This is the link to the Karnala snaps:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cjagtap/Karnala

I knew it had to end. My dream run of treks was to end with my trip to Karnala on 14th January 2007. It was to be a bonus as it included climbing as well as rappelling. It was arranged by NB along with Shiva Garjana. The task of conducting the event got really hard for these guys as people took hours to climb a peak which could be scaled in a matter of 10-15 minutes. Let’s get back to it later. We got the 7.05 am Karjat fast from Dadar, & boarded the 7.15 am Panvel train from Kurla. We were at Panvel railway station (RS. 28 return ticket, 42kms) at 8.05 am. We immediately marched to Panvel ST depot to catch the connecting bus to Karnala at 8.20am. We reached Karnala (12kms) at 8.37 am. After checking in with the authorities & buying our entry tickets for visiting the Karnala wildlife sanctuary, we started our trek (3kms) at 8.45 am. Initially it was a walk in the garden, till we reached a place were some rabbits, birds & a Peacock (our National bird) were kept caged. Here money (Rs.450) was collected from us for the climbing & rappelling expertise & instrumentation. I would say the experience was well worth the money, except the delay at the end of the day. We all had some food here, before resuming our trek. The real fun started now. The route was relatively easy barring the loose soil on the way. This too was taken care of by the numerous & enormous trees & their roots, which helped us climb. We reached the fort after passing through 2 doors. I was at the base of the cliff at 10.30am. Now started the endless wait for getting a chance to climb. Someone even joked that his beard had grown owing to this long wait. In the mean time Rohan gave us a briefing on what precautions needed to be taken while climbing & rappelling. He also introduced us to the different instruments we used in the process. He was to the point & yet complete in what he wanted to convey. At about 1.30 pm we decided that we better had our lunch, as it was clear our turn to climb wasn’t up for at least 2 more hours. The cliff has some honey bee combs near its top. We had to take care that we did not disturb them by making any excessive noise. But then not all shared our concern and good sense. Some people from the neighboring villages created a ruckus just below the point the combs were situated. And what we had avoided since the morning happened. They rose, all of them, as a huge swarm and the sky near the cliff as though was dotted with thousands of black specs. Fortunately the person who was climbing next had just climbed the first one third of the cliff. Even more fortunate was the person who had still not started to rappel. We all on the ground had to run for cover. The honey bees settled after some time & our business continued as before. Later another disaster was avoided by the presence of mind shown by the person rappelling & the instructor close to him. He had landed on a loose rock, must have been at least 25kgs. If he had moved down further it would have tumbled down the edge & GOD forbid land on an unsuspecting victim. The area down was cleared of people & then he was asked to move. As expected as soon as he moved the rock came crashing down raising dust all along. The fort was buzzing with people that day. Some of them were sheer nuisance, as has been seen earlier. The only people who were welcome were 4 girls. Some really good bird sightings at last. I had still to explore the western part of the fort. It took 15 mins. At 4.30pm at last it was my turn to scale the cliff. I had seen people struggle since the morning with this. I was apprehensive, but yet composed. I left my camera with a guy called Vinit & asked him to shoot at sight!! It turned out that it was not as difficult as it had seemed. In a matter of 15 mins I was atop the mountain. The view was fabulous. I had to carry water, jumars & gloves along with me, tucked behind my back.

Note: A Jumar is mechanical device for ascending on a rope, named after the Swiss factory 'Jümar', and is more generically known as an ascender. The device's name also leads to the term Jumaring for the process of using such a device. Another term for this process is jugging.
Jumars offer similar functionality as prusik knots but are stronger, faster, safer and easier to use. A jumar employs a cam which allows the device to slide freely in one direction (usually the intended direction of movement) provide a firm grip on the rope when pulled on in the opposite direction. To prevent a Jumar from accidentally coming off the rope, a locking mechanism or trigger is deployed. The Jumar is first attached to the climber's harness by a piece of webbing or sling, and then the Jumar is clipped onto the rope and locked. For climbing on a fixed rope attached, for example, to snow anchors on a steep slope, only one Jumar is used as the other hand is free for holding an ice axe.
Jumaring, also referred to as jugging, is where the second climber (the one who belayed the lead climber on the route) uses ascenders to climb the rope instead of climbing directly on the rock. Along with the ascenders, a webbing "ladder" called Étrier (or aiders) are typically used to allow the climber to use their feet to step up and pull themselves up the rope.
Jumaring is not typically performed on free climbing routes where a climber uses his or her hands and feet on the rock, climbing the features, edges, cracks, and pockets that the route provides without artificial aids. Typically, Jumaring is reserved for aid climbing where the climbers are climbing near featureless faces of rock, usually with very thin cracks that a person probably could not get their fingers into to make the holds useful. In aid climbing, the climbers are very dependent on gear placements to ascend the route, using the Étrier to step as high as possible on a piece of gear to place another piece of gear. Since some pieces are only intended for placement for movement and not protection, the leader does not leave every piece of gear he places to climb the route. The leader can climb with a lighter rack if he or she places gear necessary to advance on the route, then removes gear regularly as he steps into the next higher Étrier, yet leaving enough safely placed gear to protect against a fall. Once the leader has set up the belay, the former belayer begins climbing the rope. Since the leader has more than likely removed a great deal of gear as he or she climbed the route, and the rock being relatively featureless, it makes Jumaring necessary to ascend the route.

