Event Schedule 1 DATE - Girivihargirivihar.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/March-April-2019-Circular-final.pdf6:00 pm Swargate by ST 7:00 pm Departure to Mumbai by Asiad bus / by CAB

CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS: 206/207, Shilpin Center, G.D. Ambekar Marg, Dadar(E), Mumbai - 400 031. Tel. 24150211 / 24150221. Registered Under: Bombay Public Trust Act. F/1361 (Bom.) dt. 1966-03-31 & Societies Registration Act. Bom. 11/1966 GBBSD Dt. 1966-01-21

Wednesday Walk-in: 1930 onwards at Café Colony, Hindu Colony, East End of Tilak Bridge, Dadar (E).

CIRCULAR NO: 2/ 2019 Event Schedule DATE: 1 March 2019

Dear Members,

Girivihar has announced two high altitude treks as given below:

1. Kedartaal ( 17 May 2019 to 25 May 2019) under the Leadership of Saurabh Pathare ( +91 98692 52778)

2. Chandrakhani Pass ( 1 June 2019 to 9 June 2019) under the leadership of Prasanna Joshi (+91 98198

28845)

Apart from above two treks, Mr. Dilip Lagu (President, Girivihar - +91 98201 11741) is going to Pin-Parvati Pass

from 20 July 2019 to 30 July 2019.

Anyone interested in joining the above treks please contact the respective personnel.

On 17 & 18 January 2019, two members of Girivihar, Saurabh Oka and Jay Kolhatkar, along with Jayant Wakode

and Vinay Chauhan, successfully climbed and summited Duke’s Nose near Lonavla. We congratulate them and

wish all the best for many such summits in the future. A detailed report by Saurabh Oka is attached to the

circular.

Girivihar from 25 December 2018 to 29 December 2018 conducted the 28th Adventure camp for Children. The

camp was attended by 39 trainees and was a grand success. Congratulations to the Camp Incharge Saurabh Oka

and the entire team. A detailed report of the camp is attached to the circular.

The trek schedule for March and April follows, we hope to see more and more of you on our treks!

Event Climbing Session ( CBD-Belapur / Mumbra)

Date Sunday 3 March 2019

Leader Saurabh Oka ( +91 99202 02170)

Cost Contributory (Tentative Expense Rs 100)

Event Tel Baila Climb.

Date Saturday 9 March 2019 and Sunday 10 March 2019

Leader Saurabh Oka (+91 9920202170)

Grade Difficult


Transport Public Transport ( Please call leader for bus timings)

Assembly Will be conveyed to participants by Leader

Event Gambhirgad (Palghar)


Leader Vijay Beladkar (+91 98692 41799)

Grade Easy - Medium


Transport Public Transport ( Please call leader for bus timings)


Event Avandh - Patta(Vishramgad)

Date Friday, 15 March 2019 & Sunday 17 March 2019

Leader Aditya Athavale (+91 90967 80015)

Itinerary

Day 1 (Friday, 15 March):

9.00 PM: Leave Mumbai (by car or public transport) to reach Igatpuri

Day 2 (Saturday, 16 March):

7.00 AM: Catch the bus to Ninavi

8.30 AM : Start Ascending Aundha Fort 03.00 PM: After visiting Aundha Pinnacle, Reach Patta (Vishramgad) fort; Halt for night

Day 3: (Sunday, 17 March)

Fort Exploration and Leave for Pattawadi.

8.30 PM: Reach Mumbai

Grade Difficult


Pre Hike Meeting Wednesday, 13th March 2019 at Café Colony, Dadar East (8PM)

Transport Public Transport or Private Vehicle (Please call the leader for more details)

Assembly As per decision in Pre Hike meeting

Event Climbing Session ( CBD-Belapur / Mumbra)


Leader Saurabh Oka ( +91 99202 02170)


Event Sarasgad - Nightwalk

Date Saturday, 30 March, 2019 & Sunday, 31 March, 2019

Leader Sayalee Athavale ( +91 98190 44218)

Grade Easy


Transport Public Transport or Private Vehicle


Event Purander - Malhargad

Date Saturday, 6 April 2019 to Sunday, 7 April 2019

Leader Abhijeet Athavale 8779489569

Day 1 (Saturday, 6th April): Reach Pune by 10.30 am

Itinerary

10:30 am: Departure from Swargate by ST

12:45 am: Reach Sonori via Saswad

12:45 am :Start Ascending Malhargad

1:30 am Atop

Rest, Lunch, Exploration 1.5 hrs. maximum

03:45 pm: Descend and reach Sonori and Leave for Saswad

04:30 pm Reach Saswad and stay

Day 2 (Sunday, 7th April)

