[ruzbehxyz]

Trekking in the Sahyadris especially around Mumbai, Pune and Nashik has become very common now with numerous trekking groups and clubs.
I had started trekking in the Sahyadris in the 90’s and covered many hill forts and mountains. The travel to base villages were by ST buses (Lal dabba) or using bigger rickshaws called ‘Tamtam’. Overnight camping was at the base village (temple / school) and camping on top of the hill was in caves or tents. During the return if you miss the last ST bus, you may never get transport and have to wait for the next day bus. Mobile networks were rare and only BSNL worked in roaming. Those were the days in rural Maharashtra.

Out of the numerous treks that I did, two such events which were an adventure of its kind were done by me in the year 2004. This was
1) Valley crossing and rappelling at Lingana fort.
2) Valley crossing and rappelling at Jivdhan fort.

Although such expeditions are getting common nowadays with more sophisticated equipment and training, back in 2004, it was a different ball game.

The valley crossing between Railing plateau and Lingana fort was of 1020 feet using “Flying Fox” method. It was the longest in India at that time and the second longest in the world. Read on.


Newspaper cutting.

8th April 2004 had 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.

The Concept: In 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 climb, 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 and 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 500 feet. 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 (at that time) 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 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.



About Lingana fort: Lingana fort was built by Shivaji Maharaj to secure central Konkan. Under the Marathas, Lingana was used as a penal settlement. The fort got its name from its shape which is like a “Linga”. Due to its impregnability, Lingana Fort was used to keep prisoners under the Maratha reign. The prisoners were confined to rock dungeons with one dungeon holding 50 prisoners. Lingana was captured by a Colonel Prother in 1818. The British destroyed the rock cut steps and made the fort inaccessible. It remained unclimbed till Dec.1978, when a group of trekkers under Hira Pandit of Holiday Hikers Club made a successful summit to this fort.


The Triple Thrill Program: Finally 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 was about 3 hours 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 basics of Rock 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 feet 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 125 feet rock climb higher on the pinnacle. This was conducted with proper technical support. After the rock climb, the participants rappelled 125 feet 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 col 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 was flashed 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 hoped to receive a favourable response.

Kudos to Arun Sawant, Dhumketu Trekkers and all the participants who made this event an adventurous and memorable one.

Please ignore the quality of the photos, as they were taken from one of those old film cameras.


Me doing the valley crossing.



Dinesh doing the activity.



Filling water from local caves. It was purer than any mineral water.



The trek.



The group.



Dinesh & myself assisting the team.



View of the mountains.



Lingana fort pinnacle.



Dinesh with the organizers and few support team.



Dinesh & myself near our tent.



The campsite.



The campsite.


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.
• Number of batches & participants : 5 batches with a total of 167 people completed the Valley Crossing (140 participants & 27 guest members).
• Number 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.


Certificate.

[ruzbehxyz]

The Second event is this.

Event: The Jivdhan-Khadaparshi Valley Crossing & Rappelling Program.
Trek to Jivdhan Fort via Naneghat (3754ft / 1144 mtrs).
Valley Crossing : Jivdhan to Khada Parsi Pinnacle (200ft).
Rappelling : Khadaparshi Pinnacle (400ft).
Date : 18th, 19th & 20th February, 2004.


The Organising / Support Team : The Jivdhan-Khada Parsi 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 and Sandeep had climbed the Khada Parsi 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.


Source: Trekshitiz. Plan view of Jivdhan and Khada Parsi.

About Jivdhan fort: The Jivdhan Fort can be traced back to Maharashtra’s first dynasty, The Satavahanas. The history goes back to the time when King Gautamiputra Satkarni destroyed the Sakas and established Satavahana dominance over the region by building trade passes and forts all across the Sahyadris. Naneghat served as an important trade pass, joining the sea to the mainland and was thus a major commercial point. The fortifications of Jivdhan offered protection to Naneghat. Even today one can see a toll collection vessel called 'Ranjan' at the caves.

At a later time in 1635, the last ruler of the Nizam Shahi dynasty, Murtaza Shah III, was held captive at Jivdhan until he was eventually freed by Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s father, Shahaji Maharaj.
Later the British captured the fort during the Anglo-Maratha War of 1818 and destroyed most of the approaches as well large parts of the structure. The west gate was blocked with a large stone.

Further reading: https://gazetteers.maharashtra.gov.i...places_j.html#.



The Toll tax collection called "Ranjan", at Naneghat.


About Vanar lingi / Khada Parsi pinnacle: The pinnacle of Jivdhan fort is called Vanar Lingi and stands about 400 feet from its base. Vanar = monkey & Lingi = Pinnacle. Some old time Rock climbers also named it "Khada Parsi", as the peak resembles an old Parsi gentlemen standing. This pinnacle was the first major artificial climb in Maharashtra. This pioneering feat was achieved by Charuhas Joshi, Sanjay Borole, Sunil Mohile & Bharat Hadkar in 1983. In 2010, rebolting was done of the pinnacle to assist future rock climbs. In all 77 bolts were placed.


