‘Marathon in mountains’ considered being
one of the deadliest of treks in CTC yet again reiterated its position firmly.
My first marathon was deadly but this marathon gave me an altogether different
experience. Most of the participants were new faces to me and the highlighting aspect
was two participants were aged 40 + years, one 50 years and one +2 student. All
determined to complete this ‘mind over body game’ after being experienced from
previous difficult treks.
Early
morning ascend to reach the 880 mts southern peak:
The trek started at 3.30 a.m negotiating
the bushes to figure out the trail leading to the 550 mts water point in the
Nagala souther valley. After successfully spinning and twisting inside the
bushes we reached the water point at 4.45 a.m.
One of the best challenges on this
Marathon was designed by the pioners to summit the 880 mts southern peak that
will test the endurance, physical and mental toughness of the participants. The
early morning climb to reach the peak was very enjoyable and none had the courage
to predict about the hot weather that could us challenge us.
The trek along the ridges towards the
peak surrounded by clouds with chilling breeze rubbing through us was the best delight
and great booster to continue the trek.
Sensing
the killing Sun:
While descending the peak itself we
started realising the hot Sun, which was waiting to dry and kill us with its
seasonal heat. Most of us decided to drench their clothes, towels and whatever
possible with water. While we took the ridge above the Nagala western stream
within 10 minutes time my towel and t-shirt dried up cautioning that you guys
are going to have toughest of all times.
The Sun never stopped us; the climbs
never stalled us; the sharp stones never denied our march, for the strong will
we carried to reach our target. It was marathon - marathon and nothing else
that ran through our minds. Steps were taken towards keeping in mind only the
target and not the pain that we underwent.
Getting
lost in the wild:
While I was heading the team on the
ridges and the other seasoned marathoners sweeping and motivating the team we
crossed the 25th kilometre and it was time to locate the next water
point. The GPS which I had did not had water points marked therefore, I decided
to slip inside the valley to look for the stream we were supposed to hit and
requested the team to wait on the ridge. When I returned back to the ridge no
one was there on the place where I last saw them and I had no clue which way
they left and therefore, decided to stay there for some more time wait for them
to find my whereabouts. Unfortunately, even after 30 mins no one turned to the
same place therefore, I decided to continue the trek all alone.
Lonely
marathon on the ridges of Nagalapuram and Tada:
It was 1.00 p.m when I got secluded
from the team and with the hope to find the group I started to trek with high
speed but I was not able to find their whereabouts. Since I have taken this
trail two times I was quite familiar with the trek route and with the help of
GPS I was quite confident to reach the destination.
The silent Nagala valley, the sun
exposed ridges, the aftermath of forest fire all drained my energy making me
feel exhausted completely and after entering the Tada range I almost fainted
mainly due to dehydration if not for that one orange, the little water and
timely rest I had I would have fainted on the hills itself. Never experienced
such kind of giddiness before. After seeing the Tada valley from a distance I started
gaining confidence since I knew that I could find some waster in that stream.
My knee got heavily stressed because of
carrying my body and hiking for almost 13 hours and it started paining with
each step. But I was confident to reach the destination with all these
difficulties in place, but one thing which was bothering me was the whereabouts
of the team since it been almost 6 hours since I saw or heard anything from
them.
After refreshing and refilling from the
Tada waters I slipped through the thorny bushes and the dry streams and reached
the Tada main stream and tried calling others with the intermittent signal in
my mobile but none of their mobiles where reachable therefore understood that
the team is still deep inside the woods. Went near the temple pool and snapped
for almost one hour still after that there was no news from the team and my
hunger went beyond limits since I did not have lunch and had very little break
fast. Therefore, decided to reach Vardapalayam to have some food to regain my
sense. At 10.00 p.m I received a good news via sms that the team has reached
Tada top successfully.
After that I was given to understand
that few injuries denied the team to proceed faster and the team reached the
destination at 1.45 a.m to earn the well deserved sleep at the Tada base.
Overall a very BIG THUMS UP for the entire
team for having successfully completing the fourth successful edition of
‘Marathon in Mountains’ keeping the standards of trekking very high and for
completing this ‘mind over body game’
Happy trekking,
Durai Murugan
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