Tuesday

The Trek



I stood before this huge hole in a wall of rock, two thousand feet above the ground, and through the hole I could see the opaque screen, stark white. It was a cloud. We had reached the peak of what was the first mountain of the three that we would walk on over a span of twelve hours, starting at 6:30 am on a certain Saturday. The mountain with a hole at the peak was Nakhind. It is shaped like a blade, making it's peak the edge of a sharp razor. From the place we started, the hole looked really small, and I joked about how it meant that the mountain was a virgin and that the hole needed a little widening. It was only after I reached the hole after two hours of a gut-wrenching climb when I realized: It was not the mountain that I fucked, but myself. We had reached the peak and lost our way, going back was impossible as there was no way to descend the way we climbed without sustaining loads of injury, the mud had become slippery with the rain, and the only way to keep ourselves from slipping off the mountain was to hold on to these unreliable plants whose leaves looked like those of banana. The rain had begun when we reached the hole and the wind velocity was high, this is scary when you are standing on a patch of bare rock four feet wide, two thousand feet above the ground with a visibility of not more than 15 feet.



Naren volunteered to venture further down the sharp ridge and reported a way out. Soon we reached a niche on the razor's edge and it was going to require that we climb the eight feet high vertical patch of exposed rock, on the left of me was the the steep mud covered mountain back that vanished into the cloud below and to my right was the cloud which obscured all that was below, dangers accentuate when in a shroud. I was wearing cotton denim and promptly stripped myself off it. I went up after Shashi and Naren. I gathered it was Manna coming up next when heard a huge thud on the rock below me, a hold on the patch had dislodged when Manna tried to hold it, I still remember how I could hear the rock hurtle down the shrouded side of the mountain for about 30 seconds, each time I heard it hit a surface there was a shatter, and I was two feet away from that abyss. The same thing happened during Sayantan's ascent, and soon there were not enough holds, they had to make a rope out of two pants, one of which was mine. I figured I should walk without pants for the rest of the way as the thing was too dangerous for anything less agile than underpants. I had take my shoes off as the rock was wet. We walked for a while and then climbed another patch and then began descending to Peb. The way was steep, and there I was, sliding down mountains on my bare ass and feet, now I was wearing underpants, but they kept rolling into my butt crack, presenting it with thorns, raw rock, mud and snails. We walked for 12 hours on 25 kilometers of mountain rock and grass, often crossing moss covered water falls that fell into what you don't want to fall. The weather was covering up all signs of dehydration and I knew I was thirsty only when I had cramped thighs on a path that was less that one foot wide, with a slippery rock on my left and a huge deep nothing on my right. I made it alive to Matheran by 7:30 pm.

5 comments:

lime said...

hey nice photos...lovely fresh green

Sagar Kolte said...

lime~Thanks. :)

duende said...

hi sagar. thank you for your comment. best part is that it comes from another avid trekker. will watch this space!

Sagar Kolte said...

duende~ Thanks, but I have only begun trekking, and am a neophyte. Do drop by once in a while. :)

astroid said...

:D so I guess it is better to go with experienced hikers initially so I dont have to go through all that!
Ummm I didnt know Matheran is this tough a hike!!

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