Adventure Travel In Peru - Climbing El Misti

Sitting above the world, looking down on creation ...

I do not remember the rest of the singing and we are more than 10,000 feet short of the top of the world but this is a pretty good view anyway. Finally, the dream of two years is finished. I made it to the top of El Misti, the volcano right outside of Arequipa, Peru, which is calling my name since I first saw it about two years before. I tried to climb it as a day hike but then failed due to a very late start and not used in altitude, reaching only about 15, 500 feet. I still think this is done as a day hike so that a future goal.

I was eagerly waiting for my friend Jason and Lisa, scarab (Southern California Adventure Racing buddies) member from Los Angeles, to get in here. We have been talking via email for months that they are a round the world trip and we want to get together when they came through Peru. Our schedule changes clean but at the last minute they meshed and we were able to meet a couple of hours to Arequipa. I arranged to use a Suzuki 4x4, and Jason and I made plans to climb El Misti on Saturday and Sunday. Lisa decided to relax in Arequipa we drafted him that our driver is not safe to leave a car at trailhead. We have some quick shopping, and after getting lost on the way to the trailhead, we arrived safely and is ready to start hiking at 12:30 pm. We are told is a five-hour climb to the campsite but we are hoping will be lower because that meant coming to camp about the time it got dark. I also realized we have a different path than the one I have attempted two years before, so this is a completely new trail to me (there are three routes to the summit).

We carefully matched, my years of living in 8,800 feet and hiking regularly in altitudes over 12,000 feet made for my age and Jason's (relative) youth and three weeks of high altitude hiking in Peru made his living at sea in LA We followed an easy trail to the campsite at about 15,000 feet, arriving there in three hours and 10 minutes. We are glad that we are not leaving earlier and had to just sit around in the cool air. It also gives us hope that in five to seven hour walk above must be less than that. We were also told to expect temps as low as zero degrees is so thankful that it is warmer than normal. Helped by cloud cover will not get below 30 degrees, so we are warm in many of our 20 degree bags and my cheap tent Wensel.

After we got camp set up, Jason suggested monitoring the trail at the top, like we planned on leaving about 5:00 am and not sure if we can find them in dark. We easily found the trail and hiked up about 20 minutes in other camps; the people have said they planned to start for the summit at about 2:00 am. Once we got back down to our camp, the air was dead and it felt warmer, especially after the hot chicken noodle soup with tuna, cheese and bread and some tea. I used my soda can stove, which worked fine, after removing the air; I guess it needed a bit more air and the elevation is too. Our neighbor to the camp, a Frenchman from the poverty altitude is not very good looking, we found out he not try the ceiling. We still below the clouds so got a great view of Arequipa that the lights came on quarter and the moon illuminated Misti above us. By 7:00 pm we in our sleeping bags, hoping to get a good night sleep before the 4:00 am alarm.

Following a breakfast of instant oatmeal, we are on the trail at 4:45 in the morning, climbing the headlights, with very little trouble following the trail. We can see the lights of other climbers, which seemed a long way above us. Again, this is a fairly easy trail, not too much sand (the other trail from my previous attempts) and sufficiently large rocks to create interesting it, but also difficult to see the trail. By this time I was deeply regretting my forgetting my gloves as I hurriedly packed for the trip, but Jason said his hands were warm enough and let me use her - thanks Jason!

About the time it got light, we caught up with two other groups that had started earlier but climbing is very slow. One of the guides asked if one of his team members will follow us up so Steve join us, again a great match as we all climb the same slow steady pace, taking a very short break every so often. We soon lost sight of those below us and never saw them again until we got back down to their camp; unfortunately they had to turn back and not able to reach the peak. When we are about a half hour away, we may see a large group standing above. They had gone up by a shorter route to the backside; we met them later after they have explored the crater. We finally got some sunshine when reached a saddle between the summit and the crater, which really felt good. We have been climbing the dark side, away from the Sun, which made it really cool but we also considered a good view of Misti casting a shadow on the scene a mile when the sun rose in other parts. At 8:55, after crossing a couple of small snow patches and a couple of sandy stretches, we are above the 19,100 feet, four hours and 10 minutes from camp. We marveled at large iron cross, about 20 feet high that up there. It is constructed in sections; each three feet long. I will not mount at least one section up there. We are hoping that it was helicoptered up so is not completely embarrass the super man is taken to bring all the pieces up there.

After getting a lot of pictures of almost unreal landscape offered by the entrance, black sand, rocks and light snow, and some of neighboring 19,925 foot Chachani, we went down to the saddle and ate a light lunch. Both of us are feeling good, no altitude problems, but to keep it that way we decided to renounce the entrance and head back down. We rent to a guide for the climb but was lucky Marcio, my guide friends, went to the trailhead and we focused the route to us. Steve's guide explained the route back down to camp. No need to walk down, just the dark gray sand slope and "ski" down, more fun! We stopped at Steve's camp and left him there with his team packing up, and then continued on down. We made it to our camp in about two hours; we will make it faster but we stopped to take a lot of pictures of our fun spring! After a simple lunch (should have brought another package of soup), who finished all our food except for a small trail mix, we broke camp and headed on down. No rush because Lisa was not scheduled to meet with us until 4:00 pm. We were expected to be over about noon, instead we return to camp by 11:00 am. After a couple of final pictures in the trailhead, we decided to walk down the dirt road, getting almost the highway before the meeting Lisa and Marcio. That gives us more time to talk about our next adventure, after they finish their trip. Syempre Chachani is calling our name, there are also two 6,000-meter mountain in the Peaks allows Cotahuasi where I live, Coropuna at 21,075 feet and Solimana and 19,985 feet. And then there are my plans for a two week bike ride, all between 9,000 and 16,000 feet.

Looking down on creation ...

Vic Hanson is the founder of Cotahuasi Adventure Tours, which offers pre-planned and custom adventure travel tours in Cotahuasi Canyon and other areas of Peru. If you like hiking in the mountains, check us out for a memorable vacation trip.