have cursed me for ditching him!!, I just couldn't take it & stay bak ), we left, later hit the high way & then had good food at home, crashed to the bed. 2nd days story, I dont know I was not there.Cheers Sunil PS: All of the above is to the best of my knowledge and honest personnel opinion, I am sure others will have their own version of he story & are welcome to share. |
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30th January 2011, 10:56
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| Team-BHP Support   | Re: Bangalore Aavalakonda Annual OTR 2011 | Participants Report Thanks Sunil for the excellent report. Since I was among the last group on first day, I missed all the action in the front. In fact, our entire last group was in the danger of missing the topple point obstacle because some people made it look too dangerous by not listening to marshals. Actually, it was not as dangerous as the 3-4 hour wireless report depicted. Fortunately, marshals finally decided to allow us when we all showed up. Everyone is the last group climbed in single attempt.  It was a wonderful OTR, excellent arrangements, kudos to the Organization team. |
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30th January 2011, 11:59
| #3 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 270
Thanked: 18 Times
| Re: Bangalore Aavalakonda Annual OTR 2011 | Participants Report It was a wonderful experience. Excellent arrangements, very well organized. I was looking for some ideas and suggestions for building my MM540. I was flooded with the ideas. It was a great opportunity to meet all Gurus and excellent drivers. It’s not an easy job to manage such a huge group,  to all Marshalls, Organizers and to all who supported them.Thank you all. Team-BHP rocks. |
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30th January 2011, 12:09
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30th January 2011, 13:10
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| BHPian  | Re: Bangalore Aavalakonda Annual OTR 2011 | Participants Report Amazing.. I am Speechless.. And Pics are also Amazing.. |
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30th January 2011, 13:12
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| Team-BHP Support  Join Date: May 2004 Location: Bangalore
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30th January 2011, 13:13
| #7 |
| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Bangalore
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30th January 2011, 13:29
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30th January 2011, 13:37
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30th January 2011, 13:41
| #10 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Bangalore
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| Re: Bangalore Aavalakonda Annual OTR 2011 | Participants Report Quote:
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30th January 2011, 15:39
| #11 |
| Team-BHP Support | |
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30th January 2011, 16:41
| #12 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Bangalore
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| Re: Bangalore Aavalakonda Annual OTR 2011 | Participants Report Quote:
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30th January 2011, 17:23
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30th January 2011, 17:38
| #14 |
| BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: GardenCity
Posts: 261
Thanked: 26 Times
| Re: Bangalore Aavalakonda Annual OTR 2011 | Participants Report Some More pics:                              Most pics taken by My Colleague Narasimha & my Cousins Raju & Narender Thanks to them you can see the above Cheers Sunil |
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30th January 2011, 18:08
| #15 |
| BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: GardenCity
Posts: 261
Thanked: 26 Times
| Re: Bangalore Aavalakonda Annual OTR 2011 | Participants Report Some More pics including Day2 that my Bro & Cousin Raju captured:                              My Bro is MIGHTY Happy that his MG410 climbed the Hill, he was missing it badly, post 2010 Avalakonda return where only 6 Jeeps got to the top. Cheers Sunil |
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