Tel Baila massif from the village
After a bit of a Himalayan hangover, they feeling of sweating while climbing dint go down too well initially. However getting back to climbing after a big monsoon break was exciting. And even better was to get back to a big wall. A bit early in the season, so the right hand of the temple route on Tel Baila seemed like a good place to start with. Whether we could pull off the climb in moss laden rock face was something that had to be seen.
It was a quick fire early morning ride yesterday. Having left Mumbai around 4 am, the base village of Tel Baila was by 7.30 am. The road after the Amby Valley crossing is as bad as it was two years back. Back then we were four in Fazin’s Maruti. This time we were eight in sumo. Apart from Meenaz, Jigna, Sneha, Zaffar and me from Mumbai, there was Deepak from Pune, Debu da, a friend of mine from Calcutta and Miki all the way from Tokyo!
The walk to the temple in between the Col was a breeze. The weather was bit cloudy, the wind was mild. Perfect climbing conditions. Only thing the route seemed to have a liberal tinge of green.
Deepak (red), Debu Da (yellow), me (blue), Meenaz (blue) and sneha (sitting) taking a look at the map
I gear up for the lead and carry almost about everything. I moan and groan and bitch and discover some long grass, slippery holds and finally get my ass up the first pitch. A big place where almost 10 people can sit. Meenaz, came up next, followed by Sneha, Debu da and Jigna. The other three stayed down the whole day, perhaps enjoying, perhaps getting bored in between clicking pics.
Me leading the first pitch
The first ledge is above the grass patch. Sneha climbing
Debu da, fresh from his summit of Kilimanjaro a week back led the next pitch. He’s a big muscular guy, and watching him lead this interesting section was cool. Being a sports climber he dint trust the ring bolts one bit. “Very bad bolts, rusted, eroded! All of us egged him to continue. Communication with the wind thrown in was funny at times. It was a mix of English, Hindi and Bengali.
Debu da leading the 2nd pitch
Debu da taking a breather before the summit. The route follows the crack.
The route was a diagonal traverse and then a small crack. After he reached on top of the crack, finding the route amidst a tremendous growth became difficult. Someone from right bellow shouted another 150 feet more to go Debu da (don’t remember if it was Zaffer or Deepak). Am sure he must have been rattled, but another 5 mins or so, he screamed “Ok am on top. And there are very good bolts”.
Jigna on her way to the top
Jigna, Meenaz and Sneha went up one after the other. I cleaned to the route, not before leaving back one choke nut and one quick draw. The summit was small place with bolts, both new and old. The views were superb. Greenery everywhere.
Jigna before the crack
The descent was fast affair. But only after the usual rope management drama. I forgot how many times all of us coiled and hauled the ropes up and down. Jigna was the last man to rappel off the summit and Meenaz was the last to rap off from the first ledge. When we get back to the temple all sweaty and we choke down a chocolate cake, sandwiches and ladoos.
It was a nice climb. A perfect antidote for the Himalayan hangover that all of us were reeling under.
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