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Published: July 15th 2006
First off, I owe Martina an apology- I had no idea that we´d be hiking El Misti at 1:30 in the morning in -7 degree celcius weather and her toes seem to be recovering quite nicely.
But here´s the entire story.
We were picked up by our guide, Roy, at 8:30 in the morning and Colca Trek, the company where we booked the tour came through as promised- they brought us sleeping bags, warm pants and a tent. There was only one other person on the trek, Nicholas from Quebec. We arrived at the base of the mountain (actually, a volcano that is active- you can smell the sulfur- but it hasn´t erupted in pver 1000 years) at 3400 meters and hiked up to our base camp at 4400 meters. Martina and I had no trouble, despite carrying our backpacks loaded with our camping supplies and 5 liters of water each. Nicholas, on the other hand, was coming from Lima and wasn´t acclimated to the altitude yet. He struggled most of the way up with headaches that just wouldn´t go away.
When we arrived at base camp at 2:00, Roy made us lunch and then told us we should go take a nap. He´d wake us up at 6:00 with soup and then we´d go back to sleep until 1:00, when he´d bring us coca tea and then we´d leave for top of El Misti. Martina and I were surprised- we´d never been told that we´d be hiking at in the middle of the night. I guess that´s why they supplied us with head lamps.
So when 1:00 AM rolled around, we drank our tea, put on every stitch of clothing we had and set out. Nicholas, still plagued by headaches, elected to stay in his tent. The next six hours were sheer torture. Martina especially suffered from the cold- her feet were frozen. Numerous times along the way we almost gave up but neither of us would be the first to cry uncle- we´re both too darn stubborn. Later, M told me she was just going to wait until she fainted or vomited. At various moments along the way, we were both ready to just lay down and go to sleep- not a very good idea but M´s shoes did look like they´d make a comfortable pillow.
The hours dragged by, as did our steps, as we struggled with the cold and the lack of oxygen as we trudged up the slope of El Misti. Our mood started to change with the sunrise and when we caught and passed a couple of groups that had started earlier from a higher base camp. Inspired by what seemed to be an inspired performance on our part and Roy´s words of encouragment, we continued on.
At about 6:30, we could make out the cross at El Misti´s peak and Roy told us we had only 20 minutes to the crater and then another 40 to the top. The crater was steaming, though we couldn´t make out much more than that. When we finally reached the top, after an infinite amount of stops along the way, fueled solely on GU, I don´t think I´d ever been so happy to see a cross in my life.
After six hours of climbing, we took an alternate route down. Basically, we slid on our heels down a sandy face of the mountain- it was almost like skiing on sand- completeing the downward journey to base camp in only one hour. M´s toes were swollen and in pain, so we climbed into our sleeping bags for a brief nap. Then two more hours down to the base of the mountain.
None of this begins to describe the cold, the lack of air, the pain that was our climb of El Misti. But we made it to the top and back down again, all in one piece (amazing when you consider I was on the trip). And now we can say we´ve climbed a peak of 5825 meters (over 18,000 ft). M said it was a matter of will, and I have to agree. And in hindsight, we actually enjoyed it.
Just don´t ask us to do it again.
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Aaron
non-member comment
Holy Crap
I hav nothing more to say.