Our story: Dinesh and myself had already registered for this program since the dates were declared. On our day, 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 phata 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 at the start of the steps climbed through 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.At the Base Camp. The view from here is very good. Just before the entrance there is a near vertical rock patch. We negotiate this with utmost care and reach the entrance. We then climbed ahead and reached the remants of a granary (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. Overnight was inside the cave.


In the forest.



Broken steps.



Entry point to the granary.


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 towards Naneghat) 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 had been completely blown off by the British and the entrance is also a bit yticky to negotiate. One also has to pass through 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 inside the caves. 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).

I went of first and I did my valley crossing at around 10am. Hemant Rao checked my gear at the final point and pushed 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. Finally 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 anchored. Gosh! What a place to be on. Affter about 10 min., I was moved onto another side of the pinnacle from where we had to rappel down. 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 descended towards Naneghat. Reached Naneghat caves 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.


Geared up for the activity.



The crossing.



Rappelling down and view of Khada Parsi top.



Rapellling down.



Rapelling down.



The base of the pinnacle & col betwen Jivdhan and Khadaparshi.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[travelling owl]

Dont you guys get scared with the heights? I have vertigo and seeing the pictures already gives me shivers Is rapelling a good sport/activity to fight fear of heights?

[ex-innova-guy]

Once again an adventurous and unique thread Captain Ruzbeh! Did rappelling twice during my boarding school days somewhere around Malavli (near Lonavala) and nothing like doing it during rainy seasons.

Thanks for sharing and the pictures are very nostalgic. I wish I had similar pictures too!

[AseemYadav]

I am loathe to do any kind of adventure activity in India. Considering the chalta hai and callous attitude towards everything including safety, I do not think it's a risk worth taking.

[xsrahul]

Thank you for sharing these amazing feats.

Words cannot describe the thrill from reading this for myself as a passionate (though probably now unfit) trekker and adventure seeker.

Maharashtra and in particular the western ghats make you feel ‘small’ and give one a mirror to what is really the persons significance in the grand universe.

I just wished this was shared a couple of decades earlier so that I could have participated

Cheers!

[ninjatalli]

Nice report @ruzbehxyz. Brings back memories from nearly 20 years ago, when I did a similar rappelling + valley crossing event in Malshej ghat. We were a group of 20 odd members arriving at a village on Nasik side and then trekking to the rappelling point with the full moon (night) assisting us. Rapelling was a two section event starting off in the morning, with a midway halt on a small-ish cliff and the last leg being a short valley crossing to the end point. And then we had to trek back to another village on the Mumbai side where we were treated to an excellent but simple village meal after which we just hitched rides from any passing vehicle back to our respective destination (Mumbai or Pune).

Don't have pictures like you do but the memories are still lodged somewhere in the brain. Your post/thread just brought them out. Best un-expected benefit of our trip was riding on the top of (somewhat empty) trucks for free while going up the Malshej ghat. Beat the heck of doing that in your own car/bike!

Edit: Now I think about it, I believe the event was done during the last quarter of 2004. What a coincidence!

[vimalvittaladas]

Really, hats off to you. How you can survive the single snap of what lies beneath. I am having the issue of vertigo, so even a leap from first floor of a building gives me shivers.
Keeping all those apart, really appreciate your courage and enthusiasm.

[Dodge_Viper]

Didn't know this was attempted way back in 2004. I think after this it was stopped as when I had gone to Jivdhan and Rayling Plateau it was not there. However recently they have started Jivdhan valley crossing and just few weeks back they successfully did the Rayling crossing as well.

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by Dodge_Viper

Didn't know this was attempted way back in 2004. I think after this it was stopped as when I had gone to Jivdhan and Rayling Plateau it was not there.

Any group(s) who does such activities start it and wind up. They don’t keep the gear and ropes permanently because of wear and tear of the gear. Before every event, the gear has to be set up for the activity and then taken off. The only thing that remains is the bolts in the pinnacle which are a sort of a permanent fix. The rebolting of Vanar Lingi was done in 2010.

Read here: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/tr...rlingi/594333/

However recently they have started Jivdhan valley crossing and just few weeks back they successfully did the Rayling crossing as well.

Many groups are doing such activities in the Sahyadris at different locations. eg. the above two, Konkan Kada rappelling etc. However in 2004, things were different with not so sophisticated gear and lesser trained people. Even logistics was a challenge as movement from one place to another was by local transport.

[ruzbehxyz]

This video explains how the Jivdhan - Khada Parsi activity is done, except that the valley crossing technic is different.

https://youtu.be/a758Jil_X3s?si=9-tyn8vYiFk7FtBV