Trekking groups ‘re-bolt’ Vanarlingi

Vanarlingi is situated near Nane Ghat,24 km away from Junnar in Pune district,standing just next to the historical Jivdhan Fort,which was once a control point on a trade route passing through Nane Ghat and was in use for more than 2,000 years.

This pinnacle posed a great challenge to rock climbers and adventure lovers. It was first climbed in 1983 by a Mumbai-based mountaineering club. The climbing grade of this peak is difficult and one had to always carry a complete set of rock climbing equipment,” said Satish Marathe,president of Giridarshan Trekking Club.

“So far,the rock climbers had to climb this pinnacle by relying on the old bolts,installed years ago. However,these bolts had started rusting and nobody knew how much weight they could take in,” he said.

The expedition started off on March 11. The safety bolts were placed at four stations up to the summit. The distance between two stations is about 25 metres. From the second day,the technical team started placing all the bolts on the climbing face and after this,two teams climbed the entire pinnacle to recheck the positions. Corrections were made according to their suggestions and the route was made safe.

“In all,our team placed 77 safety bolts on the route,including 62 at the Vanarlingi climb and 15 at the Jivdhan Fort. The new bolts,which have been sponsored by German mountaineer Nicholas Maylander,are made out of V2A steel. The climbers had to drill 9-cm deep and 18-mm wide hole at the marked location. A special adhesive is used for fixing the bolts. Crossing the valley between the Fort and Vanarlingi was also made safe by fitting 18-cm long bolts.” Marathe said.

German help for climbers
Eight years ago,Nicholas Mylander from Germany visited India and went to many climbing routes reaching a conclusion that climbers in Maharashtra are risking their lives simply because the bolts used on these routes did not have any standards and many of them posed a risk due to rusting and aging. He met climbers in Pune,taught them about safety which resulted in the formation of Safe Climbing Initiative. Their first activity was at the Dukes Nose near Lonavla.