This photo was taken the previous night from our balcony, the lighted path can be seen to the summit.
Our whole climb will be completed before sunrise. Most start the trek between 1am and 3am, depending on fitness level and if seeing the sunrise on top is part of the plan. This peak is the 5th highest in Sri Lanka, topping out above 7300ft and claims to hold a footprint in the rock. Depending on your religion, this could be the footprint of Adam, Shiva or Buddha himself. The climbing path is actually all lit, and most is paved with steps of varying height.
As we begin to ascend, we are pretty much alone on the path, most of the others joining us tonight have already started. We get our legs warmed up on the more shallow stuff in preparation for what is to come. As we walk, we pass closed up shops that line the path near the bottom, they will be open later to catch those as they descend.
As the shops start to space out, we begin to encounter the locals and pilgrims - they are all ages, some too young to walk, carried by parents, and others almost too old to walk, but everyone is still climbing, most are barefoot or wearing the thinnest of flip-flops. It is humbling to be there, in our running/hiking shoes with backpacks and cold weather gear, when most have only a sweater and wear saris or sarongs.
The shops thin out, but there are still some dotting the path randomly, with many chairs setup ready to serve hot tea and snacks, bread, sodas. We encounter the white prayer strings about halfway up, thousands of them.
It gets colder and breezier and STEEPER as we go, we have about 3200ft to gain before the peak and the stairs get very steep near the top, almost dizzingly so. We also begin to hear a bell toll, this is the bell on the peak and it is rung by first time pilgrims. It's an encouraging sound, although in the darkness, we cannot tell how far we have to go, and the sound of bells can carry for quite a distance.
A handrail appears just when it gets at its steepest point, and it is welcomed. Dragging yourself up a steep set of steps in the middle of the night is tough enough without anything to hold onto, so I use it, and go up, up, up. It seems endless. We eventually pass a shopkeeper that tells us 100 meters, and I honestly think he's joking (others have along the way). Despite all the effort being put forth, the mood is generally genial here. But he was actually being honest and we reach a policeman that is telling women to cover any exposed shoulders and he is also giving a warning to us about pickpockets on the peak. It is a nice warning, as I wouldn't have been aware of that here, on holy ground. We arrive at the peak 2 hours after we began. We were told that 3 hours is average and 2.5 is really good, so we're happy!
The top is packed with people, we remove our shoes, as it is considered a temple, and make our way over to ring the bell. It's a huge bell and it takes effort to pull the rope. After we both ring it, we ascend the small number of steps into the area where the footprint is sheltered. It is covered with cloth, but we pause to throw a few coins, locals kneel and pray there. Buddhists chant in a group just outside the footprint temple, it's a beautiful sound amid the throngs of people. Many have been there all night, hiking up and sleeping on top, bundled in blankets and coats, waiting on the sun.
Buddhists chanting in a group.
Waiting on the sunrise.
We find a spot to stand for the sunrise, but it quickly fills beyond point of comfort up there and we seek out a better view on the steps off the peak and snap a few pictures before heading down. It's a semi-cloudy day and it isn't as spectacular as it could be, but it is impressive because of where we are. Descending is brutal on the knees and takes a whopping 1.5ish hours but the views are fantastic.
Sri Pada peeking out from the path near the bottom.
Back at the room, we shower and go breakfast. It is something we will never forget, a once in a lifetime experience, which is why we travel, and why we awake in the middle of the night to climb 5000+ stairs with a bunch of strangers.
Our tips for the climbing Sri Pada:
1) The middle of the night trek was wonderful to experience, but if you're not into getting up at 2 or 3am, a daytime hike would be just fine, and much less crowded and enjoyable at the top. We didn't get to enjoy the temple or the view, it was lined with people. But we did get to witness more of the cultural traditions at sunrise. If you do a daytime ascent, I would wait until after 8-9am start, otherwise it'll be like uphill frogger.
2) I had a short sleeve shirt, thick long-sleeve shirt, fleece hoody, thin gloves and thin hat. I used all of it, but I didn't use my rain jacket. My husband had a thin short sleeve, long sleeve and nice rain jacket and he was fine in that. He did have a winter hat, but no gloves; my hands tend to get cold, so gloves were nice in my opinion.
3) Expect trash and stinkiness in a lot of areas, it's just that way. There isn't anything romantic about a small pile of burning garbage, but that is the reality of it.
4) We found leaving at 3am just about perfect. We also live at 6000ft and hike a lot. So, adjust your time accordingly. We saw other fit folks that also did it in around 2 hours. Most people started at 2am, or around there. Sunrise is about 545-630, get a location on the stair side. In fact, you could go up top, look around and then descend a bit, there are places to stand off to the side on the stairs, it's a much better, unobstructed view just below the peak.
5) Getting here: you have 3 choices - bus, taxi or tuk tuk from Hatton. We took the train to Hatton and the Delhousie bus was loading people up just outside the station, you can't miss it. It was easy and cheap (70 rupees), but if you hate crowds, or get carsick, this may not be a good option. I do get carsick and the last two seats were last row, center. I should get a prize for not vomiting, let's just leave it at that. Fast drivers and curvy roads. The man next to me threw up at least 3 times out the window, but everyone else seemed to be doing just fine. If you are on the bus, some hotels are just before town, if you can spot your hotel, you can pull the cord and save a walk back to it from town. Oh, one last thing, don't believe the tuk tuk drivers outside the bus station, the buses do not take 2+ hours, it was about 70-80 minutes. If you do take a tuk tuk, pay around 1200 rupees.
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