The sound of Alberto’s stove pulled me from my slumber (if you could even call it that) at about 1:15am. “Well,” I thought, “he’s getting breakfast ready, so I might as well get my act together rather than lie on an angle with my eyes closed for 15 minutes.” I had already stuffed my summit pack the night before with Alberto’s advice: Crampons, lots of snacks, lots of water, camera and don’t forget your crampons…PLEASE.” We scarfed down our slice of white bread and chugged our coca tea and we were on our way, headlamps ablazin!
We sat waiting anxiously for the 4x4 vehicle that would bring us to 3400m. Full bellies of coca tea helped to settle our nerves a bit but we were still a bit tense. Who wouldn’t be when you were about to climb to almost 6000m above sea level for the first time. El Misti is an active stratovolcano of ultra prominence classification (meaning that its topographical prominence is greater than 5000ft) and it is located near the city of Arequipa in Southern Peru. El Misti stands at a total height of 5822m (19,101ft) above sea level. Gino, Mike and I decided that we wanted to tackle it after we were told by our Colca Canyon guide Luis, that we stood a pretty good chance of making it to the top (based on his observations) provided that we could handle the altitude. Courtney toyed with the idea of climbing Misti too, but the thought of the bitter cold night we would have to spend on the side of the mountain turned her off of it. Her decision turned out to be a good one. When our 4x4 showed up almost an hour and a half late, our guide Alberto hopped out and was really apologetic but that didn’t soothe our nerves. We sorted out what gear we needed to borrow from the trekking agency in the street in front of our hostel and we were on our way! When we arrived at the trailhead we packed up our gear and our 5 liters of water (each) into our packs and started our 5 hour hike up towards basecamp. We arrived at basecamp (4500m) a little after 4 PM and immediately set up camp. We were all pretty tired so we set up our tents and tried to relax a bit for the evening. That was definitely easier said than done as sore legs and lack of oxygen made relaxing difficult. Alberto cooked us up a delicious dinner starting with some homemade soup, a main of spaghetti with meat(tuna)sauce and a dessert of coca tea. After dinner I started to get a bit of a headache so I took my first Sorochji (altitude sickness pill) of the climb. Alberto sat us down for a peptalk before we went to sleep to prepare us for our summit attempt early the next morning. It went something like this, “If you are dizzy or have a headache, your altitude sickness is getting bad. You must be honest to me if you are feeling ill, but most of all you must be honest with yourself. The only cure for altitude sickness is to stop climbing and go down. I will bring my sleeping bag with me in case anyone is too tired to continue to the summit at some point. We can find a warm place in the sun for them to relax while we climb. Don’t worry, if you do get sick you won’t die but you must go down. Breakfast will be at 1:30am and we’ll have white bread and coca tea, nothing more. We’ll start to climb at 2am, no later. Oh and if you feel sick, it’s better that you throw up. Goodnight.” I crawled into my cold tent at around 7:30pm with temperatures dipping below freezing; luckily the wind was as quiet as a shadow. I was able to sleep in all my clothes in my sleeping bag for about 2 hours at a time, at which point nature would call and I had to hall myself out of my tent to pee off into the darkness of night off the side of the mountain (note: there were no other climbing parties camped below us). At one point I woke up to some seriously heavy bass that sounded like it was coming straight from the front doors of a club, and it turns out that when the wind is calm you can hear the gentle urban sounds of nearby Arequipa, more than 2 kilometers below us. I also heard several loud explosions which I thought were the volcano telling us to vamos, but Alberto later told me that they were blasts coming from a distant gold and copper mine. The sound of Alberto’s stove pulled me from my slumber (if you could even call it that) at about 1:15am. “Well,” I thought, “he’s getting breakfast ready, so I might as well get my act together rather than lie on an angle with my eyes closed for 15 minutes.” I had already stuffed my summit pack the night before with Alberto’s advice: Crampons, lots of snacks, lots of water, camera and don’t forget your crampons…PLEASE.” We scarfed down our slice of white bread and chugged our coca tea and we were on our way, headlamps ablazin! Alberto set the pace; if all goes well we will arrive on the summit