Adventures in India

A Madangad trek and climb. Alang Kulang and Madan are almost inseperable names among those familiar with these region. What better way to visit than exploring them all together? Sanjay Joshi and his friends did it and included the nearby Ratangad as well, in this climbing expedition

One of best and undoubtedly the toughest treks in Sahyadri Mountains is Kalsubai - Kulang - Madan - Alang - Ratangad - Katrabai pass - Harischandragad route. I completed this fantastic trek ten years ago. But Madangad eluded me again. I had come for a trek here before but could o­nly see Kulang and Alang. I then came to this range o­n two separate occasions but we managed o­nly Kulang o­n both occasions and Alang o­nly o­nce. Madangad always eluded me, as it involves serious rock climbing. This awesome mountain remained a distant dream for me.

While going towards Nasik from Igatpuri you cannot avoid seeing this spectacular range of mountains near Ghoti o­n your right. Chota Kulang - Kulang - Madan - Alang forms this formidable range. I decided to go with Rohan to Alang for the summer camp organized by Chakram Hikers of Mulund o­n 20th May where Madangad was also planned for selected few.

Sudeep and me started o­n Friday morning and reached Ghatghar by four in the afternoon. We made arrangements for ten porters while going up, for two porters to stay with us and three porters were to come back and join us o­n Monday morning to help us o­n our way back. This was managed with the help of the villagers Dagdu and Devidas. They also agreed to cook our lunch for Monday afternoon.

The ST bus arrived at five in the morning o­n Saturday. The fifty-two member group was a mix of young and old. Rama aged seven was the youngest and Pundekaka aged sixty-five was the oldest! We had Idli and tea for break fast and started the trek. The porters, in spite of carrying twenty kgs o­n their back, were leading the way. As we were climbing from the west, we were in shadow. After climbing the first scree we managed to reach the first level. Then the going was easy for about o­ne and half kms. After reaching o­ne huge cracked rock we turned right and climb started in earnest. Mangesh, Sudeep along with four others went ahead to fix rope and the ladder.

The climb was quite steep. It was very hot but not very humid as the occasional breeze was cooling us. We reached the second level. From here the Alang wall looked awesome! Madangad looked virtually impregnable. Kulang massif also looked spectacular. Here we had lot of time to appreciate the fearsome beauty of these mountains as all of us were waiting for our turn to climb the next twenty-five feet of peculiar rock formation in the vertical wall.

Mangesh had fixed the ladder and it was a slow process to tie o­ne and carefully guiding o­ne up this wall and again untying then the whole process would start again. After climbing this wall and climbing the few steps you see the main gate, an architechral miracle indeed! Unfortunately due to rock fall or probably dynamite blast the door is all closed up. You need to climb above this door by taking a difficult step.

After reaching the upper level the long traverse starts. The trail is very narrow and is clinging to the two hundred feet vertical cliff o­n your right side. The sheer drop o­n your left side makes this trail difficult to negotiate. This area is also prone to rock fall. Huge boulders are lying o­n the trail. This is a quite long trail as you have to almost reach other end of this very big mountain. All of us reached the cave in the cliff by two in the afternoon. The cave is very big and is divided in three rooms! We had khichadi and kadhi for lunch. After resting for some time and had tea at about six. We then went to explore the fort. There is not much to see. Some water citrons and some ancient ruins. Just before the sunset we were standing at extreme end facing Madangad. This fort looked absolutely awesome! The steps o­n the vertical cliff leading to the top could be seen. It was explained to all that o­nly some with prior experience of climbing and rappelling will be taken to this fort.

I had come to this trek with the sole purpose of climbing Madangad. But seeing this mountain from here my resolve dissolved. I thought I would be taking some risk if I went and Rohan insisted o­n coming along. I decided it would be better if we spend the next day o­n Alang! o­ne had to first negotiate a sixty feet wall to come down then traverse Alang to reach the col between Alang and Madan then climb twenty five thirty steps clinging to the vertical rock face then negotiate the small but very exposed traverse and then climb about thirty feet wall to reach upper part and then climb scree and some steps to reach the top! All this had to be done again o­n the way back! The challenge seemed a bit too much!

We had pav-bhaji for dinner. Some of us went for a stroll and had a good look around. It was almost full moon and vista around us was magnificent! The fog had engulfed the valleys around us. The mountain tops were o­nly visible. It was impossible to capture this dream-like scene in camera. We went to sleep.

We got up at five thirty am and had a cup of tea. Mangesh, Sudeep and Aniket asked me to go along with them. Rohan also was very keen o­n going! I debated with myself. I knew that it was now or never! I could always stop if going got impossible to negotiate. Mangesh, Sudeep and Mahesh were the experts. They believed in my capacity more than me! I decided to join for this thrilling experience. We had upma and tea for break fast and packed a small rucksack for our climbing equipment and water bottle. We also took some food with us.

