To Wonder & Wander

There is a great benefit to being associated with an activity for a considerable amount of time, no matter how good or bad you are at it. You start belonging to a community that values, nurtures and encourages your interest in that activity. Go any place and you end up finding friends or friends’ friends, ready to take you in, as a result of that bond.

I found myself in Pune for a month, for a work trip, and it was inevitable that I would end up climbing rocks on weekends. Sadly, I don’t have any pictures to show off from climbing in Pune; but on one of the Saturdays, I got into a Mumbai-bound bus to meet and climb with my friend Archana. I was at her house by lunchtime. Archana, her elder brother Milind and their friend Dinesh would take me to Belapur the next day for some climbing.

To quote from the description of the place on Rockclimbing.com,

“CBD Belapur is an extension of Parsik hills that has been explored and developed as climbing and bouldering site. There are lots of bouldering routes ranging from V1 to V8 opened at the site. There are a some bolted sport routes as well ranging from 5a to 7b. The area has been host to open international bouldering and lead climbing competition and artificial bouldering as well.”

More information on how to reach : http://www.rockclimbing.com/routes/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/CBD_Belapur/

CBD Belapur has long been popular among Mumbai climbers for its suitability for rock climbing. The hillocks here have huge boulders and walls ideal for climbing. Access is easy too (we drove in a car). Members of Girivihar, the famous Climbing/Trekking/Mountaineering organisation based out of Mumbai, routinely conduct their rock climbing camps in this area and initiate people in this fabulous activity.

http://girivihar.org/category/rc-camp/

We parked our car at the base of the hill. We started walking through the village and within half an hour, were some way up the hill, around where boulders lay in our wait. All the routes on these boulders were bolted. We had our own rope, belay devices and other climbing paraphernalia. We were planning to attempt two routes in the next 3 hours that we had to us.

I wanted to attempt a lead climb that day. It had been ages since I had done that. In fact, it had been a long time since my last outdoor climbing session and the rock here, Deccan Basalt, felt good. With Milind as my belayer, I started to climb. I could not make much progress that day. I had a fall at the second move itself. I made it till the first clip, took a fall, climbed again and made it  some way past the first clip but could not proceed further. Milind was the next person to attempt it. I belayed him while he smoothly made it past all the clips and topped the route. Phew! The route was now ready for climbing on the top rope.

Archana, Dinesh and I then climbed the route on the top rope. It was a good practice session for me as a belayer that day.

We then moved our gear to the route adjacent to the first one and this time, Dinesh opened it. This route was fairly easier than the first but it was fun enough.

Towards our left, in some distance, we could hear climbing calls from Girivihar climbers who regularly practise on the rocks here. They were climbing very difficult routes and we spent the next half an  hour watching them climb and chatting up with some of our friends in that group.

It was a Sunday morning very well spent! I was in Maharashtra’s hilly terrain after a year’s time and it had felt really nice to be in the hills, surrounded by bush, trees and the grass, with views of cliffs and boulders around us (albeit hidden behind the vegetation as the season was immediately post monsoon). At the top of both of the routes, I had wished that I had a camera clipped to my harness so that I could have captured the beautiful sight visible from that vantage point.

I returned to Pune the same evening, with more plans to climb here on my next trip.