between 8 and 9am. The pace was slow but intentional so that we wouldn’t burn ourselves out and so that we would slowly acclimatize as we ascended. After some steep and rocky sections with a bit of scrambling (in the dark) we found ourselves at the snow slope. We took a break to get our crampons on (everyone remembered them) and watched the sunrise on the side of the mountain. El Misti has a near perfect conical shape that casts a triangular shadow over the valley below for several hours as the sun rises. As we went higher the air grew thinner. One step alone was a big chore, but still our group lumbered along like a big frozen caterpillar. We were greeted with cold winds at the first (or false) crater at about 8:30am. We had a quick break before leaving our packs to head to the true summit. It felt like forever, but it only took us about thirty minutes to ascend the last snow slope to the true summit of El Misti at 5822m (19,101ft). Cheers and congratulations went out between us (or least what we could muster the strength to do) when we arrived on top. Suddenly the air didn’t seem so thin and our legs didn’t seem so tired. After about 20 minutes on the summit our delusions had passed and we realized that we had a full day of descending ahead of us. The air was thin again and our legs were really sore. But before we would go down there was one more thing to see. El Misti is an active volcano so Alberto took me to the crater edge to look down into bubbling pits of yellowish-green sulphuric acid. In 1998 a team of Archaeologists discovered several Inca mummies buried in the crater, not far from where we stood. Alberto explained that the Incas would sacrifice princesses to El Misti so that it would stop erupting. The descent down the mountain took about 4 painful hours of sliding down snow slopes and volcanic ash. But we made it. Courtney – I ended up regretting not going; however, when I found out how cold and unpleasant it really was I felt a bit better. I excitedly awaited their return and was shocked at how tired and worn down they all looked. I was expecting Andrew to return with a new found love for mountaineering and was shocked when they all said how amazing the view was but the two days surrounding it was almost not worth it. They were all pretty quiet except for small whimpering noises from sore muscles and ankles. After getting food in their bellies they started to pep up and were excited to tell me all about it. I still want to try a climb but will wait for down-filled clothing!
2 Comments
While waiting in the Ica bus terminal we met two other Canadians (Mike and Gino) who had a similar itinerary as us. After the 12 hr bus we arrived in Arequipa and all decided to stay at Arequipay Backpackers downtown hostal (great place, comfy beds, full kitchen, huge TVs, game areas and a nice movie selection but chilly showers). After going and talking to the tour agency we booked a two day Colca Canyon trek with Peru Schweiz www.peruschweiz.com.pe. What is the Colca Canyon you ask? Well, its only the second deepest canyon in the world and more than twice as deep as USA's Grand Canyon. The next morning we got picked up at the hostel at 3:00am and had a three hour drive into the Colca Valley. We were amazed at how beautiful the area was; massive lush green mountains fill the sky and our toes tingled as we looked deep, deep down to the narrow Colca River that has carved this wonder of nature over thousands of years. We continued driving until we reached a small town called Chivay where we ate a really nice bread, cheese and cold cut breakfast and washed it all down with some coca tea. There was also a warm quinoa drink that was very delicious and filling and we wished we had more of it. We then continued to our first sight-seeing spot called Cruz Del Condor. After taking in the scenery everyone in the area started to point and snap photos as huge Andean Condors flew overhead. The Andean Condor is the second largest bird in the world measuring approximately 2.8 m across and 1 m tall. It was neat seeing them pick up a warm air current and cruise on by. We then got back on the bus for another 1 hour drive through the park to Cabanaconde where our hike into the depths of the Canyon began. We totally lucked out as our group ended up being just us four Canadians and our awesome guide Luis Orlando. Luis debriefed us about what we would see and do for the next two days. He was very organized and informative. Every time he wanted us to go he would say "ok Chicos vamos" which means lets go but to Luis it meant you should have already been going so we were always trailing behind; it became a pretty funny joke for our group. The hike began down a steep mountain side with amazing views