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Published: December 1st 2007
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El Misti
The volcano and is full 5825m glory! On the way into Arequipa we saw the towering beast of the volcano called El Misti... no pun intended Meadows! Arriving at around 4 in the afternoon Luca, our driver, had mentioned we could do a 2 day climb of the 5825m active volcano but i could rally no support to join me on the mission. Not put off i ventured out into Arequipa to find a tour that would leave the next day and allow me to climb the beast of Misti! After an exhaustive 2 hours round town i ended up right back at the hotel and booked it through their travel people. The guide had to come out and meet me that evening to check all was good - he was a bit suprised when i told him we had been at sea level the day before so instructed the healthy diet of water, water and more water. In preparation for the climb i went out with pauline in the evening and had alpaca steak (very tastey) and a beer - well it´s made with water isn´t it?
The next morning i was up at 6.30, breakfast at 7 and then collected by the guide and off
to start the ascent. Having never done any serious mountain climbing before i was slightly aprehensive to say the least, but after a quick check with the other 2 guys in the truck it was clear we were all novices at mountaineering - although it did appear they had all taken some time to aclimatise to the altitude... ah well, we were nearly there now anyway!
We started the walk at 3400m and would aim to reach base camp at 4600m in 6 hours. There were 9 in total in the group with 2 guides but we had to carry all our own equipment including tents and food. We started off at lightning pace and after a good 50m decided that wasn´t a good idea so slowed right down to the guides suggested pace. After a good 3 hours of hiking / climbing we broke for some lunch. The views were amazing, and although the air was getting noticably thinner we were all keen to push on up to base camp. At around 3 in the afternoon we made it to base camp. After setting up the tents and getting stuck into some coca tea we all realised we
would be in for a chilly night.
The guides started to prepare dinner and at around 5.30 we were tucking into some chicken, rice and salad. I decided better of the chicken as it looked like it was still kicking on the plate! The sun went down at around 6.30 and at about 6.31 the thermals were on! The sun set was beautiful and beneath us we could see Arequipa twinkling away in the valley. By 7.30 everyone was in bed as we had to be up at 2.30am to start climbing again. I was sandwiched in a 2 man tent between a large Canadian and a lanky (yes even lankier than me) Israeli guy, who both snored louder than anyone I have heard before - yes that includes Simon and my Father! I´m sure you can all sympathise with me now! I think i managed a good 20 minutes sleep the entire night before being woken up at 2.30 sharpish by the guide.
Not feeling the freshest, and with a monster headache from the altitude and snoring, i managed half a roll with jam for breakfast. I have to say it was the most amazing breakfast i
have had - coca tea and bread and jam underneath the night sky with the milky way as clear as day above me. The only dissapointing thing was i had to climb another 1200m to the top of this b%$&*&d volcano!
Setting off around 3.30 we were off! It was alot steeper than the day before and trying to climb with only a head torch for light is interesting at the best of times, let alone when you have a splitting headache and the oxygen is rapidly running out as you get higher! The temperature was about -3, and as the sun rose round the side of the volcano i started to feel semi-human again. That feeling was short lived as we reached about 5300m. The altitude was really starting to get to me and the others now and there was a big gap between 3 of us and the rest of the pack. Not wanting to hang around we pushed on ahead and at around 7.30 we were at about 5600m. By now my head was spinning and i was feeling dizzy and nautios from the altitude but the top was insight. We had to traverse up and
across to the crater then push on an extra 100m up to the peak. Not as easy as it sounds. Myslef and Jerry (said Canadian snorer) were well out infront but could only move about 10 steps at a time. I kept trying to ctach my breath by resting on my walking poles but found myself falling asleep on my poles - not good at altitude. The last 50m ascent must have taken about 30 minutes and was exceptionally hard going.
Finally though at about 9 in the morning i reached the top and had conquered El Misti! I lay down not wanting to fall asleep and must have passed out for a while cause the next thing i knew Jerry and the guide had made it to the top and were calling my name out. They were about 15 mins behind me so i jumped up quick smart and stated taking some celebratory photos.
It was a great day and although it took us 11 hours in total to climb 5825m we were back at 3400m in 2 hours! The only thing now was I had the 4 day Inca trail looming in 2 days time... eeeeeexcellent
smithers!
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