Scaling New Heights

It all began with the idea of a weekend getaway. After much deliberation, the place decided was Mukteshwar. The count of people who went was 11.

Friday night 2100 hours: We set off from Delhi. When I sat in the car, I was a little apprehensive to see so many people whom I did not know all that well. My mind wandered in many directions- what if we had absolutely nothing in common, what if we didn’t get along at all despite making efforts to do so. I guess all turned out well…considering I slept for only an hour that night! So much for being apprehensive!

When we reached the camp on Saturday, I felt a sense of peace dawn over me. I was away from the madness of the city. Never had I been to a place so quiet that I could actually hear the wind blow through the trees. It was a beautiful feeling.

The day itself was quite eventful and had a bag full of surprises in store. After a 5 km trek to a mountaintop, we reached the point from where we were supposed to do rock climbing. The first volunteer was someone who had climbed rocks before; while watching him do it, it seemed like a difficult, but doable job.

I have never been an adventurous sort of a person. The most adventurous thing I have done in my life is to trek up a mountain. Yet, I volunteered to go next. I keep wondering what prompted me to do so. I could have waited for a couple of other people to try it out before I took a go at it, but I had this feeling deep inside that if I waited for other people to do it, I would never be able to get myself to attempt climbing the rock! Besides, I kept thinking, “How bad can it be?”. Little did I know!

Before I knew it, I was being strapped in a helmet; ropes were being tied around me, and I was walking down this narrow path from where all I could see was a huge drop to the land of unknown! At that point, all I could think of was the number of pieces my body would break into if I fell off the mountain!

When I started to climb the rock, I realized what a fool I had been to think that climbing the rock would be doable. I don’t know how many heart attacks I almost had when I could not find a foothold or handhold! Twice I almost gave up the climb. However, there were 10 people behind me urging me to complete the climb. More importantly, I did not want to fail myself by being a quitter. I think that’s when I made up my mind that I would complete the climb no matter how long it took, or how badly I got hurt. I won’t say that making this decision made the rest of the climb any easier, but I certainly did manage to make it to the top. I can’t even begin to describe the surge of emotions that went through me when I managed to reach the top of the cliff. It was as if I had climbed the Everest! I was actually jubilant about all the little wounds and bruises I got while climbing – they were my war trophies! I have heard of people achieving miracles because of their willpower, in my case, I climbed a rock!

Almost everyone climbed the rock. I realized that I wanted everyone to complete the climb successfully as badly as I wanted myself to complete it. While I was sitting with the others watching people attempt the climb, I could sense that the others also felt the same way. Another remarkable thing was that everybody was extremely patient when the others were attempting the climb. There was a constant support to meet the challenge. In the end, most of us had completed the rock climb. There was an absolute sense of euphoria present among us!

After a sumptuous lunch on the mountaintop, our camp director told us to try out rappling. My confidence, which had taken on new dimensions because of the adventure of rock climbing, took quite a beating when I saw the 90 degree drop from the cliff. When I noticed that the wind was blowing so strongly that we were in serious danger of being blown off the cliff, I promised myself that I would not put myself through that. After all, I had a long life to live and still many things to do!
But once again my mind went down the familiar (and stray) path of “How bad can it be?!”. When I finally tried it, it turned out to be exhilarating! I was so hooked on to it that I wanted more!


The most difficult part about rappling is the initial leap you take to get started. After that leap, it is just about following your instincts and falling into a rhythm of coming down.

Though it had been an action-packed day, none of us were really tired. In fact, all of us were so pumped by the adventure that we wanted to do more rappling, and this time from a longer drop. This is when we decided to attempt rappling from a 100 feet rock the next day. If rappling on the previous day was exhilarating, the second time round it was mind blowing. But I will not be completely honest if I say that I was 100% sure of myself. I was extremely apprehensive about the 100 feet rock, especially after I heard people who had attempted it saying that there were quite a few rocks jutting out.

Finally, I gathered enough guts to go in for the fall. The second experience of rappling was a little different from the first time. It was easier to take the initial jump from the edge of the rock, though it was possible to a large extent because of the constant guidance of Jeevan, the person who acted as our coach! However, immediately after taking the first jump, I swerved to my right and lost my balance. As a result, I kept swaying from one side to another. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I remember thinking what if I couldn’t do it. However, after a while I guess instinct took over and I got into the rhythm of coordinating my hands and legs in a manner that I was gliding smoothly down the rock. Though I did get stuck for a while, I could make the entire 100 feet without getting entangled in any bush…..it was an awesome feeling. What followed the rappling though, was not something I would like to relive…..we had to go down this extremely narrow trail to get to a waterfall, and ultimately go back to where the cars were parked. My only thoughts were that the trail was meant for goats….how in the world did they expect people to go down the same trail. There had to be some differentiation between people and goats, right?! Only I know how I managed the climb down….with loads of help!!! (In my prayers, I still thank the people who helped me down the trail!!)

After somehow scraping down to the waterfall and enjoying the purity of mountain water, we had an exciting trek up the mountain for our lunch. It was exciting because of two reasons: one, there was no defined trail for climbing the mountain, so it was pretty hard work to climb because of the loose rocks and inclines and slopes everywhere.
Second, one of us had the experience of seeing a snake pass between her fingers and then between her legs. We were really living on the edge! I must say she was extremely brave to not even scream! I probably would have caused a landslide by screaming if something similar had happened to me!

Our activity list ended with a rather docile boat ride in Bhimtal. I discovered a new personality trait- that I was rather keen on adventure! I felt that the boat ride was too boring after the numerous things we had done!

There is a line in the movie ‘Black Hawk Down’ about war that is etched in my memory. When a guy in the movie was asked about war, he said “War is all about watching out for your neighbor’s back”. On this trip, we unconsciously but constantly kept doing that; whether it was while trekking, mountain climbing, or rappling. We went as 11 individuals, but came back as one team.

The trip ended when I reached home at 2 am, but for me, what had intended to be a trip for the sake of taking a break, actually became a voyage of discovery.