It must be some time in 1986, that I wanted to lead my first
climb. The options were Telbaila Right wall right route or the Pinnacle of Dhak
Bahiri. Both offered around 100 ft of climbing. Equipment was scarce and I
owned 150 ft of Garware rope, 1 Ice hammer and 5 carabiners (Steel) and 3
flimsy harnesses.
I had first climbed it with ‘Pune cubs’ couple of months
ago, the group that included Prasad, Sanjay /Sushama Katti. It was easy
scramble in the first pitch to reach the first anchor. Then a traverse with
slight overhang at start to a ledge with around ~600+ ft of exposure. The ledge
gets narrow at the escape point and its easy scramble to the top (I guess 50
ft).
Milind and Girish were keen. Girish and I had done our basic
course in Mountaineering at NIM Uttarkashi. On one scheduled weekend (We had
Thursday off) Girish could not make it and we had to postpone it to next week.
We travelled Pune-Kamshet and from Kamshet we took a bus to
a village where we would stay for the night. The shelter was a temple at the
village. At 11PM in the night the
villagers who had assembled at the temple and sang Bhajans and we got
absolutely no sleep till 5AM. We packed our foldable straw mattresses and
Sholapur chadar into our sacks and started the trek towards Dhak.
We climbed to a plateau and turned right to climb a hillock.
Karvanda bushes bloomed and we had our bit of feast. The path then descended to
the left and we could now see the pinnacle and Dhak fort.
We climbed up the col and took off our sacks. Clipped on the
harness. (Three carabiners gone. Two left)
We had devised a self anchor using a sling with loop at end
which we could slip into Carabiners at Belay points. I moved up to the first
anchor. Milind followed to meet me at the wide flat ledge after removing the
carabiner. Girish climbed up as well. Now I had to negotiate the traverse.
I pushed up and started climbing towards the right exposed
face of the pinnacle. At the second anchor point I clipped my Carabiner on to
the Piton. Milind followed me. I asked him to clip himself to the anchor.
NOTE: There was a rope running between me and Milind. We
were perched on a ledge. And I was belaying Girish.
I yelled back to Girish to start climbing and he took off. Just
after the overhang he moved on to a loose rock. The whole piece of rock
dislodged and Girish yelled “Belay Tight”.
Girish took a 10 feet fall and hung below our ledge. The Rock
ricocheted into the valley below and there were shouts from the villagers in
the valley. We pulled Girish up the overhang. I pulled out my Zenit Camera and
took a shot. It was an expression of fear and narrow escape. None of us had
ever fallen off a rock. Milind wondered his fate if he had not anchored himself
to the rock he could have been pulled off too and I would have been a lone
person managing the weight of 2 “fallen”.
The next stretch was easy with very good hand holds. The
only “problem” was that we were now on the 600+ feet of exposure. I moved to
the end of the ledged and heaved myself. It was easy to get to the top. I clipped
on the carabiner to an Iron stump and my friends followed.
On the way down I tied a piece of sling in a loop and our
Rappel rope went into the loop the double rope was no 75 ft long. I remember
that I did a side rappel (But with my carabiner looped into the rope)
It was an easy win. And we had learned to arrest a fall.
We took back the evening bus to Kamshet and then a Local
train to Pune.
