For past 2.5 years, after marriage most of my trips were with my beautiful wife, Ramya. We covered many places from Yelagiri, Munnar, Thekkady, Kodachadri, Meghalaya and to Bitcoin conferences in B’lore and Goa.
Of course, there were a few short boys-only trips. All these couple trips with wifey, romantic, blah, blah. But I was craving for a raw, tough, push the limits kind of trip. Obviously boys only.
So planned for a Velliangiri group trip. Velliangiri was also in demand from few people in my circle for past years. So I picked on it and msged all my friends. 1 month prior, formed a whatsapp group with 27 members, of which only around 5 had already gone to Velliangiri. For most of them, this was their first time..
For some, this was their first trek, lol. Yeah. You read it right!
Pre-training
Informed everyone about the toughness of Velliangiri and asked everyone to train. We posted our daily practice in the whatsapp group, motivating each other and improving our fitness.
All early morning rise, morning jogs, sweating and cycling in burning sun to prepare for the tough beast, Velliangiri.
Thanks to Tamil, Raghav, Yogi, Gopi, Surya for regularly posting their updates and motivating all others.
So last week, out of 27, 12 people were ready for the trek. Others couldn’t join for lack of preparation and other reasons. Even among these 12, not all of them are well prepared. But I vibe-checked that they could possibly make it!
Day 1: Assemble
Some came from Chennai, while others from different places like Pazhani, Salem, Tanjavur and even from Karnataka. Yes. Srijith from Sublime camps and 3 of his friends joined us.
Prem kumar for a surprise addition. My machan, Dinesh picked him up in last minute without any preparation. Though I was worried about this, I was positive he could do it at his age (He is a college 1st year).
We went to Isha foundation to refresh and have a clean spiritual bath experience at Surya kund. Had our brunch and we all assembled together at Poondi temple (base of Velliangiri) between 11.30 to 1.30pm.
Day 1: First hill
After some rest in the Poondi temple, we took a snap and started the trek at 2:15pm. Thanks to Raghav, we picked the bamboo sticks near the checkpoint, rather than paying Rs. 40 for each.
Of all 7 hills, the first one is the hardest. No matter your preparation, stamina, will power, mental strength, first hill will break you. Breathing becomes heavy, Conversation slowly stops, First doubt appears in mind: “Did I underestimate Velliangiri?”, People asking “How much more to go, to complete first hill?”
But after the first hill, things get little easier. If someone could feel positive about the trek after climbing first hill. They could climb all 7 hills and get back safely. That’s my metric.
Thanks to Raj’s (the intellect of the group) idea, we gave ourselves a number. Whenever we re-group, we shout our number from 1 to 14. If no number is missing, we know no one is missing. This was really helpful.
We took it slow, at each one’s own pace. We stopped twice or thrice, just to take a breath, have water, discuss how we feel so far and push ourselves. After 1.5 hours of hard/steep climb, at 3:45pm, we all made it to the Pillayar temple at end of first hill.
Time to check my metric. Checked everyone how they felt and everyone was positive after the first hill. So am I.
Yes. That was a big relief 🙂
Tamilvanan, Satish (aka suri), Raghul, Kumaresan, each helped by carrying some luggage like bananas, water bottles, snacks, etc.,
Day 1: Rest of Velliangiri
2nd and 3rd hills were still tough, though not as hard as first one. They are also covered with trees, protecting us from direct sunlight. By around 5:30pm, we reached the 4th hill, which is a complete open space with amazing views of the valley.
Dinesh, Prem and Naveen were going in the front with their super stamina. So we made it official. Dinesh will lead the pack, while I will the last mand climbing, leaving no one behind.
We stopped there for photos, as it will get dark here after. We also had quick snack to boost our energy levels. Emptied some of our Chappathis, bananas, etc., Spent some quality time and resumed our trek.
Unfortunately, Prem kumar lost his bamboo stick here and found a random stick for his support.
Day 1: Aandi sunai and the 7th hill
Then we proceeded to cross the 4th, 5th and 6th hills. Unfortunately, we couldn’t enjoy the breathtaking views as it’s already dark. After a tough downstream walk in the 6th hill, we reached Aandi sunai, a small water flow where we all took bath.
It was a cold night, and the water was super cold. The first dip in the water, freezes your heart for a second. I usually shout after the first dip. It’s not me. It’s something inside me, feeling some transformation, new energy flowing in. But 2nd and 3rd dips feel better. And after the bath, you feel so damn refreshing. Many cold-averse people will skip the bath and miss the refreshment it gives.
Again the 7th hill gives you a hard time climbing. Thought it not as tough as the first one, after the exhaustion of climbing for all these hours, the 7th hill feels super hard. But thanks to our cold bath, body feels refreshed and we kept climbing.
[Rant] Apple really fucked up with recent OS updates (Liquid glass?). My phone battery got drained much earlier and I couldn’t take much snaps!
Finally, we made it to the top by around 10pm. Everyone shouting “Yeeaahh. We made it”. Got blessings from Velliangiri Nathar (Shiva). The natural, mystic lighting inside the temple, is an out of the world experience. Along with the feeling of accomplishment. All the hardships are soooo worth it.
Day 1: Tent setup and day 1 closure
We quickly setup 2 of our tents at the back side of the temple. Everyone got together in the big tent and finished our dinner. Tamilvanan and I brought Chappathis for everyone. Dinesh and co brought 4 packs of Puli sadham.
Raj saying out load what everyone of us had in our mind, that he could feel every tiny muscles in his legs, thighs, fingers. Regardless, the sense of accomplishment, pride, spiritual touch made us super happy.
After such a hard trek, even regular food tastes super delicious. We fill our stomachs and went to sleep. 6 of us in bigger tent and 4 of us in another Tent. Thanks to Ashok Rajendran for providing the other tent, which saved us from super cold, and also harsh winds!
We slept around midnight. Atleast I slept, but others in my tent didn’t sleep much, thanks to everyone else who slept outside in the harsh cold and shouting at themselves for not able to sleep. All tamil slang words (like ot**) where flying in the air.
Day 2: Sunrise and rush to 3rd hill before the Sun kills us
We woke at 5:30am. Packed everything quickly in 30 mins and started the descent. The idea is to get to the 3rd hill (which is covered by trees), before 9-10am, so we save ourselves from the sun.
Stopped at just 2 spots for some photos. Otherwise, it was a fast paced trek down.
Day 2: Back to Poondi temple (safely), Food and Closure
While Dinesh and co reaching earlier, the full batch reached the Poondi temple by around 11am. With 12 out of 14 first timers to Velliangiri, it was a great group accomplishment, supporting, motivating, pushing each other. Suffering together made the experience special for everyone and the bond stronger between each.
As for me, seeing everyone safely without any bone fracture, joint pain, gave me a big relief!
The Grand Velliangiri trek… was over successfully.
