A summit trek to Vazir Pinnacle, Vasind near Mumbai

A summit trek to Vazir Pinnacle, Vasind near Mumbai

Trek:  Vazir Pinnacle Summit trek

Base village: Katbav, Vashind

Height: 200 ft. (2500 ft above seal level)

Grade:  Difficult

Endurance: Tough

Trek coordinator: Ossam

Lead climbers: Jocky Salunke, Vinayak Pol

Dates: 02^th February 2020 (Starting on 1^st February 2020 night)

Trekkers: 15

Katbav Village,Vashind – Map coordinates

Epilogue:
It was on 26th Jan 2020, where I was sceptical on joining a Summit trek to Vajir Pinnacle scheduled on 2th Feb for which I had already enrolled with Ossam Trekkers. Frankly the reason being the unexpected fall and death of Arun sawant Sir, an avid rock climber at Kokankada at Harishchandragad located at Ahmednagar. There i was in dilemma where I decided that it is now or never opportunity for Vazir and continued with my participation.

As decided we were to assemble at Vasind station at 11:30 Saturday night on 1st Feb. But this time central railway played a prank with me. We were to board a slow kasara train scheduled at 9:50 pm at Dadar central railway. When I reached platform 1, it was 9:48and indicator showed 9:54 Kurla train. I thought that may be Kasara train is delayed and hence Kurla train is scheduled earlier. Such thing is common on Central railway. So I left the train awaiting for 9:50 Kasara train.

There we reached Kasara sharp at 11:30 pm and where we assembled at a pimple tree on the platform awaiting our transporter. After 15 mins came the transporter where we 10 of us cramped in a Toyota Qualis. The base village named Katbav was only 4.5 kms from Vasind Railway station on central railway. On reaching the sleeping base village at around 12 Am, we stay put under a shade of the villager. There we rested till around 5:30 am in sleeping bag. So there after completing our morning chores and breakfast we had an introduction round. Actually it was a joint trek organised by both Ossam Trekkers Mumbai and Point Break Adventure Nashik.  We started from base village for the pinnacle base at 6:15 Am.

After a moderate trek of about 2 hours along small hills and the muddy path on the ridge, we reached the base of the pinnacle by around 8:30 AM. The last part of the trek is very steep and one gets drained to make it top the base. 

Myself @ Dawn

That steep climb to the Vazir pinnacle base

For amateur trekkers, the trek to base of pinnacle would be a trek in itself. There at base of pinnacle, the trek leads were busy preparing for the ascent. They have arranged for basic set up one day before.

After some other augmentation in the setup the trek lead reached the top by around 9:15 am. There are 4 stations for the entire climb with 5th being the summit each manned by trek leads. The station here means a place for foothold which has arrangements for bolting where trek leads anchore  themselves and the participants.

The first participant took around 30 mins to summit ascending through all 4 stations. The overhang at 4 stations which is the most critical was manned by Jocky salunkhe (chief trek lead). Few climbers did it smoothly within 15-20 minutes, while some others took 30 mins or more.

Myself - Just about to climb

I started climbing at 1:30 pm. There was a rope ladder fixed between 1 to 2 station and it is the easiest of climb patch. However the climbing between 2  to 3 station , 3 to 4 station is very draining. One has to climb the vertical wall with their  body weight against the gravitational pull. This patches tests each climber of their stamina.

Actually one gets drained after 3 station. Then the patch between 3-4 station takes lot more time and motivation from trek leads.

At Station 3 with Vinayak Pol

I was literally drained at 3 station and on top of that was caught without hydration. I thought it will be roughly 20 mins climb and will have water on summit. But to my utter shock, i was dehydrated after 2 patch. There trek leads spared some of their water for me.
I was unable to lift my body after 3 station. Lifting body every inch was task in itself. The moving every inch further gets tougher when you are at considerable height on mountains and same is true in the corporate life.

Jocky Salunkhe assisting me at station 4

Zoomed version

The climb between 3 to 4 station which has a overhang was assisted by Jocky and was smooth against expected. He assisted the overhang climb very aptly by guiding the footholds. He kept on motivating the already drained climbers.

The climb between 4 to 5 station is basically a  steep scree patch which can be climbed easily. One slipped step could land one some 400 metres below in the valley.

There at around 2:00 pm, i was at summit and  thanked Almighty for his grace. I had no words to describe the arduous efforts to reach there.

At Summit

Jubilant team @ Summit

Zoomed version

It was very toughest rock climb i have done till date. I have completed Lingana, Kalakrai pinnacles in the past. But this one was cut out of rest. Vertical wall with limited footholds makes the ascent very challenging.

Then after resting for around 20 mins on the summit, i rappelled down from backside of the pinnacle. The backside also has some overhang where the rapeller looses his foothold and just hangs to the rope. Rapelling was just easy as I had done rapelling dozen of times before.

Then we rested till other participants compete their climb. The last participant completed the climb by 3:30 Pm. We were hoping to start descend by 4:30 or so after wrapping up the climbing setup.

Vazir Pinnacle - Like snake head @ Evening

The dusk 

Then the team leads had some food and counting and taking stock of the gears and equipments. It was around 6:15 pm that we started our trek back to base village. The sun was about to set and we rushed to cover maximum trek in the day light. There we reached back at base village at 7:50 pm.

There the team refreshed themselves and had some quick dinner (delayed lunch). However I was more interested in reaching home early (within time) than having a early dinner.

Prologue:
Now as it was Sunday, the frequency of trains to  Mumbai  from Vasind railway station were limited. We had to rush too much to board the 8:58 pm train. The next train was almost one and hours later. (Which meant we reach home at past midnight).

Reaching home safely and in time after a trek is very crucial.

Now some of the late trekkers were still having dinner. I kept pushing them to finish dinner quickly.

As Jocky and his team were going to Nashik and were not in hurry.

There our transporter arrived at 7:25 pm and it was around 25 mins drive to railway station.

Within minutes we jumped into the Tavera and pushed our driver to drive quicly. We had almost missed the train. However by Gods grace we were able to just board the already arrived train. Finally i reached home at Vasai by around 11:30 pm.

To sum up it is was a wonderful Sunday exploring some of the ardous rocking climbing at one of the Sahayadris toughest and steepest pinnacle.

Few points of advice to trekkers planning for this trek:

1) It is difficult grade rock climbing trek with tough endurance....so beginners strictly avoid such trek (Rock climbing and trekking are 2 different things altogether).

2) It is advisable to carry at least 3-4 liters of water. 

3) Carry a sleeping bag if possible....

4) The rock patches to the top are tough and risky; hence do not try it without proper guide and climbing equipment's. 

For more of my treks and traveloques you can check my blog. https://irishpereiraonthego.blogspot.in/

Happy Trekking, Keep Exploring!!!!