We reached the first hurdle in ten minutes. There was a small cave where we put o­n the seat harness and waited for our turn to rappel down about sixty feet. Three boys were sent back as they could not negotiate this. We started o­n the traverse and again had to climb down about ten feet of rock with the help of wire fixed there. We reached the col and rested for awhile. Now we started o­n the traverse o­n Madangad. After climbing about twenty five steps we had to negotiate some very exposed traverse. The cliff was now o­n our left side. The drop o­n the right side was fearsome. Mangesh, Aniket and Mahaeh were standing o­n top. Sudeep, Ameya were at the starting point. There was hardly enough space to stand. Rohan climbed this superbly. For the first timer he really did well.

This was quite an experience for me. Mangesh was guiding me from the top and Sudeep was cheering me up from down. It was a tricky climb. The holds were tiny and my weight was a problem but my height came in handy and I managed to accomplish this climb. We reached up and went further. After some scree, we had to climb many steps to reach the top. This mountain had eluded me o­n my previous attempts. Untimely rains, lack of time, lack of proper equipments and expertise were the reasons for not being o­n top of this awesome mountain. At last I reached the top of Madangad!

Our first batch was already o­n the way back. We found some cold water. We reached the cave and had some food. We spent some time seeing the spectacular view around. Many mountains can be seen from the top. Aajoba, Kalsubai, Ratangad, Avandh, Patta to name a few. We had no time to relax as job was o­nly half done! We had to still go back. Descending this mountain was even more difficult as you can see the sheer drop of about two thousand feet just beyond your feet. We reached the last hurdle of sixty feet rock face in about twenty minutes. Here again we had to wait for our turn. We had two set ups here. o­ne could either climb or use jumar to climb. I preferred this and after the initial struggle went up.

Aarohi had some problems negotiating this climb and Mahesh who was using jumars to climb helped her o­n the way. Sukhada also found it very tough to climb even with help of a jumar. MB was climbing with help of jumar and tried to help her in a very awkward manner. Aniket had to pull his rope towards Sukhada's rope and he had to go beyond the wall. He could not see what was happening o­n the wall. Everybody was giving instructions and there was chaos! We could not resist laughing at all this from the top. Mangesh then had to go down and help her climb this wall.

We reached the relative safety of our cave by four. We had dal fry, rice and puranpoli. We had a refreshing cup of tea and observed the setting sun cast its magical glow o­n the surrounding mountains. I will never forget this sight. I congratulated Rohan and other small boys and girls for completing this fantastic feat! We had pulav, raita and papad for dinner. We assembled o­n the flat rock near water for camp fire. As there was dry grass all around us and wind was also blowing we did not light the fire! We celebrated by singing lot of songs and had a very good time. We had kesar milk and went to sleep at around o­ne am . It was quite a fun!

We had planned for an early start. We got up at five thirty and had kanda poha and tea for break fast. MB, Sudeep and Aniket were to remain and wind up the camp. We started at around eight. Mangesh along with his daughter was first to go.

The weather was perfect and we reached that rock patch within no time! But all of us had to wait for our turn to go down. We had to sit o­n the steps and wait for nearly two hours. After about an hour we had a scare of bees. Twenty five thirty bees kept o­n humming noisily around us. We covered ourselves as best as we could and waited. After some time they went away. o­nly after we reached down we realized the enormity of this calamity. Although o­nly twenty five thirty bees reached us, the members standing down could see thousands of them hovering like a black cloud around us. Fortunately nothing happened!

A group of fourteen had already gone ahead. We waited in the fierce sun for another batch of fourteen of us to come down and after o­ne of the load bearers came down, we also started our way down. We spent some time negotiating the scree at lower level but managed to reach Ghatghar by two in the afternoon. Our ST bus had already arrived and our lunch also awaited us. First we took a bath. All were quite hungry and we had a heavy lunch. Now all we had to do was to wait for others.

It was four thirty and still the count was o­nly twenty eight! ST driver and conductor were upset about the delay. We offered them lunch. Then Aniket and Manas arrived. They had taken a wrong turn and had wasted quite some time. They were quite shocked to see that others had not arrived. By five Rohan arrived. By five thirty all reached safely. Shamangi, Mangesh's wife and Bapumama Thorat had taken a wrong turn. Rama was quite anxious to see her parents but was blissfully asleep when they arrived. Everybody freshened up and had lunch. All of us then packed our rucksacs quickly. The luggage was then loaded o­n rooftop. The porters were paid. We also paid for cooking our lunch. We thanked Dagdu and Devidas for their help. We started from Ghatghar by around six. We would be reaching Mulund by twelve thirty . We decided to stop at o­ne dhaba and had dinner around nine thirty. Rohan & I got down at Kalyan phata and reached home by midnight . Bus reached Mulund at twelve fifteen and the summer camp was over.

I had some time after lunch. I thought about these mountains, about the history of these mountains, the people who built these magnificent mountain forts particularly those who built the staircase o­n these extremely dangerous cliffs, the people who ruled here and also the people who took the trouble of blasting the difficult ways making the forts inaccessible! I was o­nce again amazed by our capacity to negotiate the tough challenges. I am thankful to Chakram Hikers and Mangesh, Sudeep, Mahesh, Aniket, MB in particular for helping all of us to reach the top of these mountains.

It was a memorable trek indeed!

Article by Sanjay