SRI LANKA TAILORMADE – ADAMS PEAK EXPERIENCE

Call it adventure, call it mountain climbing, call it whatever you want, but I believe that Sri Pada (Adams Peak more commonly known) is a must climb mountain if you are a pure Sri Lankan.

A pure Chinese is measured by those who cover the great wall, well I think it would be correct to say that a pure Sri Lankan should at least experience Sri Pada, once in their life span. This is definitely a one of a lifetime climbing experiences.

It all started when my 3 times repeated clients, the Koetsiers from Netherland informed me that they wanted to visit Sri Lanka for the 4^th time in Jan 2012. I was over the moon to receive that e-mail inquiry, and in that they had mentioned about climbing Adams Peak. Immediately my mind took me to the memory of the first experience which I had on climbing Sri Pada. It is famous story at Jetwing that I took 17 hours to climb and return to the bottom of the mountain on my novice trip. Some colleagues laugh when they still hear this story, and some look at me in bewilderment! I am not offended by either actually….

So this adventure which I am going to narrate in the next few lines took place on a fading winter night of March 2012. To be more precise it was the 9^th March 2012.

My team consisted of the following: Sriyantha , Milani , Shavindri , Shamindri , Anoushka , Praveen , Thulana & Shaira.

To decide the date was a bit of an issue as my collegues at Sri Lanka Tailor-made are forever occupied during the weekends. Our initial idea was to climb with the Netherland couple – the Koetsiers. But according to their itinerary which I designed for them they had the climb on a weekday and it was not practical for us to join them as we had to be in the office the following day as well. No casualty leave was pre arranged or approved!!!!  So we targeted a weekend which was convenient for most of us. But unfortunately 3 members in the team could not make it. And that’s Shiroma, Sanka and Jayanath who had climbed this giant 13 times, and refused to try it for the 14^th time even after so many persuasions.

We organized our lodging at “Wathsala Inn” in Hatton Delhouse , which our ever kind hearted Manager Sriyantha humbly arranged for us with his master PR skills.

Dinner on the way was arranged by me at the Rafters Retreat, as I have patronized this eco retreat for over 3 times and even for my honeymoon. The staff, specially the FOM Gayan with his ever broad grin welcomed us and satisfied our hungry stomachs with a delicious Sri Lankan Vegetarian dinner.

Being a vegetarian at least on the day of the climb is a ritual for Adams Peak. It is the general practice and how our elders have preached us to do so. Hence on the 9^th & 10^th we were all vege’s. An e-mail was circulated in the office well in advance regarding the do’s and the don’ts and what to bring and what not to bring.  I kind of liked the idea of being a vege for 2 days and my colleague Shavindri who is an eternal vegetarian actually complemented at the idea that the rest of the team has to undertake this sacrifice for 2 days. She was kind of satirically happy at this idea. For most of us this was indeed a “big deal” because all the faces were beaming with sunshine grins to see chicken curry on the lunch table of “Wathsala Inn” at the departure lunch….

We left Jetwing house at 4.00 pm on the 9^th and we reached Hatton, Delhouse at around 10pm. We were targeting 9.00 pm, but our dinner break took a bit longer. From Hatton up to Delhouse it was 37 km winding road which made our stomachs churn as we were after the dinner offered at Rafters Retreat. Our transportation was organized by our ever kind hearted transport manager Sharon , and he indeed allocated a novice chauffeur to travel with us.  I am sure he had a wonderful ride with us and it was definitely a memorable experience for him as well.

As soon as we reached Wathsala Inn we were shown to our rooms. The moment we got out from the Van we realized that the weather was quite chilly. Hence we got prepared ourselves with warm cloths, jerseys, igloo caps, scarf’s and walking shoes. Each one of us took a small bottle of water and our own personal first aid and some small tit bits like chocolates to eat while climbing.

We started our climb at 11 pm. At the foot of the mountain we passed a Siddhalepa boutique which gave away small hot drinks of ayurveda syrup. I definitely wanted to drink that and some of us followed me and drank it as well, perhaps thinking of extra energy!!!!

