Sometime 1995 or 1996. Gulli and I.
We spent some time at Mekedatu admiring the beauty of the rocks and the power of the river Cauvery. It was time for us to head back. As we walked towards the steps that leads up to the dirt path to Sangama, I saw a vertical climb with rocks and dirt and quickly did few calculations and decided that we could climb the face. Gulli, agreed for the adventure. We climbed confidently, moving up from one rock to another till we got stuck at a point 30 feet above where we started. And just enough place for two us to stand. The next hold was evading us by few inches. We thought of climbing back down but one look down it was impossible to go down safely. We thought of jumping down into the sand below but to our luck there was a rock sticking out at the point of landing. All thoughts of going down were banished. Gulli strengthened his resolve to find a way up. He gave a hard try and I think I gave a small push up and he managed to get hold of a root which was sticking out of the dirt. That’s it Gulli managed to pull himself up and then lent me a hand. We had crossed the hurdle. Then on the climb was pretty much easy and we made it to the top. Relieved!
No matter how confident we feel while climbing, it’s a good idea to have a rope as a back-up.
.........