Again it had to be a wait of 1hour before I could get the chance of descending the cliff. You should have seen the look on Sampada’s face when she started to rappel. At the very beginning she fumbled & had a small tumble!!. She looked as if she was to start crying any moment now. Thankfully she held her nerves together & continued down the edge. Akshata was new to all this, but still managed to get down without any fuss. The sun was setting. To make matters worse I was wearing my shades (which also help me as spectacles). Removing them would make me half blind, whereas wearing them was making things Darker!! (Pun intended). All the gloves that I had brought were used up by others to rappel. It was getting dark & chilly. I had but no choice to get down the same side I had climbed, which was more difficult than the regular route, that too without a belay & gloves. A handkerchief was tied about my right hand (the one which was used to feed the rope), to prevent my hand from getting burned from the friction between the rope and the descender. The left hand was used to balance. The journey down was uneventful, barring a few scratches. At 6.30 pm I was down. Darkness had engulfed the entire mountain. At 6.45 pm we (the 6 of us, Akshata being the only girl, God knows what must have been going through her mind then, we all being strangers to her having met for the first time in the morning) made our move from the mountain for the highway. The remaining trek coordinators were to start their journey back only after removing the instrumentation from the mountain. It would have taken them another hour or so. Rohit along with other fellow trekkers had already made a move at about 6pm. We had 3 torches between us. One of them failed us after half the journey was over. Now everybody realized what it means, when “working” torches have been asked to be brought along even on a 1 day trek. Lady luck never ever abandoned us throughout the descend. We reached in one piece at the place we had our breakfast in the morning. I was expecting trouble from the forest officers. So true I was. They started reprimanding us about the rules (you are allowed inside the forest only from 6am to 6pm). He was right in what he was saying. We had been on the wrong side of the law. After accepting our mistake & requesting for considering our case, he let us go. We were unsuccessful in stopping any vehicle for getting a lift. No vehicle stops there at that time (9pm) i.e. after 6pm. We decided to walk to the nearest village in hope of getting the transport to Panvel. We trudged along for 2 kms before luck smiled on us again & we managed to hire an auto rickshaw (80 bucks) till Panvel. All this time Akshata was getting restive. Her mother had called her 2-3 times since the evening. I can only imagine how insecure she would be at home. We were all upset with the NB team, to have left us alone like that. They should have sent at least one of the coordinators with us. Also they should have kept in mind that Akshata was the only girl from the NB group who was still to rappel down & hence kept some other girl behind to accompany her. We expressed our anger and concern once we reached Panvel to join the other members. Rohit accepted that it was a lapse on their part to have let this happen. The trouble had already started when even after starting the climbing at about 10.45am, till around 3pm only about 10 people had completed the course. This was because some of the participants were absolutely dead scared of climbing up & had eaten up a lot of time. I know that all of us were there to climb & rappel & that everybody should get a chance, but then we should also keep in mind the amount of time we devote to a participant, knowing the time in hand & the total number of people enlisted for the event. No hard feelings here. This was not just a lesson for Shiva Garjana or NB but for all of us participating in this event. Shiva Garjana did well by standing out there in the sun all day with little food and water, relentlessly helping each climber. Three cheers for these guys. At the end of the day “All is well that ends well”. So be it. We got the 10.45 pm train from Panvel back home. I was in front of the PC checking mail at 12.10am on the 15th of January. It is going to be a long time from now before I go out for my next adventure. These memories will remain etched in my mind for the months to come. They along with the dreams of being on another adventure will keep me going hard for the exams, till then farewell my folks, fellow trekkers. Ah! I hate it when I start getting emotional.
The trek expenses:
1. Dadar to Panvel & back (by railway): RS.28.
2. Panvel to Karnala (by ST bus): RS.10
3. Entry into Karnala wildlife sanctuary & expertise charges: RS. 450.
4. Karnala to Panvel (by rickshaw): RS.20.
Thus the total cost of the trek RS.510.