Running up Kumara Parvata

About 17 years back, as a bunch of college kids in our 3^rd semester of engineering, we had embarked on the toughest trek in the malnad region – Kumara Parvata (or Pushpagiri). We had stayed overnight at Shanivarsante, climbed the peak via the easier Somwarpet side. We camped overnight on the peak and down to Kukke Subramanya the following day. Memories of leech bites, the challenging rock climbs, water shortage remain solid, just like the mountain. And the aches, pains & muscle soreness of the next few days were epic stuff.

And after all these years, almost twice as old as that college kid, on Friday as I was winding up the last conference call for the week before boarding the train, the anxiety was palpable. It was all NT’s plan and he was a bundle of nervous excitement himself.

In about 34hrs, staying 22hrs on our feet, we trekked up to KP peak 4 times, twice from either side, some 14000ft (4500mts) of overall climbing. We walked up forests, loose gravel, scaled rocks and ran some of the 75kms distance in mostly good weather & some rain. KP welcomed me with an avalanche of memories from my previous 2 treks to KP. My last one was in 2006 - a team of 4, we had gone ‘To heaven and back’ from Kukke in 1.5days.

For those of you who know this trek and curious about the timings, some approximate stats (averaged from 2 trips).

(elevation profile map and distance from coorg.xyz)

Kukke to Girigadde (Up time 2hrs, Down 1.5hrs): This is the toughest section forest trail with steep climbs can get your heart racing – the climb down this stretch is also not kind on the thighs & knees.

Girigadde to KP top (Up time 2hrs, Down 1.5hrs): Loose gravel, not very steep, but not runnable. Exposed landscape till Shesha parvata, then some forest valley and one rock climb to the top. Few leeches but some killer bees on top.

KP top to Bidahalli check post(Up time 1:45hrs, Down 1.5hrs): 4 rock climbs. With Saturday night thunderstorms, the rocks were slippery and tough to navigate both ways. The foresty trail from there to the check post was divine. Thick foliage, damp ground, much less steep made some running possible. But it was swarming with blood suckers.

We stuck to a brisk walking pace for most of the uphill / steep downhill sections and jogged when it was favorable (some 10% of the trail). I set pace for most of the uphills while NT was ahead making sure we zigzagged downhill, when possible to save our knees.

We carried minimum gear. We had 2 lt camelbacks which we refilled at the checkposts.

For food, we packed a box each of palav (day1) and chow chow bath (day2) which we polished off on the KP top. We had salt pills (courtesy NT), Almonds & Nuts, dry fruit laddos, Protein biscuits & gel shots, which we munched at regular intervals. All easy to carry, keeping our load light. And of course, handful of salt for all of our wormy friends.

As we got down towards Girigadde from the top on those exposed hills, we had rains lashing us. We were both concerned about lightning strikes. As per first hand report of a trekker who had experienced this on Saturday, a few seconds before it strikes, hair on your skin stands up (due to the charge) and then one can see sparks overhead. If this happens, your best recourse is to lie flat on the ground (to avoid giving the lightning a good conductor it’s looking for) and pray hard.

Other trekkers did claim to spot a few snakes, but we didn’t have any sightings. No elephants, just some elephant dung for us.

All pics courtesy NT.

If that college kid could gaze ahead in time to this trip, I am sure he would have been impressed. Time to shift the gaze forward to the next 18yrs, you think?