08:00 am: Leave for Purander base

09:00 am Ascend to Purander Fort

11:00 am Atop

Exploration of Purandar & Vajragad for 3 hrs. maximum

2:00 pm Lunch Time

3:00 pm Descend

4:30 pm Base

4:30 pm Depart to Saswad

5:00 pm Reach Saswad

6:00 pm Swargate by ST

7:00 pm Departure to Mumbai by Asiad bus / by CAB / by Train from Pune station


Grade Easy

Pre-hike Meeting Wednesday, 13th March 2019 at Café Colony, Dadar East (8PM)

Transport Public Transport or Private Vehicle (Please call the leader for more details)

Assembly As per decision in Pre Hike meeting

Event Sondai

Date Sunday, 14 April 2019

Leader Parag Lagu (+91 9833097768)

Grade Easy




Event Rajmachi (Night Walk)

Date Saturday, 27 April 2019 & Sunday 28 April 2019

Leader Abhijeet Athavale ( 8779489569)

Grade Difficult


Pre-Hike Meeting Wednesday, 24 April 2019 at Café Colony,Dadar east



For all outings a packed lunch, a set of clothing packed in plastic & water bottle are necessary. Please speak to the trek leader for registration, payment details and any other queries. We Girivihar members meet every Wednesday at 8.00pm at Café Colony Dadar. Please feel welcome to

attend these meetings and make yourself familiar with us. For stay hikes, prior registration is necessary. We may not entertain last minute requests. Also, please

attend the pre-hike meetings so that the leader is familiar with you and you can help with the food planning.

Circular is now available on the GIRIVIHAR’s website at www.girivihar.org and our Facebook page.

Happy Hiking! Happy Climbing

．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．

!

．

Yours sincerely, Abhijeet Athavale Jt. Secretary

http://www.girivihar.org/

Girivihar’s 28th Adventure Camp – Report

The 28th Adventure Camp was conducted successfully from 25th Dec to 29th Dec 2018 at Sahas Camps, Village Trimbak near Nashik. 39 trainees underwent the course. A brief account of the day-to-day activities is appended below: The “Good Morning” call was given at 6.00 am, and believe me the children got up almost instantly. By 6.40 am, they completed all their morning chores themselves and were ready for their morning exercises and warm-up games. At 8.00 am they were served a hot cup of ‘Bournvita’ and breakfast. The day’s activities commenced at 8.30am and went on till 6.00 pm with breaks for breakfast, Lunch, snacks etc. The group of 39 children was divided into 6 ‘Ropes’ and they undertook a schedule of activities covering Rock Climbing, Rappelling, River Crossing, Nature Trail, Orienteering, Archery, Rifle Shooting and Kayaking. Most of the children were doing these activities for the first time. They were scared…. But eventually learned to conquer their fears and each of the children did all the activities without exception. Some of them even did a few activities twice or thrice!! The evenings were busy too… They had activities like Knot Sessions, Self Cooking and Star-Gazing. The ‘khichadi’ that they cooked themselves was perhaps the tastiest they ever had!! The food provided was planned in such a way that there was a different menu every day. Different Dal, different Vegetable and different Salad for every meal!!! Regarding food we observe a basic discipline: The children must eat at least a small quantity of each item that is cooked and served irrespective of likes and dislikes. It was not allowed to waste food by leaving ‘leftovers’ in the plate. There was no restriction on the quantity taken in the plate, but they had to finish everything in their plate. All the children followed these rules and we urge the parents to make them continue these good habits. When we take children in nature they become disciplined ‘naturally’…. The children were given considerable freedom to have their ‘Masti’ …. There were practically no ‘punishments’ required to be given… and they had their share of fun… Loads of it! No one felt home sick which is an excellent sign. Perhaps spending 5 days away from their parents and being eager for next activity for the first time was exciting enough for them. We at Girivihar are always safety conscious and due to the adequate precautions taken, there was no major injury to any of the children except a few cuts and bruises. No Camp is complete without a ‘Camp Fire’…. However being an environment conscious organization, we at Girivihar have the concept of ‘Camp Fun’ …. Sheer fun without the fire! The children performed songs and dances along with impromptu skits all arranged by themselves, individually or in groups! The Camp fun this year was one of the best I have seen in the last seven years!!! Hats Off to the kids. The last day the children were all out for a ‘Treasure Hunt’! The group activity emphasized on performing as a team and a group of 8 children competed with other groups to win the ‘treasure’!! A special mention to the kids. Inspite of the extremely low temperatures (Around 4 degrees at night) and high winds (strong enough to knockdown one of the tents) the kids did not even once let us i.e. the Instructor Team feel that they had any kind of problem due to extreme cold or wind. In fact, the enthusiasm and energy of the kids was more during the kind of trying conditions of whether. Saurabh Oka

Camp Incharge

Duke’s Nose Climbing (Upper 300 ft.)

