Waterfall Rappelling at Lonawala by O.S.O.C.

It was all planned out with perfect train timings & all. It was one day waterfall rapppelling trek to one of the smallest waterfalls in Lonavala called khunewadi waterfall. It's at almost 1 hr 15 mins walking distance from Lonavala station without any photo stops, but you can't really resist capturing the green beauty out there! After leaving Mumbai by 6:45am Intercity from CST we aimed at returning to the city by 8:30pm. So, we were all set to enjoy our part of nature & gather some real-natural adrenaline rush down our guts!


Following information should be helpful to you if you're planning one!


6:00 am: You reach station to make sure that you have a ticket before you board 6:45 AM Intercity express.


6:45 am: You finally get into the train searching for a seat with your other fellows. Once you settle down you pass your time with your buddies doing hell lot of things & finally at 9:00 am you're at Lonavala.

and we reach lonavala!

9:00 - 9:45 am- As soon as you get down at station you start feeling that extra bit of chill in the air. You find yourself a small hotel to have breakfast. (There are 3-4 good small hotels near the station.)

awesome view!

you can see & experience that fog!

10 am to 11:30 am: You are trudging the terrain till the village along with the people with the same newbie profile as you, and no one knows a thing about rapppeling except the organisers....you pretty much think that it would be like rock climbing at Hiranandani, except with a shower attached to the top.

path is quite simple

fantastic village view!
    

11:45 am: You see the waterfall and you almost wet your pants, for its a fall of 60 feet before you hit the floor of jagged stones...(for those who are thinking "hehe just 60 feet?, I can do high jumps of that height", please read on)
Upon that falls the water,almost 15 feet width onto the rock...and through this mess are you going to climb down.


12 noon : You click snaps of the slippery rock you are going to climb down as the instructor gives you a demo on how to use the harness,the helmet,the mittens and pull yourself down and how different ropes are aligned with your body.


12:15 pm : Its showtime baby. You put on the harness, tied with one rope onto the instructors hand, another nylon one in your hand going through the harness and stand on the final frontier of the rock as if this is the last time you are going to see your friends....then put all your weight backwards  as the instuctor shouts madly at you "Dont put your weight on one side else you will go pendulum!!! And do not bend your knees!!"....You get into the descent position and face the sky,stand horizontal on the rock and then have 100 litres of water falling on your face per second....and behind ,if you fall, you will die a death shown in Prince of persia when your character falls on those white tusk things...your instructor is shouting instructions and your friends are cheering you...but all you can hear is the splatter of the waterfall on your helmet...slowly you let the rope go by your right hand and control with your left and descend 15 feet down...you feel this is easy, until, SPLASH!!! you go into the water and crash against the rock...but thankfully you are not hurt and again you face skywards and descend down slowly...once you get the hang of it, you are no longer scared of the fall or the water...you enjoy it for a brief of timeless moment of 30 seconds, and then you are down on the ground, and you find yourself shivering and your harness being removed by a volunteer....and then you remember the mountain dew advertise (although some just remember that they paid really less for the experience, just 750 bucks!)


1:30 pm : You and your friends start walking back to the station, bathe in waterfall,click snaps and do the usual things that people do at scenic locations.


4:00 pm : You probably aren't in a mood of leaving this insanely green beautiful place, but you have to! So, you start moving towards the station, another 1 hr 15 mins of walking, mind you with no haultsa in between.
(we were lucky enough to get lift from a passing pick-up truck.)


5:30 - 6:00 pm : You are at lonavala station and you can feel your legs...catch a train and are back to mumbai at 8:30 pm.

(While returning you have lot of options even if you miss your train!)
here are some more snaps, this plce is heaven for any photographer! 

fog & three waterfalls

CRAB! was trying to hide itself!

feel it!

you blindly click a pic n this is wat you get!

our instructor giving instruction before we start rappelling session!

not an easy job!

one of us, doing rappelling, feeling some REAL water!

                                         

this is our group, 14 rappellers!

  

enjoying at another waterfall!

green green green ,heaven!

Article contributed by Durgesh Shukla!


