The Mountain (climbed)

The Mountain can be seen as we drive around doing our RFI hunt.

22:37 Thursday, June 30, 2011 - Tomorrow morning at 07:00 we plan to make the trek to The Mountain. It has loomed over us for a long time now, and we are finally about to take it on. Every time we go RFI hunting we can usually see it off in the distance.

Our expedition party may have expanded. Now we may be a team climbing The Mountain. Hans, Mark, Connie, me and Anna-Lisa (a PhD Italian girl visiting the GMRT). Wow! Should be an event.

The best picture we can get from the ground of the temple on the top.

Everything is contingent on Mark's stomach. If he feels ill in the morning then we will go another day.

Friday, 1 July - Not climbing today. Someone's being a literal mr. poopy pants.

22:05 Saturday, 2 July - Looks like it'll only be Me and Hans climbing the mountain. We leave camp at 07:30 tomorrow morning and should reach the base of the mountain at 09:30. From there it's about 1.5 hours to the top which should put us at the top for lunch. From there we'll explore the temple and the ancient fort that was abandoned hundreds of years ago. We'll make our way back hopefully in time for Greg's farewell dinner. He's going back to Canada on Monday. Wish me good luck! This'll be a terrific time!

Supplies for the trip as they occur to me:
- Polyvalent serum
- 4 liters of water
- 5 meters of rope
- Bug spray
- Pack of raisins and some cookies
- Toilet paper
- Camera
- Sun glasses
- Hair bands
- GPS (for the altitude)
- Notebook
- Rain coat
- Pain killers

Going to bed now.

Sunday, 3 July - Here's a panorama from the top.

A panorama from the highest point on the mountain. It was hard getting there.

My ripped toe, oh no!

As we set out.

8 July - Finally updating this. Me and Hans left at 07:30 and returned at 16:00! He almost died! And I did too for that matter. We got into some tight situations on the mountainside.

Before leaving we asked for anti venom and were told it is not available and we'd have to drive to get some. Great! We asked for some rope and they said we wouldn't need any because there is a donkey path up the side. They clearly didn't know what we were about to do! Anyway we left because we didn't  want to argue further with them.

Walking back.

Hans had never climbed before but he
made a fine effort.

The walk there was only about 30min. It was closer than it seemed. At the foot of the mountain we found a shrine with some tattered clothing and clay pots inside.

Temple at bottom.

Hans about to begin sliding to reach a
ledge about 10 feet below him.

We started climbing and got up to the first plateau. At the top of the next plateau we saw a wise old monkey sitting of a rock! Clearly he would grant us three wishes if we could climb up to him.

After our first defeat we had to look
deep for the courage to carry on.

We tried one approach for about an hour before getting stuck half way up. We had a hell of a time getting down and I ripped my toe.

On a game trail.

The next one proved to be too scary to climb but I got about a third of the way up before turning back (Hans watched from a ledge below). It was the most terrifying experience dangling from a ledge  and looking down only to see about 300 feet of thin air. My heart was in my throat!

Self picture.

The way we did is was by getting to a ledge where we could rest and choosing the next part up from there. I wish we had had ropes so that we could have stopped to get pictures from the best places. As it was we could only spare a hand on rare occasions.

These thorn bushes were everywhere!
No leaves just thorns! - for Jacob.

Exotic flower - for Jacob.

When we finally made it up we found some Indians who we headed to the temple at the second highest peak so we followed them on the ridge to there. There we had snacks and rested.

Me near some ruins.

Some creature's den. So high up and
seems like it would be impossible to
get there. We found egg nests there.

We then headed over to the highest peak by following the ridge along. There were exotic looking plants everywhere and we came across an abandoned ruins. We found that it was mostly destroyed by weather but the parts that could be seen were impressive. It would have been extremely difficult to build that hundreds of years ago.

Planting Jenn's Sunflowers on the
mountain:)

And some water.

I had a special little thing I had to do along the way, a few seeds to plant, so I found a location rich in sun an dug as deep a hole as I could in the rocky soil. The monkey sage would have to water it.

I took a bunch of pictures from the peak and made a panorama later.

Exotic plant - for Jacob.

The walk down was easy enough because we took the donkey trail. It may have been easier but the thorns we had to walk through we disgustingly long. I got some sort of rash on my foot from the whole experience.

A view from high up.

When we got back Mark was feeling better and terribly angry I didn't wait for him to feel better so he could go. I still feel bad about that and need to find some way to make it up to the guy.


Not carrying a 15 pound bag would have made the whole experience easier but as it was I found out that my backpack is very sturdy and comfortable. It's a 40L Ascend Sequoia 3300.

I want to go again. Mark better not be sick this time!

Monkey on a rock at the peak of final wall we had to climb. There's one in the tree too.

Our first picture from after starting climbing.

Hans cresting a ridge.

Another den formed naturally but probably houses something.

Side profile of the mountain.

Other side profile. We chose the other one to  climb because we didn't have ropes.