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| Vade Malleshwara Betta Trek |
- Place: Vade Malleshwara Betta Trek
- Difficulty: Easy until Temple, then a very good grind to the summit.
- Distance: 75 x 2 = 150 km.
- Directions: Bangalore > Bidadi > Channapatna > Vade Malleshwara Betta
- Krew: Anwar (Bhai), Karthik (Sp).
- Bikes: Pulsar.
- Previous Visit: Yathirajaswamy betta trek.
- Budget: Rs 250/head (Petrol = 300/2; Breakfast = 200/2;)
IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:
Alright, this was a crazy chapter and very good climb. Vade Malleshwara is highly revered temple. But post the temple is where all the magic happened on this chapter. With zero people throughout the trek, it felt surreal and special. And this marked 26 weeks, 26 treks, 6 months, non-stop, since Oct 12th, 2025. This was our 14th trek in 14 weeks for 2026, with 12 first ascents. The flame lives ON! \m/
INTRO & PLAN:
With back after back, major hits on new hillocks, the vibe felt good. It was like receiving a nice slap from nature every weekend. Achalu Betta - forest flogging, Cheluvanarayana Swamy Betta - Leopard's cave. Whew! And previous peaceful week to Yathirajaswamy betta, we had three first ascent in mind, and would be decided over breakfast. Bhai confirmed his presence for this chapter.
TIME: 20:00 (27 Mar, 2026)
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| The grind is real |
ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:
Yes, I was up by 03:30, did some 20 hanging leg raises at one go. Yeah, has become my go to. Then had a sip of coffee and left home at 04:15am, towards Banashankari. Our Bhai, had left his house at 4am and caught two buses and crossed the entire city lengths for this trip by public transport. "Showing up" requires a lot of character, than what you do on the hill.
Oh yeah, as I arrived at Banashankari, it was still dark and in the dark I sat on the pavement, an elderly man, came and sat next to me. For next 45minutes both sat in silence staring into the dark. Once Bhai arrived, i moved to the opposite side of the road and as we were about ride out, the person was walking away as well. Well why did he wait for me to leave? And who was he? Such a strange interaction without a word being spoken.
TIME: 05:30
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| Bidadi Tatte Idly |
RIDE 1: (Bangalore > Bidadi >Channapatna > Vade Malleshwara betta)
The ride to Bidadi, was a chatty one. We rode slow and cautiously, but spoke all the way non-stop about all kind of shit. We had left all the way for even mopeds and other low cc engines to over take us. We didnt care, we had the entire day to reach. Well the destination? - it was not yet fixed. We had three options and we had planned to decide over Bidadi Tatte Idlys.
As we arrived at the hotel, the guy serving us, started laughing at us. 6 weeks non-stop we are having breakfast here, last week had helped him put chairs at the table. He said a statement that melted us "think of it like your own home kitchen" this hit our core pretty hard, good thing I had done my hanging leg raises. And with the strict "NO GMAPS" rule, asked Bhai about the 3 options (all first ascents) and finally we decided on - Vade Malleshwara Betta.
Hoping onto our bikes, we rode non stop, still chatting and asking locals for directions and reached the base of the hillock. Parking our bikes, awakening the lizard king's spirit, we were READY! \m/
TIME: 08:00
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| Entrance of Vade Malleshwara Betta |
VADE MALLESHWARA BETTA TREK
ASCENT:
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| First phase: The 964 steps to reach the temple |
Phase 1: 964 steps to the temple
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| The Vade Malleshwara temple after the step |
Phase 2: the monkey zone
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| Bhai heading onto the unknown |
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| The views kept getting better as we gained altitude |
TIME: 08:45
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| Bhai finally at the summit. |
TOP:
Whew, that was a grinder alright. The sun was up, we were covered with sweat and mud, felt home alright. As we sat on the cliff, we could see my bike, we had gained some serious altitude. Felt really good, finding a nice shade, we hydrated and decided to sleep for sometime. After 15mins of deep sleep, we awoke and discussed about upcoming trips. Felt really good to pull this one off, but knowing only half the job was done, we hydrated again, kicked in the lizard's spirit awoke again and we were ready for the descent.
TIME: 09:30
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| Bhai lost in the stratosphere at VM betta |
DESCENT:
Well, the descent took us about 35minutes executed flawlessly. As we begun the descent, it took some memory and mapping that we had done on our way to the summit to navigate each one to perfection. During the descent as promised, the second vertical phase we took the alternative route cautiously. We took turn taking leads and the second one followed. On reaching the temple, there was a water tank, we just allowed the water onto to our heads to cool is down. As we were allowing the water to thump down on our heads, we realised we were being watched. A group of monkeys were just sitting there and observing us. We filled up our water bottles and asked what they wanted. They gave us confused looks, we gave back some confused looks as well.
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| Cooling down at the temple |
After hydration and the tough part out of the way, it was time for the steps. I told Anwar, how embarrassing it would be if we slipped on the steps and fell after covering all the technical climbing. So not to take the steps phase lightly, we decided to play a game - we will count the steps taking turns. And began the steps counting, I counted 100steps, while Anwar kept a lookout, then we switched. Totally accounting the steps total to 964 as we reached the bike at the base of the hillock.
TIME: 10:05
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| The trek back down |
RIDE 2: (Vade Malleshwara Betta > Channapatna > Bangalore)
As we mounted on the bike, we had one last look at the hillock, thanked her for the rich experience and more importantly "LETTING US GO BACK". Then Bhai said, he wanted to head to Mysore and would like to be dropped of a bus station. So, we purchased a cycle lock to lock Bhai's helmet to the bike on my return journey. Enquiring locals where the bus stand was, dropped Bhai and thanked him wholeheartedly for the crazy adventure and wished him good times at Mysore.
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| It had to be Bhai. |
Post which, locked his helmet to the bike. And I knew adrenaline would be fading, I had three playlist options - #1 Thrash Metal (Kreator, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Children of Bodom etc) #2 Heavy Metal (Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motorhead etc,) #3 Rock and Grind (Linkin Park, Nirvana, Bullet for my valentine, Lamb of God, Slipknot) #4 Alia Bhat's greatest hits :P (yeah listen to it sometimes). Chose #1 for the ride back, and oh boy did it work. Cruising listening to some Thrash metal jibbed through all the traffic as though it was a video game and made back home :)
TIME: 12:15
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| Bhai leading in the forest zone atop VM betta |
CONCLUSION:
Well, Vade Malleshwara betta trek option paid of really well. The trek to the temple is quite boring but strenuous. But post the temple, is real fun and challenging. Both of us enjoyed the the second phase but respected the first phase equally. An excellent trip to keep the momentum going.
Past 26 weeks, we have pulled off 26 treks, ~5000km in total, 6 months, non-stop. Yeah, all of soul sucking in the city, time to re-gain every ounce of it back \m/
KREW:
Bhai: Getting up at 3:30am, catching two buses, and showing up for the trip to the opposite side of city. I mean, this showed a lot more character than the technical climbing skills he had honed over past 6 months. Had to be him for this one.
Sippy: Was super duper happy with the find. First ascent's hit different, and if its a technical one, hits you on a special nerve. One thing that spooked me was the no-converstation sit with the old man at 04:30 for 45min.. 26 weeks, 26 treks \m/
Until next time, Ta-da Cia \m/
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| BONG - Sippy signing off \m/ |
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