Lingana is a massive pinnacle on the mainline of the Sahyadris between Raigad and Torna. It is 35 km away from Mahad town.It is 2969 feet high. Its rock cut steps have been destroyed and the fort is almost completely inaccessible, other than via rock climbing.  Under the Marathas, Lingana was used as a penal settlement. The prisoners were confined to rock dungeons with one dungeon holding 50 prisoners.

We started from Pune at 2.00 am on Dec 15 and reached the village of Mohari at 5.10 am. It is only about 72 km from Pune but it took us about 3 hours. The road was extremely bad and unpaved for the last 10 km. My SUV barely made it to Mohari village.

Once we reached there was a small briefing and some breakfast. We ate bananas and poha at around 5.30 am. The dawn looked wonderful.

At 6.30 am we started our 3 km trek to the base of Lingana fort. We had to climb down Boratyachi Naal which is a steep, narrow, rocky tube-like path down to the base of Lingana fort. It is very challenging to descend.

We took a picture with Lingana in the background.

We reached the base of Lingana fort at around 8 am. This is where our 1,000 ft rock climbing ascent would begin. 

There are hooks that have been hammered in permanently into the rock faces. They serve as anchors for the climb. Ropes were tied to such hooks every 20-30 ft at critical points. We had two safety anchors tied to our harness and we had to have at least one connected at any time. When we arrive at a hook junction, we had to remove one safety anchor, move it to the next section and then move the other safety anchor from the earlier section over.  

As we rested in some sections, we took in stunning views.

The climb was very challenging. Some sections had very little foothold and we needed a tremendous amount of upper body strength to pull ourselves up using the rock surface grips or the rope, or both. Because you are scared as well, the heart rate would go up considerably due to fright and exhaustion.

We came to a mid point where there is a cave and a water tank. We replenished and continued on from there. The climb became harder from this point onwards.

We continued climbing till we reached the peak at around 12.15 pm. Overall, it took us 4.15 hrs.  For safety, we often had to wait for people to finish one rope section before the next person could go onto that section. Since there were 30 people in the climbing group, it took a lot of waiting as we climbed. The rule was even while resting, we had to stay anchored to the rope.

It was a gorgeous 360-degree view at the top. We could see various forts, Torna, Rajgad, Raigad and Konkan Diva from Lingana top. There is a huge Bhagwa (saffron) flag at the top of Lingana. It looked awesome. 

We had some food at the top, enjoyed the views and took a group picture.

We started climbing down at 1.15 pm. The only way to descend is to rappel down. It was 1,000 ft of rappeling in 6 sections. At each section that was a person controlling the top belay (support) and a person controlling the bottom belay. These belays provide ultimate safety if the person is a novice. Either the top or the bottom person can arrest the fall.

The rappelling sections were really long and challenging. While descending, we were wondering how we ever climbed these sections.

The last 2 sections were extremely long and it took us about 5 mins per person to get down. Once again, since only one person can be on a section, it took a while for the 30 person group to come all the way down.

It was an exhilirating experience. At some steep sections, the heart would start racing as we would go down a cliff face. By the time we got to the 6th (last) section, we were feeling more confident. In this last section, Anu, Jai and I managed to rappel down without a bottom belay. The key with such a situation is that you bottom hand that controls your braking can never leave the rope.

We arrive at Lingana base at around 3.45 pm. We then started climbing Boratyachi Naal 300-400 ft climb and reached Mohari village at around 5.15 pm. The climb was in fading light and the temperature had got cooler. It is tiring to climb in hot weather.

Once we reached Mohari village, we were exhausted. 

Here is a short video summary of our climb path.

We washed our face, hands and feet and immediately took off around 5.30 pm, came via Pabe Ghat, Khanapur and Sinhagad Road, finally reaching Pune at 8.30 pm.

It was a wonderful, challenging experience that tested the limits of our strength and endurance. Truly a memorable experience!

Here is a link to the complete photo album.