Events Unlimited.

There was a phase in my corporate life, when I was part of a group that went to some great treks near Pune & Mumbai. This group used to go for treks with good frequency.

So one fine evening in monsoons of year 2008, 4 of us decided to go for a trek of Ratangarh. These 4 were - Me, Abhinav, Ali & Moiz.



We started early morning on Saturday by taking bus from Pune. After couple of bus changes, we reached Ratanwadi, the base village from where the trek starts. Journey took much longer than we had anticipated and hence were in hurry to get started with trekking. Monsoon clouds & rains were already making it look darker. This didn't gave us time to appreciate Ratanwadi, a small & beautiful village situated on river bank. It also boasts of beautiful and ancient shiva temple. But we had not much time, so we ate our snacks hurriedly while searching for some local guide who can take us to Ratangarh.

After some search, Ali came up with our guide - a small child of 10-12 years. "This chotu will take us to the top?? No way, find some adult!!" yelled Abhinav. "There is no other option. I searched a lot. Lets go with this chap, he looks small but is smart" quipped Ali.

So we four & half men started with our mission to Ratangarh. It was raining profusely but the path was very beautiful and exciting. Most of the way is via a deep jungle. Suddenly we were faced with a river to cross. Little scared, we all 5 formed a human chain and crossed it steadily. With dark atmosphere, forest cover & continuos downpour, I was suddenly feeling as if we are traveling in a amazon rain forest. It was a thrilling experience. But little did I know, actual thrill is still waiting to blow our minds at end of the journey.

While we were crossing some rocks, Moiz's shoe gave up. It had a tear which made it impossible for Moiz to negotiate rocky path. I was carrying a pair of floaters, so offered him to use my floaters. But he requested me to wear the floaters and give him my shoes, as he was finding it very difficult on slippery rocks. Little reluctant, considering rocks weren't too kind to me either, I gave him my shoes.

As we were moving higher up the trek, jungle was giving way to a more hard and slippery terrain. It was getting dark, rainy and difficult with each passing step. Rain had soaked all our clothes, shoes and bags, making everything much heavier. Extra weight had made us extra exhausted.

After around 2 km of tough climb, suddenly Moiz shouted "Here come the ladders!".  Suddenly I remembered Ali had told me that one has to climb 2 ladders just before reaching Ratangarh top. First of ladder is easy, but second one is bit dangerous. He had also told a story about tourist, who had died while crossing that ladder last year. Brushing aside these thoughts, I continued.

We faced first ladder. It was steep and had a height of around 15 meters. With everything completely dark, and ladder feeling slippery, we all slowly climbed it. After completing it, there as a little rocky patch leading to second ladder. Second ladder started with a rock, and was placed along a deep deep ridge. You slip, you are gone into deep unknown. With strong winds, rain and slippery rocks, it looked scary. Climbing the second ladder along the overlooking ridge was just a small part of equation, actually the platform to which second ladder leads to, was broken. One can only place his foot on the edges of platform, as center of platform had a hole, through which dark 4000 feet deep valley was visible. Via platform, one had to go through a very narrow pathway leading to rock with enough space to rest. Right side of that narrow pathway was deep valley, and left side was slippery rocks with water flowing down. This was first time in whole trek when I wasn't confident about moving ahead. Main reason was my slippery floaters. There was no margin of error while moving on that narrow path, you slip, you die. I took a long breath and started moving on that narrow path while trying to hold some rocks with left hand. Fortunately for me, rocks were algae free and gave decent grip in-spite of flowing water. As soon as I crossed this narrow path, felt some sense of relief.

Slowly and carefully, Abhinav, Ali & Moiz too crossed the path. Riskiness of the situation had created little sense of tension in all of us. Kid was quieter compared to usual. Only thing he kept murmuring was - "Jaldi chalo, andhera ho gaya hai (move fast, it's dark)". Though we had got a resting space on the rock, difficult part was still not over. Ahead of us, was a slanted vertical rock that needed to be climbed to reach destination. And duct like shape of that rock had allowed to pass enough amount of water through it to make it effectively a waterfall. Our task was to climb 5-8 meters up against this waterfall.

We started making this climb one by one. First to go were me & Abhinav. Though tougher, this climb was less nervy compared to second ladder because there wasn't the danger of freely falling in 4000 feet deep valley. After we both completed, Ali started his climb, but got exhausted mid-way in the climb and got stuck. It was heart-warming to see the 12 year old kid pushing from behind to move this 90 kg grown up, but that wasn't working. Suddenly Ali decided to let go of his backpack, and with 15 kg of extra burden gone, he had enough energy to climb up the rock. Moiz too followed the same trick. Backpacks were separately picked up once we had more energy and help from kid.

This final effort had took us to top! The climb of Ratangarh was over :-). Although badly exhausted, there was big sense of relief to reach the top. A sudden thought occurred to remind me about going back via same risky route tomorrow, but I brushed it aside for time being and thought of enjoying this moment.

To be continued...

Since much of the discovery for adventure events like trek is now happening on web, it is important to capture your potential attendee's attention by posting relevant content about your treks online. Various online channels like Websites, Facebook, registration pages (like Townscript) can be used for content creation.

