Day 1, 25th Dec 09: After an eventful night journey in a tempo traveller, which involved a 3-hour delay and an exhausted driver who had to wake himself up occasionally, we were ready to start our trek for Alang, Madan, and Kulang forts.
The road head was a village named Ambevadi(Igatpuri,Nashik. Its location is in the middle of the mountains. You step out of the vehicle and are immediately surrounded by a typical Sahyadri vista – Tall, rocky cliffs and outcrops interspersed with dry yellow winter grass of the winter.
We started the approach at around 10.30a.m. The plan for the day was to reach the top of Alang fort. The initial route was along a trail along the base of the mountain, through deciduous vegetation and karvi grass. After around three hours of walking, we reached the first few stairs that would lead us to the steep rocky sections the fort is so famous for.
Climbing up the stairs that were cut into the rock, we could see a line of trekkers climbing down the first rock patch. Soon enough, we were at the base of the very same patch. Considering the long queue that had already formed there, we took a break in an adjoining cave and had our lunch there.
This first rock patch was quite simple but had a considerable gradient. SS and ss set up the rope and I was asked to start climbing. I climbed, but with my rucksack on, I had some difficulty pulling myself up at the last step. So at that point, I was hauled up by ss and I finally made it to top of the section(which is at the base of the stairs leading to the next rock patch).
Here again, we ran into other groups that were climbing this second section. So we waited for our turn while SS and ss set up the rope aagin. There was a ledge nearby and it was wide enough for 8-10 people. This became our pit stop and we spent quite some time just looking around the valley and clicking pictures.
This second rock patch was 50 feet long and difficult to climb for the lead climber. The local people, who are generally hired by trekking groups to work as porters as well as route guides(vatadya), generally do all the lead climbing. They don’t even use a harness (that would make it free soloing?). They just hold the rope and almost run to the top. Amazingly fearless!
I put on my harness, clipped the carabiner in the rope and was put on belay. Since I was supposed to be one of the better trained people in the group, I was told that I wouldn’t have the luxury of being hauled up from the top. I managed to climb easily until the last 2 moves. Here, my hands gave up and I had to be pulled up by the belayer at the top.
There’s a wide ledge at the top of this patch where the anchors are set up and adjoining the ledge is a cave.
It took considerable time till the last person of the group was inside this cave. Now only the last few stairs remained to be climbed before we reached the top of the fort. These were deep cut stairs and have an exposure on one side, which made the climb a bit unsafe, especially because the heavy pack on my back could push my body away from the rock wall. Though the group ahead of us opted to go without a rope, we chose the safer way and within 10 mins, everyone was on the top.
The top of Alang is a huge plateau(1260m on my barometric watch) with caves in the center of it. The remnants of the fort are on a small hillock on the top of the caves. The caves were already occupied by trekkers who had arrived before us. So the plateau leading to the caves became our tea-point. Before the tea was ready, we witnessed a beautiful sunset. I was entranced by the dark, deep orange colors! Shutters kept fluttering as I did my best capture those sinking moments on the electronic medium.
Summing up day 1: A moderate walk in the beginning. Its impossible to climb the 50ft rock patch without technical aid. Here, I would like to point out that all the hard work was done by our leaders – Sachin sir, Sagar sir, Suresh sir and of course, the local people. After the rope was set up and we were clipped into it, all we had to do was to pull ourselves up. In the case of newbees, it was simpler – they were given a chest harness and hauled up by the people above. Frankly, I didn’t have to do any real rock climbing. If you go as a part of a big group, the obvious priorities are safety and speed. There’s little scope for trial and error. If you want to do real climbing, you should go in an alpine style or you should be experienced enough to serve as the lead climber of the big trekking groups. I would like to do these climbs again, in a smaller group setup, where I’ll have to be responsible for my own climbing and safety. Nonetheless, I enjoyed my Alang experience. The sheer exposure gave me a thrill and I got the opportunity to negotiate tricky terrain, which is not common on many of the other popular treks.
We spent until 9 pm on the plateau, where the dinner was cooked. For the night stay, we moved to the caves. There were around 50 people on the fort and all of us were now accommodated inside the caves. The caves were HOT due to the lack of wind and the fire that was set up by other groups. I didn’t have to use my sleeping bag.I used it as my bedding and didn’t even have to wear any woolen clothing.
Though the crowd annoys me, seeing such a large number of people on the AMK trek(supposedly the most difficult in the Sahyadris) was a good indication. Pune and Mumbai has a fabulous population of mountain lovers. There are numerous groups or organizations you can join to start going on treks on a regular basis..or at a later stage, you can just form a group of like-minded and experienced friends and hike the mountains with them.