-Operating Systems Outdoor Company

waterfall rappelling at mahuli fort on 23rd july

Operating Systems is back and this time the amateurs have gone one step further in making heads turn and how. Under the speactacular supervision of Miron Joseph (Limca Record Holder for the longest rappling at a single go) the OSOC have organized a waterfall rappelling event at the waterfall beneath Mahuli Fort near Asangaon on the 23rd of July. Some things in life have to be done for the sheer thrill and experience. Waterfall Rappelling is one such been there done that kind of a thing that one will cherish for a long time. The total cost of the event is Rs. 600. the cost includes:

• professional rappelling expertise
• equipment
• breakfast and refreshments
• travelling
• calamity funds and safety..

the cost does not include lunch and everything not mentioned above.


what to get :

• an extra pair of clothing
• sufficient water
• proper medication in case of breathing or heart patients
• shoes or floaters with sufficient grip
• camera(optional)
• towels

waterfall rappeling or canyoning as it is called is a very famous sport which involves descending from a higher point on a waterfall to a lower point with the help of ropes and harnesses. its totally safe and involves thrill and exuberance that shall remain with you for a long time even after the event. The risk factor involved is almost negligible. Leave all your worries at home and come to experience the adrenaline rush and the scenic beauty that this sport carries........!

for further details and registration contact:
vineet nanavati - 9920231363
vishal kokate - 9773529738

maximum 25 seats available......

kothligad trip

        A  Trek  To  Remember !!!

3rd July,2011.
Okay, so it is FOUR AND A HALF HOURS  past midnight, a damp SUNDAY morning (yeah ‘Sunday’ morning!), when WE (me + 3 friends) wait patiently for the rest of OPERATING SYSTEMS OUTDOOR COMPANY at DADAR  Stn.  for the 4.55AM  KARJAT  bound  train! As SIX more friends ditch their Sunday morning slumber and join us along, the TEN of us reach KARJAT Stn. at 7.30AM!
Munching on the popular Karjat ka vada-pav, we bargain with the rickshaw-walas to take us to Ambivli  gaon, but to no avail! Finally we take the 8.15AM  ST BUS to Ambivli village which is a 90MINUTES bus ride! Ambivli is kinda base-camp for all the trekkers, where we fuel ourselves with tea/coffee/biscuits and armed with hope, confidence, courage, determination(and of course, windcheater and lots of H2O), we set out to conquer Kothaligad aka Peth cha gadh! It was 10AM then!
The was pretty simple (or so it felt for the first one hour!), only a little steepat times, path was broad and hence no risk involved! Shortcuts although tad bit challenging were fun!! The weather was humid, plenty of clouds sans the rain, no wonder every stroke of wind made us thank heavens!
Posing  for pics (loadsa them!), taking tiny haults sometimes out of exasperation, sometimes for water and sometimes for friends lagging behind, listening to music we beat gravity! By noon, we could spot a few scattered huts, it was 12.30PM when we reached Peth village! People there were humble, a young boy even offered to help our way to the top! Surprisingly, none of us were hungry although a bit weary! Our aim to make it to the TOP kept us going!


Truly speaking, it was NOW that the real trek had begun! With no definite path as such, we thrust ourselves trees and steep rocks and even before we realized it, we were on our limbs using ALL FOUR OF THEM! Defying gravity’s every trick to pull us down, slowly but steadily we made our way up!
There’s this amazing CAVE atop the fort with huge winding steps to lead to the top and a large WATER TANK over it! Yes! This was it! We had scaled KOTHALIGAD!  It was TWENTY PAST ONE! The view from THE TOP was breathtaking!
We could see the BHIMASHANKAR WATER FALLS and the windmills atop the RAJMACHI PEAK! FOG  had roofed everything around! DITCHING THE 4.00AM SLUMBER WAS COMPLETELY WORTH IT! We enjoyed the locale for about an hour, had snacks and began our trek down, for we intended to catch the 5.15PM bus, the last one for the day from Ambivli !
On our way down to Peth village, we experienced a few drizzles and we’d to be careful over the rocks! The rest of the trek was done swiftly.  5.15PM on the clock we’d reached Ambivli  yet somehow missed the bus! So after a round of beverages we took a rickshaw to the Karjat Stn.!
By then it was HALF PAST SIX, a serene SUNDAY evening when WE (me + 9 friends) stood (dreading our legs might give away!) waiting for the 6.40PM CST bound train! 


article contributed by priyanka thakkar 

the panorama that greeted us

the village the fort and two lonely walkers

the greoup that made it

where it all began

how did they reach here so easily

the fort we had to capture

something our photographer vishal kokate will be proud of for a long time

the stairs to the top