At the beginning it was easy as there were very few steps. After the Makara Thorana (the dragon Arch) we came to “Seetha Gangula”. When climbing Adams Peak for the first time there are many rituals (practices). Seetha Gangula is one point where you have to take a bath, a wash or at least wash your faces. In our team many were first timers, the novices. Out of all of them Thulana was the most devoted novice.  Thanks to his mother he was well prepared for all the rituals.

We took panduru “coins”, and at the first shrine Thulana and Anoushka offered the panduru which was blessed and tied on to their hands with a white piece of cloth. This is a ritual which symbolizes protection until you climb down the mountain, and the padura which is tied in the hand will be removed only at the foot of the mountain once you climb down.

At the next shrine we were all blessed by the monk and he kept a “red pottu” mark on each of our foreheads, and informed that there are 7000 steps more from that point onwards. I barely recovered from a black out when I heard the number of steps……

There onwards we started the journey. As it was the night time, we did not feel it much at all. The climate was cold and there was a chilly breeze.  We did not encounter a large crowd as it was a Friday night which was a weekday and it made the climb somewhat convenient.

We passed “Haramitipana”, which has a ritualistic meaning behind it. Here you get lot of sticks of various sizes, leaning beside a large rock.  In the earlier days, when the road was really bad, people had used walking sticks as a support to climb the mountain. It is believed that, those pilgrimages would have kept their walking sticks at the foot  as an offering to denote strength for the rest of the climb. Some still offer their stick to Buddha or God Saman at the summit, to gain strength in their legs before the decent. It is also believed that in the earlier days this place was used for lighting of torches. But now in the present day torches are not needed because the entire route is illuminated up to the summit. But at certain places we had to use the torch which is in our mobile phones since some steps were on higher elevations.

We did not offer any stick at this point. We just walked on. Then we came to the “Indikatupana”. It is also called as “Geththampana” too.  At first sight it looks like a whole heap of white candy floss, or cobwebs. But here pilgrims, specially the novices used their needle and white thread. In our group we had a couple of novices, and especially Thulana did the novice ritual at this place. We saw him reciting his prayers and then taking the needle and the thread up and down in the similar way as how the others have done it. It is believed that Buddha had visited Sri Pada and while going, he stopped at this place to mend his robe. Therefore up to this day, this ritual has been practiced.

We did not climb at a stretch. I think we stopped at almost every boutique which we encountered and drank coffee, plain tea , and various other soft drinks.  5 years ago, when I climbed for the first time they did not sell “Red Bull” 7362 feet above sea level on the mountain. But now every shop sells that too, and some of my team members drank this energy drink which had its effects when we were climbing down……. (especially for Anoushka!)

By now we were really exhausted. We were utterly disappointed with our performance and the level of our stamina. We were stopping at every 10 steps, and old grannys and grand pa’s were passing us vigorously giving us symphethetic glances. Young teenage boys were forever passing comments at us for our snail crawl. At one point our manager Sriyantha came up with a solution to stop after every 25m, which none of us agreed to. We came to a collective decision to stop every 10m. And that was bearable until “Asala Kanuwa”

“Asala Kanuwa” also has significance.  This place is considered where the pilgrims stopped and accustomed to register vows, marking them on the post before they make the final ascent. But today neither a post nor shed is there significantly and we did not see any pilgrims making their vows to God Saman.

After Asala Kanuwa , the climb was extremely steep. Some call it the “Mahagiri Dambaya” and it is also called as the “Ahasgauva”. Believe me… I could not climb 3 steps at a stretch. I had to seek for Sriyantha’s support for each step. When there was a railing I was climbing with all the strength of the shoulders and not the legs. And I think all others were also encountering the same issue and following the same pattern. But to our amaze there were a few extraordinary passer by’s who were either hopping on the steps or running upwards. Some energy I thought… Somehow with all the will power, confidence and team effort we completed the last bit successfully.

