Pinnacles of Safety

State Climbing Initiative chooses popular trekking and climbing routes and replaces unsafe bolts with new ones

When German climber Nicholas Mylander visited Pune in 2006 to learn yoga,he took time off to indulge in a climbing adventure. After asking around for the best place to go for a good climb,he headed off to Nagphani,popularly known as the Duke’s nose for it’s shape,on the Mumbai-Pune express way. But climbing his way up the pinnacles,he found very shaky and unstable bolts. Though Mylander got back safe,he could not stop thinking of the danger lurking behind the battered bolts that could fall any minute. So he went up to the founder members of State Climbing Initiative (SCI) and shared his concerns to make the routes safe for climbers. This flagged off SCI’s project of replacing old bolts with newer,stronger ones,one route after another.

Mylander said he was scared to even hang his camera on the bolts because they were so weak. He educated us on the minimum breaking strength,material to be used to manufacture the bolts,the way in which they must be fixed and other vital norms, says Kushal Deshmukh,member of the communications team at SCI.

The NGO has completed rebolting work along seven routes including Nagphani,Kalakrai,Telbaila,Vanarlingi,Wajir,Lingana and Malshej Ghat. The team finished rebolting work at Nane Ghat on February 23 after a three-day drill. The team also organised a get-together on Saturday evening at Nane Ghat to spread awareness about their work and encourage young climbers to pitch in.

We get the bolts made at a workshop in Bhosari. It has a minimum breaking strength of 3000 kg and is made of V2A steel. Few bolts are randomly picked and sent to Germany for testing as a quality check. Then we pick a route and fix these bolts along the way. We get donations for making the bolts and tie up with climbing groups to manage the logistics and manpower for each project, says Deshmukh,who stresses on the need for more volunteers for future projects. The entire manpower is divided into different works,like logistics,communications,food and technical support. Members of the technical team are selected after verification of skill and experience to climb and perform the rebolting process at various locations.

It is a dangerous thing to do,but at least we are making the routes safe for other climbers. The Wajir ghat was the most difficult project till date. It has around 40 pinnacles and managing the rebolting there was an ordeal, says Deshmukh.

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