Suddenly on 15th January 2019 Jay Kolhatkar, one of our Friend’s from Girivihar and also a Committee

Member, asked me whether I want to join him for a Climb of the upper part of the Duke’s Nose. I said yes and the Climbing Trip is on. A four member team of Me, Jay, Jayant Wakode and Vinay Chauhan finalized the plans and on 17th January at 10:30 a.m. off we went for climbing Duke’s Nose. We reached the Base Village i.e. Kurwande Homali Village, Khandala at around 01:30 hrs. and rested for some time in the Village Temple.

On 18th January Morning around 7:30 a.m. we started our march to the Base of the Climb which is the Plateau on the ‘Duchess’ Hill besides the Duke’s Nose. After around half an hour of walking, we get the first glimpse of the Duke's Nose. The sheer size of the Duke's Nose sent shivers down our spines. Jayant had climbed Duke's Nose before but for me, Jay and Vinay the sight was overwhelming. We immediately started the traverse from the Duchess to the base of the climb on Duke's Nose. In between there is a small cave where we had our breakfast and kept our rucksacks and other extra stuff. We then geared up with all that was necessary for the climb and started towards the base. The approach from the Duchess to the Base of the Climb is a long traverse on a very small ledge and a big drop in between. The traverse itself gets your adrenaline rushing.

Finally, around 10:00 a.m. we reached the base of the climb. We had divided ourselves into two climbing teams. Team one was Jayant and me and Team two was Jay and Vinay. Jayant started the climb and soon reached the 1st Belay Station (There are a total of 4 Belay Stations). I then followed his lead and reached the 1st station. Then the team of Jay and Vinay started the Climb with Jay leading the First Pitch. By the time jay had reached the middle of his Pitch me and Jay had started the 2nd Pitch. Jayant was again leading the pitch with me belaying him. Jayant reached the 2nd Pitch and decided not to anchor there and thus he directly climbed to the 3rd Pitch which is below the crucial overhang of the climb. The overhang patch is the crux of the whole Duke's Nose. As before the Team No. 2 also started from 1st Pitch to 3rd Pitch with Vinay leading this pitch. Jay and me waited on this station for Vinay to reach. It was decided that the whole team would come together on the 4th Pitch and then go for the final pitch. The 3rd Belay Station is too small for 4 people to stand on. Thus when Jay reach the 3rd station he was hanging on his self on the last bolt before the station.

Jayant then started to crucial overhang climb. It was a tough patch and took some skilful climbing and technique from Jayant to overcome the patch. With some effort and technique, Jayant, after 2-3 attempts, managed to scale the overhang and the cliff patch above it and reach the 4th Station. It is then the fun started. I was the 2nd Climber and thus I started t\my attempt to scale the overhang on top rope belay. Instantly I could feel the strain of an actual overhand at about 700 ft above the ground. It was physically and mentally draining. To add that I had the extra 4 kg. On my back. After 3 failed attempts I realized that the overhang was not possible without using the quick draws as an aid. Thus, I just used two quick draws to pull myself above the overhang and then climbed up the cliff part to reach the 4th Station in a completely exhausted manner. Jay and Vinay then followed on top rope more or same in the same condition as me.

This 4th Belay Station is large enough and thus we all rested there and had our packed lunch. We had reach the Station before the Overhang at around 12:30 p.m. and it was almost 3:00 p.m. by the time we all were on the station above it. You may realize the intensity of the Overhang climb by the time taken for the same. After resting for around half an hour we started the climb of the last pitch. This time Jayant decided to come last and we all three decided to lead climb this Pitch. So it was Vinay first, then me, Jay and lastly Jayant. The last Pitch was relatively easy (After the Overhang anything lesser would have looked easy to us at that point of time). Finally, around 5:20 p.m. the whole team was on top of the Duke’s Nose Exhausted and Happy.

The Duke's Nose is a top out route (You do not need to rappel down) and thus we started our march to our bags, which took about 35 mins. We then collected our bags, ate and drank whatever was left, returned to the car and left for Thane at around 7:00 p.m.

Saurabh Oka

Documents

Event Schedule 1 DATE - Girivihargirivihar.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/March-April-2019-Circular-final.pdf6:00 pm Swargate by ST 7:00 pm Departure to Mumbai by Asiad bus / by CAB