We were almost at the summit at 4.00 am. We had two objectives. One was to see the Sacred Foot Print and the other was to witness the sunrise. Upon the summit pilgrims were not allowed to stay for very long after worshipping. Therefore we had no choice but, sit on the “Mahagiri Dambe” and wait for another one hour to kill the time.  We lined up and sat one after the other on the steps where crowds were passing us by.  As we were dead tired, all of us fell asleep shamelessly on those rustic steps in spite of the large crowds passing us by. Some were passing comments at us and Milani’s panda cap created a lot of attention….

At 5.00am we climbed to the summit, “Uda Maluwa”. There was a bit of a cue for the worshipping of the Sacred Foot Print. Me, Thulana, Anoushka, Praveen and Shavindri had panduru (coins) brought from home to be offered to the footprint. To offer these coins one should first wash them in saffron water and then clean them with lime. This again is a practice which I have seen our elders follow and so we also did the same.

We waited in the cold breeze for about 30 minutes to worship the sacred foot print. It felt like a very long wait to me. To come up to the summit everybody has to remove their shoes. We at first thought how possible that was in such coldness. It was freezing cold. We found it difficult to breathe and talk. Our teeth were forever clattering with coldness. Even though our team consisted of different religions, out of respect we removed our shoes outside and went to the “Uda Maluwa”. But my colleague Milani at this point, refused to take off her shoes, as she said that the cold was extremely unbearable for her. We tried all tactics to persuade her, but ultimately she ended up watching our shoes, instead of paying respect to the Sacred Foot print. I would say that is also another lifetime experience to stay guard on shoes at Adams Peak, which is more than 7000 feet above sea level. Where else can one possibly get such an experience?….

One after the other we visited the Sacred Foot Print and then myself, Thulana and Shaira , went to light a lamp and some incense sticks.  Thulana the most devoted had brought coconut oil and incense sticks from home which he readily shared with all of us. At the summit there aren’t many places to light lamps. The only and the main lamp is the “Dolosmahe Pahana” where everybody pours oil and a piece of cotton thread. This particular lamp is lit all throughout the year, and that is why it is named as thus. The Coconut oil which Thulana had brought was frozen due to the cold temperature, and we had to keep it on fire for about ten minutes before using. After this ritual was done we gathered again and decided to come down. More correct to say that we were asked to move down after worshipping in order to reduce the crowd at the summit. There is belief which I have heard my grandmother mentioning that “Uda Maluwa” never gets over crowded, no matter how much pilgrims visit the Scared Foot Print. She use to say this with lot of devotion.

It was about 6.00 am when we finished the worshipping and we decided to climb down. By now my right knee has started giving me immense pain, and as per Sriyantha’s instructions, I went and consulted the first aid assistant who was answered our call even though he was half asleep. I had Siddhalepa with me and I rubbed it myself on both knees as they were aching to glory. The first aid assistant had a heater in the first aid room which he brought close to my knees, and that was a great relief.  The blood which was frozen all this while, suddenly started to run in the body.  The first aid assistant instructed me not to climb down the mountain straight, but to climb down in to a side angel, which was almost like a crab style of walking down. This was the most convenient method, as this gave less strain to the knees. After completing this mission , we wore our shoes and started climbing down. Thanks to Milani, our shoes were safe, but she was furious with us for being late.

We had another objective before we climbed down. And that was to see the sunrise. We thought that the sun rise was at 5.30 am. I really don’t know what made all of us to assume like this. But however, sun never came up at 5.30 am. Utter Despair…. We were freezing and no sun rise which we were all looking forward to. I think at this point we were kind of confused. We were looking at all directions, even though from child hood we knew that the sun rose from the east. Out of all us, Praveen had some brains. He used his ultra technological mobile phone and gave the correct directions towards east. But it was pitch dark there and we all looked at him in awe..