Day 2: I had had a hard time catching sleep the previous night, thanks to a choked nose and an extremely uneven ground surface (I hadn’t carried a sleeping pad). I got up at 6a.m. Very few people were up and I took advantage of darkness to answer nature’s call.
There are more than one benefits to waking up early in the mountains. An important one is from a photographer’s perspective. The mountains look wonderful in the rising and the setting sun and the light conditions are ideal for clicking pictures. I spent some time sitting alone on the plateau, looking around and breathing in the cold air. On the west, I could see Ghatghar backwaters and Ratangad fort. On the east, Avandha and Patta forts were visible, along with Kalsubai peak.
After a while, I had to run to the top of the caves to catch the rising sun. Through the lens at least, the sunrise seemed more beautiful than the previous evening’s sunset.The reflections in the water looked fantastic.
We started the descent at 9.30am but spend a lot of time climbing down the stairs.
The plan was to climb Madan fort and then immidiately head to Kulang to stay for the night. We went till the pass between Alang and Madan. But here, we found out that there were around 40 climbers ahead of us, still on the top of the rock and traverse patch of Madan fort. This was supposed to be a very thrilling part of the AMK trek and we didn’t want to miss the fun. But the technical difficulties meant that waiting for our turn to climb along the traverse and the vertical rock rocky section would have consumed a lot of time. So it seemed that we had no option but to cut short our plan for the day. Between of Madan and Kulang, it was possible to climb only one fort that day. A vote was taken for the two forts and quite expectedly, the four(me, Satya, Ajinkya and a few others) us lost.
It was decided that we skip Madan and head to Kulang instead. When people voted for Kulang, they had mistakenly assumed that the lack of a technical climb would mean an easy approach to the top of the fort. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. From the pass, we made a straight descent into the valley, which involved scrambling through a lot of loose rocks and stones. It was quite tricky and our minds had to be on the alert mode all the while. Once we get down into the valley, we traversed to and along the base of Kulnag. This traversing took 2 hours and finally, we arrived at the base of the ridge that would lead us to the top.
There was a bifurcation in the trail and we came across a tree that was serving as a route indicator. From here, it was a bloody steep path up the ridge. We kept going up, up and up. In the last section, we had to climb deep-cut, vertical steps, again with an exposure on one side. I felt the steps would have been easy, had it not been for the rucksack. The rucksac was shifting my centre of gravity outside. Anyway, after an almost non-stop climb up the ridge(I admit to taking just one break), there we were, on top of Kulang!!
I must say, this climb was very satisfying. The exhaustion felt like detoxification of my body. I had been disappointed initially, when the group decision was to skip Madan in favor of Kuland. But Kulang had also turned out to be a lot of fun!
On reaching the top, I took a headside ‘dubki’ in the water cistern.
We then went around the plateau to look for firewood. We came across other water cisterns on the fort and again witnessed a gorgeous sunset.
An hour later, everyone had reached the top(1390m) and it was time for a hot brew. There was only one cave on the fort(the other one was not habitable because the newspapers sticking to the ground made it look creepy) and it was again already occupied. Kulang was hosting around 60 people that day.So we spent the time till dinner on the plateau, listening to survival stories from ss. Later, I put my earphones on and scribbled away in my diary. It felt good. The wind lashing my face, the music in my ears, the darkeness – this is what I had come here for. Unlike on Alang, it was very windy up here.
The night stay in the cave was extremely uncomfortable. It was crammed with people. I got the innermost spot beside the wall. It was HOT. I coudn’t sleep due to the constant chatter around me and woke up to a mouse beside my head!
Next morning, the climb down the fort involved negotiating the steps with extreme caution. The walk to Ambevadi consisted of a lot of walking and scrambling down scree and steps and I liked it very much. After around 3-4 hours, we hit the tar road, where our tempo traveller came up to pick us up.
All in all, it had been an excellent trek. The mountains here were majestic. I have been around Sahyadri before. But I liked the mountain shapes here more – they were just vertical and in your face. It was also an ideal place for photography. I experimented a lot this time and learnt a few new techniques. Some time in the near future, I am coming here again. Madan awaits!
Many thanks to Suresh Polekar sir, Sachin Gaikwad sir, Sagar sir and the local people, who kept us safe, cooked delicious food, and carried heavy loads for us.
The return journey was not eventless either – see the pictures.
- sorting of the climbing gear
- busted
To Wonder & Wander 
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