of the canyon. The land throughout the canyon is primarily agricultural. It was unreal to see the villages on the other side especially after we were told that they are not accessible by road. It was hard to imagine only using donkeys and mules to transport all the supplies a community would need to thrive. Sharing the small path with groups of donkeys and mules was fun but were instructed to stay on the mountain side as they passed or we’d be pushed off and left for Condor food. The hike continued down one side of the Canyon for about 3 hours, at the bottom we crossed a bridge surprisingly made from concrete all transported by mule. We then traversed up to the first village and had a well-deserved Alpaca lunch. After lunch we hiked up and through two more villages for about 2 more hours. Luis explained to us that his Grandparents still live in one of the villages and they farm 6 days a week. Every day they walk 1.5 hr down the canyon to the river to farm fruits and vegetables. They live totally off the land. He then surprised us by saying they are 98 and 93 years old…and we think retiring at 65 is old. Later in the day Luis stopped reached into a plant and pulled out small grey insects. He explained that the villagers pop these bugs and use their blood as dye for cosmetics. One of the exports the villagers use to make a living. He then made us all into Inca warriors by rubbing the blood red dye on our faces! Later, we passed through a third village which, 400 years ago used to sacrifice beautiful women for Pachamama (mother earth) to ensure fertile soils for years to come. He said I shouldn’t worry as they stopped that ritual and now only sacrifice goats or donkeys. After another hour we descended into the Oasis. The small gringo trap at the bottom of the canyon. There were a couple of tourist hostels that had basic cabin facilities and spring fed pools. It was amazing jumping into the pool after a full day hike. We then all sat around joking and taking in the scenery before Luis made us a delicious dinner. After dinner, Luis asked if we wanted to hear a story about the Sangalle village and we all happily agreed. To get the full feel you must imagine us sitting around a candle lit table, drinking coca tea, deep in the heart of the world's second deepest canyon, all tired from the 7 hr hike, excited for the well needed sleep, and knowing we’d have to climb out tomorrow at 5:00am. He begins his story with the tale of how Sangalle village collapsed almost instantaneously. Approximately 100 years ago there was an epidemic and everyone in Sangalle died. Men, women, children and even the donkeys too. So Luis told us that we shouldn’t be too alarmed when we hear small children screaming at night. An important piece of advice he gave was to make sure our door was locked at night and not to let anyone in of they knock. We will also likely hear church bells ring from the old church that burned down in the area. He then said if you leave your room after 11:00pm expect to see headless donkeys. Oh and lastly there are scorpions that crawl on the beds at night. So we were to say the least… scared shitless! The next morning after a not so deep sleep, due to the hauntings, we were woken up at 4:30am to begin the steady hike up the canyon. The first 30 minutes was dark but it was really neat hiking by head lamp and listening to the birds chirp. The hike up was very steep and about 5 km straight up. We had a little dog guiding us up the majority of the way. Andrew and I really wanted to take him with us but he looked pretty happy where he was. We impressed Luis and ourselves by making it up the mountain in just over 2 hours (most people take 3). We used Luis's strategy walk 15 minutes and then break for 2 minutes. I suggest this strategy for other hikers as it really works if you’re trying to boot up a mountain. We wanted Luis to determine if we were fit enough to make the climb up El Misti, a large mountain close to Arequipa. After the climb Luis said we were all fit enough to give the climb a shot. After the morning hike we were fed breakfast at another great spot in the town of Cabanaconde and then continued to a natural hot springs to soak our sore muscles. After the soak we had a huge buffet lunch and then were driven to the highest point in the park. At 4900m we could feel the elevation in our heads; it was also snowing EW! If you are wondering we are not missing the cold Canadian winters. On the way back through the park we saw a few Alpaca and llama herds then a pack of wild vicuña crossing the road. We had a fabulous time and would recommend it and the company (great guide and great value) to all other travellers.
|
Get updates by email!
Archives
January 2014
Categories
All
|