Sun does not rise when we want, was our ultimate conclusion. Yeah he took his own sweet time and peeped out slowly from the misty mountains at 6.25am. Need to learn some sense in punctuality…. By this time we were at a small shop and the shop owner was shouting to all his customers and passing by people regarding the Sun Rise. He was actually using Sun Rise as a marketing strategy to attract his customers for breakfast. We visited this shop, which is the second in line from the summit. By this time Anoushka was also endlessly suffering from a knee ache, and above all we all needed to go to a wash room. In spite of the real state of the wash room, and not considering any luxury, we all went in to patronize it. If you ever slip your foot and fall in these wash rooms, please don’t ever think of coming out. It is rather a relief to go down the precipice other than trying to overcome it. It is that bad….it was like hell on earth………

After relieving our self from the nature calls, we started climbing down further. In this process we were on the lookout for breakfast. Along the steps of Adams peak there are plenty of small shops to have breakfast. Even though all of us are not so use to having breakfast early morning, on that day we were ravenous.  We stopped at a small shop which sold rottis, and some short eats which were frozen.  Some were out on display and I just happened to touch them and felt they were like frozen stones. Immediately the shop keeper agreed to put them back on the stove and he heated it for us. With rotti we had “lunumiris”, a paste prepared by mixing chili powder, lime and salt. This was extremely spicy but since it was so cold we actually did not feel it a lot. After enjoying this spicy breakfast we all ordered hot coffee which was served to us in very tine brown color glasses. For a moment at that moment I went back to my child hood the time I use to play houses with my sis and cousins, eating and drinking in small plates and cups…

After having breakfast we started climbing down again. Our decent was extremely slow. And gradually most of us were having lot of issues with our knees.  I, who have had very bad experience during my previous climb, took extra care not to injure my knees this time. But my colleague Anoushka was in lot of pain as her knees were badly hurt.  In our team we always had some kind of back up. This time Praveen and Sriyantha helped Anoushka to climb down. She was almost carried half the time because it was getting worse for her. I really felt so sorry because she reminded me of my first attempt so much.

And so we descended and descended.  It was not easy at all. My other two colleagues were utterly depressed about their stamina as well. Shamindri was climbing in sideways and so was Shavindri. Both were clinging on to Thulana who tolerated them so patiently without a single complaint.

Even though most of us were eternally depressed with our performance, we were told that the post man who is assigned for Adams Peak, climb this mountain every day. This actually made us wonder the level of fitness of this human being. What stamina is this and is this humanly possible to climb this every day to deliver post. I won’t be amazed if he was awarded the fittest Sri Lankan. It is definitely something remarkable. While struggling to climb come down on the next step, we even saw people climbing up with Gas cylinders. From the start we were planning to take as less weight as possible. But look at this. To our bewilderment this man was carrying 13.5 kg.

By now it was approaching towards Midday and the sun was in its blast. Some of the shops were open and our struggle to climb down was a fascination sight for many. Some actually pitied us, while some actually laughed and joked at our methods of walking and climbing down. We all felt that our legs were not going according to the way we want. They were wobbling like the strings of a mandolin. However after some time we all felt so tired and dehydrated and we stopped at several places to have fresh lime juice. At that moment a glass of iced fresh lime juice was so heavenly.  The lime juice was basically made out of fresh spring water of Adams Peak and even during the midday the water was so cold and the lime juice was so fresh as if it had been taken from the refrigerator at that moment.

So gradually we all climbed down one after the other. It was hectic but it was a lifetime experience.  We were all looking forward to having a good hot water bath but this turned out to be a disappointment s the hotel bathroom did not supply hot water continuously.

However we all cleaned up and had our lunch which we were looking forward to so much… we all enjoyed the lunch thoroughly at the miniature restaurant of the hotel which had a galactic view of the Adams Peak and while munching away the rice we all had one thought in our minds “Wow we somehow climbed it somehow”.

With hearts full of happiness and body’s full of aches we climbed to our van and set off for Colombo, reminiscing  the experience and wondering how many of us will ever try this mountain again…!

By Dulmini Ekanayake

(Sri Lanka Tailor-Made)