The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : A place to go for adventure

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Sunday, Nov 26, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

A place to go for adventure

Swahilya

First timers must watch their step

IN THE COMPANY OF CLOUDS: A view from Parvathamalai. — Photo: Swahilya

CHENNAI: For many a Chennaiite hungry for trekking and mountain climbing, Parvathamalai, 25 km from Tiruvannamalai, could be the place to go in search of adventure.

Frequented by a large numbers of people on full moon and no moon nights, the nondescript mountain, which is a part of the Javadhi hills, is accessible through a four-hour trek from Kadaladi or through Thenmadimangalam (Thenmahadevamangalam).

Walk through forest

The trek from the Pachaiamman temple is almost 3 km through a thick forest of medicinal herbs and lush greenery. Jagged and rough-edged stones give the feet of barefoot trekkers an acupressure treatment.

There are a couple of stalls enroute providing hot tea, lemon soda salt and buttermilk and have ample space to rest on the concrete sidewall. While first-timers need to climb cautiously, regular trekkers make the journey at a surprisingly fast pace.

After some time, the trekkers will reach Gadapparai, from where begins a rock-climbing adventure. A video CD on the Parvathamalai says that people return at that point in sheer fright.

If you are a first timer, do not look around just watch your step. The adventure begins at a ladder of metal steps provided with iron chains on either side.

The next incline barely has footholds engraved on the rock and the climber has to hold on to iron rods planted on either side and proceed ahead without looking back. Forward is the only way to go.

Then they reach Mandapam, and before one thinks that the travel is over comes the indication of a few more of such steps of stone — involving walking sideways by clinging to a boulder, bending beneath a cliff, and keeping fear of the vast depths that loom large at arm's length.

Breathtaking view

At the top is a very cold clearing from where one gets a breathtaking view of the earth below, the snaking road and the shimmering farmland.

With many trekkers coming on special days, the Government has decided to provide infrastructure at an estimated Rs.81.17 lakh by an order issued in July 2003.

According to the Tourism Department officials, the infrastructure at Parvathamalai was inadequate. So a proposal with detailed estimates was drafted in consultation with the Collector of Tiruvannamalai for strengthening the infrastructure.

Several works, including providing blacktopping to the Parvathamalai road, construction of a waiting shed at Pachaiamman Koil, and the formation of a footpath with handrails from Pachaiamman Koil to Veerabhadran Koil, have been completed

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