Wanderer's Diaries

Prologue: I was under this presumption that mountaineering is all about reaching the summits of mighty Himalayas, Alps and Patagonia etc. Until one day I came to Pune and became part of Giripremi family. Giripremi is Pune's mountaineering club which has been promoting mountaineering sport since 1982. Notable ascents of not only Indian Himalaya but also Sahyadri rock climbing were successfully summited by Giripremi members. 2012's Mt. Everest expedition was the landmark event for the club and since then Giripremians have been scaling giant 8000ers one after the other. I have been with Giripremi family for past two years now. When I came here, I had already Basic & Advance mountaineering courses under my belt. Both ‘A’ grades. Enough to get a high of being a ‘qualified’ mountaineer. But just a couple of courses make you a capable mountaineer? In retrospect, I could hear clear ‘NO’. And here I was, having left a potentially money minting job, in pursuit of scalin...

22:00, Thursday, 7 th Apr 2016. After a satisfactory dinner at Annapurna restaurant, we parked our vehicle at the Lonavla bus station and were waiting for Jayant to come who had agreed to reach there by 22:30. And he did come. But not before 1:15 AM. Needless to say, he was greeted with an overwhelmingly touching ovation. At 2:30 in the night, Tailbaila dyke looked as stunning as it always. And we were glad that we were the only mad minds who skipped Gudipadva celebration at homes and came to this lonely place for climbing. Generally our hosts are a pack of monkeys from whom keeping our luggage secured is an adventure in itself. But today even they seemed to be on vacation on the eve of the festive day. At 6:55 AM, after snacks of a few dark chocolates and black tea, Sanket and I set forth on the easiest route (left inner). Although the route was easy but we had a different plan in mind. Simultaneous climbing. Which means, no belay. We had 10-12 m rope and ...