Benji – ok am game…lets go on the 10 & 11 th
Ritz – but where…plus valley?
Benji – how about duke's?
Ritz – err fuck… how about Tel Baila?
Benji – well…how about Sunday 1?
Ritz – hmmmm…u kno the place?
Benji – I shall find out….ask others too…
Ritz – what say meenaz?
Meenaz – ya partner…. it's been a long time since we went somewhere
Ritz – where?
Meenaz – somewhere ya…
Ritz – sneha?
Sneha – ya I don't mind…lets go for a long weekend before I join my new job
Ritz – kya bolta hai mallick?
Jigna – ha ha…chalo chalo…but where
Ritz – somewhere re…itna soch mat
SMS from Benji to everyone – are you guys keen on climbing Sunday 1?
The build up to our first big wall of the year couldn't get any bigger. Another 66 odd calls and god knows how many smses later, we were stacking up a Chevy Taverra. The destination was the Holy temple town of Trambakeshwar, just 30 km away from Nashik. Roughly 4 hours away from Sneha's place. The ride on the busy single lane Mumbai–Nashik highway at midnight was rather smooth. Apart from the unruly honks, the odd pothole and skipping cd nothing really disturbed our ride.
The Chevy rolled into Trambakeshwar at around 6.30ish. At first glance the place looks like a holier than thou Indian temple town version of El Dorado. A small township surrounded by the mighty western ghats from all sides. Though it was mid-february, the chill was very much in the air.
The approach to Sunday 1 started in rather bizarre fashion. We showed everyone at the Dhabha a small picture of the massif and enquired. Benji asked a couple of guys outside the public loo too. But none seem to know the place with the fancy English name. One Hero Honda riding milkman claimed to know about it. Rest assured he sent us completely in the opposite direction. We discovered it only after about 2 hours hike from where we parked the vehicle. The massif does guard its wrong approach fiercely.
It was a through a minefield of thorns of all sizes. And if that was not enough there was a long exposed traverse on rock to reach the base. As we started hydrating ourselves, we realized there was a straight path up to here directly from the place where we had grub."THREE, TWO, ONE, GO!"
Meenaz began the lead by jamming her freshly taped fingers into a slender crack. I was belaying her. And above us soared the great rock parabola of Sunday 1. At just under 300 vertical feet, with 3 pitches, Sunday 1 is supposedly crankier than Duke's nose.
It's been more than a year that we have been climbing together. And this was by far her best lead I have seen till date. There are no bolts. The rock is flaky. The holds are sloppy. Phew! Am proud of you toughie. 
On the whole face there are only 6 bolts. This apart there's a hair-raising crux section —an overhanging patch, almost 200 feet off the deck, with a crack so scary that Benji required 45 mins to negotiate. Benji lead the traverse from the ledge 1 to ledge 2. There was a moment of silence after Benji came to the crux. He had jammed 3 camming devices for protection. He had 3 false starts. And he came down most probably pumping his mind with the chants of - "Get on it! Go! Go! Go!".
Soon the ecstatic boom of his voice could be heard down – "I found a bolt man". He had reached ledge 2 – a hanging belay station, with 2 bolts and 1 peg. By the time Meenaz joined him there, the clock had crossed 6. Both of them rappelled off the face after fixing a 10.3 mm rope.
Meanwhile we three down had our necks hurting looking up all the time. Sneha and Jigna managed the supply line while I was on the walkie talkie. There wasn't much physical exertion, but we had seen enough action to keep our adrenalin levels flowing. As the stars lit up the brilliant sky, the wind-chill factor increased. Sleeping in the col was simply out of question. With sacks we walked down and found a somewhat flat patch for all of us to fit in.
The next day was much colder. So much so that Jigna began jummaring in her fleece. In just about 12 mins she was there at the belay station. I was next. It was almost a year since I had jummared. So did have some hiccups going up. But after some 20 feet or so I was fine. Sneha came up right after me. The intensity was starting to build. Jigna began the next lead. There were 4 bolts in line from this place. Just one bolt up and we hear it — a desperate yell: "Falling!" Looking up, we see Jjgna mercifully come to a stop just above my face. Not bogged down one bit, she started clipping the QDS in bolt after bolt, till she came to a dead end. She couldn't make out the route. Neither could we.Suddenly Benji's voice cracked on the walkie – "Ask to her to stay anchored. Am coming" For me and Sneha it was a long long wait on the second ledge. Almost 4 hours. Benji's voice boomed out of the blue – We summited!
I finally started to climb. The route was slightly overhanging till I came to a small balcony kind of place. After that it was a small traverse to the right. I found the traverse a bit scary because a fall there would have meant going straight into the inviting cactus. Putting aside my fear I started to crawl my fingers through the crack. I soon came to a place where I could see the Jigna. Benji was standing right above her. In between them was yet another vertical crack of say 15 feet. A few breadths later I was with Benji admiring the views from the window created by the crack. "That's the summit man", said Benji, patting my back. Huffing and puffing I asked him cant we top out, this seems more like a fore summit? He said we'll see.
Sneha started climbing after me and then Meenaz started behind her. One by one we all managed to assemble in that tiny window. Benji began the final lead. It was hardly a 15 feet climb and quite easy compared to the rest of the climb. I was the last to summit at 6 pm. The feeling of on top with your climbing buddies - simply incredible."
Descent was a lightening fast affair. Sneha was the first to rappel down, followed by Meenaz, Jigna, myself and Benji. By the time I was on the second part of the rappel it was pitch dark. My Black Diamond lamp lived up to its reputation of lighting up the wall. Yet it I got more than enough butterflies in my tummy coming down the face, with lights visible at a huge distance. Benji, our last man was down from the wall at 8.30.
The most remarkable thing about this climb was the formidable rush and the tremendous drive it generated. So far, my best experience. One the way back we dint speak much to each other, but there was a definite silent smile on our faces.
Sunday 1 had been climbed on an incredible Sunday.
