Sri Paadaya - the climb up the sacred mountain

Sri Paadaya is a sacred mountain, which in guidebooks you'll more often find under the name Adam's Peak. This place is a literal link between a whole range of religions. Buddhists believe that the summit bears the imprint of Buddha's foot, Christians that Adam descended here when he was cast out of paradise, Hindus find here the footprint of the god Shiva, and so on...

In any case, what follows from this is that for many people this place is deeply significant. Since it lies in Sri Lanka, it draws mainly local Buddhists. It's said that every inhabitant of Sri Lanka should climb Sri Paadaya at least once. The reality is that many people come here repeatedly. The mountain, which stands 2,243 metres tall, is most often climbed from the first full moon in December until the Vesak festival, held in May. Outside this period the weather here is usually worse, and so the journey can be more complicated.

Most pilgrims climb Sri Paadaya at night, so as to catch the sunrise. I did the same. I stayed at a hotel in the town of Maskeliya, which is not far from the better-known town of Hatton. I had a quick dinner and went to bed early, since I had set my wake-up call for as early as 0:45.

Alongside the steps leading to the summit there are small temples or tea stalls here and there. I had assumed it would be a harder climb, and so I looked with amazement at the local pilgrims striding along in flip-flops (some even barefoot), carrying small sleeping children, and at the old grandmothers and grandfathers who only with difficulty managed the taller steps. Later I learned that many of the older pilgrims take several days to go up. They sleep a while in one of the tea houses and then continue on until they reach the summit.

Looking up was sometimes a little frustrating. It soon crossed my mind that my legs had really taken on a lot of steps already, and yet the little lights still wound their way steeply upward ahead of me. About halfway up I stopped at one of the tea houses, where sweet tea and a flatbread put me back on my feet, and I could continue on through the night, further and further. The higher I climbed, the more numerous the crowd of pilgrims and tourists became.

For the last few hundred metres I now moved slowly, along with the others tackling the steep steps. In these spots the staircase is narrower, and since the stream of pilgrims heads both up and down, there's no way to simply pass the slower ones. The whole human serpent thus advances at the pace of its slowest link. Before long the temple, towering on the mountaintop, was already in sight.

In the Buddhist shrine everyone must take off their shoes and remove their hats. Even though it's quite cold, because of this many people here are barefoot, and I too walk around in just my socks. In the middle of the courtyard stood a bell. You ring it according to the number of your ascents of Sri Paadaya. So I rang it once and continued into a small temple, where the great golden footprint is. Whether Buddha stepped into paradise here, or whether Adam descended from paradise instead, I left to each visitor's own opinion. For a while I absorbed the peculiar atmosphere that reigns here, and then continued to the edge of the courtyard.

There was still about an hour and a half until sunrise, and even so a large crowd of pilgrims was already pressing in here, waiting for that magical moment when the sun would leap above the horizon. The temperature was only just above ten degrees, so many people were shivering with cold. For about an hour I tried to find the ideal spot for photographing, and every time I had almost managed it, someone would push in so close against me that I had to move again. In the end, though, I got to a raised spot, where on my captured patch of a few square decimetres I set up my compact tripod and was ready.

The moment the sun drew near the horizon, the local monks began to play a strange kind of music. With great cheering and the clicking of every shutter present, the sun appeared. The locals took a few shots and quickly set off downhill. I stayed on for about another hour, photographing the beautiful views and the incredible triangular shadow that the mountain cast onto the western side.

The descent is easier and quicker. The sun had warmed the surrounding air and it was starting to get pleasantly hot. I quickly had breakfast in one of the tea houses and made my way down. It's interesting to look at the places you climbed through a few hours earlier in the middle of the night, when you actually couldn't see at all where you were going.

I had been afraid that going with the crowd of people who head up this mountain every night would be unpleasant, but that wasn't the case. I can only recommend the climb up this sacred mountain. I don't know whether it's the nighttime ascent, the beautiful view at daybreak or the overall atmosphere of the place, but it was probably my greatest experience in all of Sri Lanka. I think that if I ever set out for this island again, I would go and ring the bell on Sri Paadaya once more. And by then I could ring it twice.

Tip 1: Plan your climb to the summit so that you make it for sunrise (ideally be at the top a good hour, or at least 30 minutes, in advance)

Tip 2: Bring some warmer clothing with you, otherwise you'll freeze up at the top.

Tip 3: You probably won't avoid the crowds of pilgrims, but plan your climb for a day other than the weekend, and above all don't go up at full moon, when the number of pilgrims is at its highest.

Tip 4: Don't put off the descent too long, because from eight o'clock in the morning it starts to get quite hot.