Kamandurg
A more interesting route to Kamandurg is to alight at Kaman village and
proceed eastwards towards Kamandurg. A flat walk of about 3 km across fields
leads to village Devkundipada. One has to cross a shallow river on the
way. Near the river a brick kiln is situated. From here the track leads
to a spur coming down from the right. It takes about an hour to reach the
base of the spur from Kaman village. The route climbs up along the spur
and is a bit faint at times and initially leads one towards the south,
away from the peak of Kamandurg. Then all of a sudden it turns sharply
to the left in the direction of the peak. From this point the route goes
up along a ridge which approaches Kamandurg from the west. There are two
minor rock climbing patches on this ridge. Steps cut in the rock aid in
climbing these patches. After these two patches one reaches a hump from
where a saddle leading to Kamandurg is visible. From the hump one has to
descend to the saddle and then climb up again along a steep slope with
loose soil. At the top of the slope another rock climb, a bit more difficult
than the previous two, has to be negotiated. After the climb one is at
the top of the ridge. The highest point of Kamandurg (marked with a flag
on a bamboo pole) is very close to this point. But to reach there, one
has to descend to a narrow saddle. The flag point is about 15m above the
saddle. On both sides of the saddle the mountain walls drop away steeply.
To reach the flag point one has to traverse for about 10m to the right
of the saddle along the rock face on a slightly exposed route covered with
loose soil. Thus traversing one can go round the peak (of the flag point)
and climb up to the flag point from the right. From here one can go down
on the right to join the easier route along the south ridge. The climb
to the flag point from the base of the spur takes about 3 hours and this
route is more interesting than climbing up the south ridge. Since this
route is more difficult than the south ridge route, it is advisable to
climb up this route and descend along the south ridge.