It is important to understand what that content should be like, in order to generate maximum interest. We feel following are the important components of Trek's online content -

1) Itinerary
The comprehensive schedule of the things to be done on trek, travel time etc is very important to excite potential attendees. This helps them gauge whether it's an easy or a difficult trek, whether it suits their needs and most importantly whether action matches the price.

2) Good quality pictures
This sparks the imagination and makes readers instantly excited about the trek.

3) Level of toughness
Treks are inherently tough in nature. And their toughness vary a lot from one trek to another. Since every trek is not cup of tea for everybody, a special mention about trek's toughness gives more confidence to potential attendee and helps him/her take a decision.

4) Whether friendly for girls or not
One of the common question I get asked when suggesting a trek to any friend with wife/girlfriend is - "Whether I can bring her along with me to this trek?". So if a trek content doesn't effectively solves this query, it will lose many attendees.

5) Items to carry 
Depending upon the level & duration of trek, you should clearly tell what are the desirable items to be carried for the trek i.e. how much water? how many clothes? sleeping bag? what shoes? etc. This information gives clear idea to potential attendees about how much stuff they need to buy in order to attend this trek.


So in my view, these 5 components makes for a great online content for a trek. Why it is important to have all of these components in your trek content? Because it solves potential attendee's biggest queries. And when someone online typically gives only 5 mins to decide whether he/she is interested in a particular trek, you ought to quickly answer their most important queries :)

Do you feel there are more components to add to this list? Please let me know in comments.

Treks are traditionally never perceived to be done as a couple. But you would be pleasantly surprised how a single trek can act as a deal-breaker in a relationship or even help in mending some which are undergoing turbulent times. We provide you some reasons as to why you should go on a trek with your girlfriend:

1)  Be The Hero
Lets face it, even if you do want to be the hero in front of your girlfriend from time to time, you don't get enough chances to do so. Trek provides an ideal opportunity for you to be the hero. You will get numerous chances to be her knight in shining armor all along the trek and be her aide when she requires it the most. And mind you she will notice and remember that. Chance to get extra brownie points.

2) Fall In Love Again
Is your relationship going through troubled times? You would be amazed how a trek can do wonders for the relationship. It might be even better than resolving the issues over a dinner. Treks are worth the hard-work you put in and when you reach the summit the sight of wilderness and untouched world is something your heart preserves for a long time. What more of a romantic setting do you need to fall in love again and resolve your issues. Be amazed by the beauty around you and discover the beauty in your relationship again.




3) Weathering The Storm
Treks can also help you understand your girlfriend in a deeper way. It can bring out the worst out of anyone and this gives you a chance to observe and understand the darker side of her. If you still find her beautiful then congratulation you have weathered the storm and you will emerge stronger in your relationship.

4) Spend Quality Time Together
Truth be told it is quite difficult to spend time together especially for working couples. Trek gives the perfect chance for both of you to get away from your hectic life and spend quality time in the laps of nature. You will see that you will open up more on a trek rather than a coffee shop. The ambiance out in the mountains and woods just helps you talk with her more and spend some 'real' time together.



Whats your story? Have you ever been on trek dates before? Let us know in the comments...

Straight up I will let you know that I was not a trek guy. No specific reason as to why so. But I agreed on going to a trek to Rajmachi when my friend asked for the sole purpose that it would be fun as we hadn't met for a few months. Plus I had already confirmed with my friend whether the trek was going to be easy or not. I should have known better when he readily said its easy. I mean how hard could a walk be even if it was 20 odd kilometers. Plus there was the added thrill of it being a night trek. Imagine my first trek of my life and it turned out to be a night trek.

From Left Me(Shashank Pal), my friend Akash Thakare

So we set out for the trek from the base location of Lonavala at around 11 PM. It turned out to be more educative for me in the sense I learnt quite a few lessons. I will try and enlist a few of them here.

1)  NEVER EVER wear Sneakers to a trek even if it doesn't involve any climb. As it turned out my feet as well as my sneaks were all worn out even before half the trek got over.

2) NOTHING is as easy as it seems at the start. The engineer in me had already calculated that a simple walk towards the fort at a pace of 8km/hr will at the max take me 3 hours to complete. As it was proved I was wrong. It took me nearly 5 hours.

3) You require MOTIVATORS as well as PEOPLE WHO LAUGH AT YOU in life. The former to remind you that some people will always be there who believe in you. The latter to motivate you indirectly as you are filled with the goal to prove them wrong. I being on the healthier side struggled for a long time on the journey up. But I had my motivators and de-motivators to help me reach the summit.

4) You can ACHIEVE anything you put your mind to. Yes you will have doubts on the way, yes you would want to quit at times but once you decide on finishing it no one can stop you. You may not succeed immediately but you will surely I had almost quit even before halfway point of the trek. But when I decided I had to do it I was able to complete the trek even though it took me a few hours more.

But all my trial and tribulations were worth it once I reached top. The scenic beauty and being n the midst of a nature truly rejuvenates you. It just makes you so happy for some unknown reasons. You forget what you were worried about the previous day and just soak in the fresh air. I felt like carrying that feeling home, life would have become so much simpler. Rajmachi did turn out to be fun and when I look back at it now I always end up with a smile on my face.

I would definitely look forward to some more treks given that I manage to buy some real trekking shoes.

Signing off,
A 'healthy' Trekker.