Climbing Misti - A 5825 meter high volcano

Trip Start Feb 15, 2008
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Trip End May 31, 2008


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Thursday, March 6, 2008

That morning Ale and I set off at about 8.30 am in a 4WD with two our two other group members plus our guide, Juan. We were driven to a location inside the national park called Los Pastores which stands at 3300m where we began our climb. Due to the fact that there is no water available on the mountain we had to carry 5 litres of water each, plus our camping gear. Carrying this amount of weight up to our base camp at 4600 meters was not easy. The walk began through low scrub, vegetation then becomes more space the higher you climb. The views from the base camp are spectacular. Watching the sunset from this height is something which has to be experienced, you really do feel as though you are sitting on top of the world. Helen from Canada threw up after dinner which would have been due to the altitude though she said she thought it was something she ate. At this height it gets cold once the sun sets and all you can think of doing is sleeping.
The next morning we rose at 2am to find that the clouds beneath us had cleared and the lights of the city of Arequipa could be seen below Our starting point for the climb
Our starting point for the climb
 . This sight was simply amazing, something like seeing a city from the window of an airplane as you come in to land. then after a couple of bread rolls and a hot cup of manta de coca, that's the drink of choice for combating the affects of altitude, we set off on our climb to the summit. Every step at this height becomes difficult and getting enough air into your lungs is a challenge in itself. Due to recent cold conditions and rain in the region, there were a number of snow drifts which we passed over as we climbed higher, though 15 years ago the summit of this volcano was permanently covered by a glacier. Even though the volcano is not classed as active steam and smoke can be seen pluming from the crater as you near the summit. At about 8.30 we reached the top, there's this huge iron cross at the top which we were told was dragged up there and assembled in the 1700s. I've got no idea how they got it up there as I had enough trouble dragging myself up.
Getting down a volcano, I discovered, is fast. Our guide bought us to the volcano's spillway which consists mainly of volcanic sand. We were briefly told to watch out for the rocks then we began skiing down on our boots, dropping over 1000 meters in 30 minutes. After packing up camp we continued skiing down the volcano for another 20 minutes followed by a 30 minute walk back to our starting point where our 4WD was waiting to return us to Arequipa. I'd managed to hold off from throwing up through out the climb though this kind of adventure is not easy; we were told that in fact only 50% of people actually make it to the top. I was glad I'd taken on this challenge though I expect that the climb is listed as easy by tour agencies to drum up more business.
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