El Misti an Active Volcano at 5822m
The trek started by loading all our gear into what appeared to be a 40 yr old Land Cruiser before driving out into the desert in the direction of EL Misti.
45 minutes later and we turned off the road heading along a dirt track towards the base.
Starting at 3400m Roy our guide for the trip led the procession of the 6 of us aiming for the summit. The track weaved through small valleys that 2000 yrs ago were created by lava up to our first camp 4hrs later at 4700m.
After a quick dinner an early night was in order as at 2am we were back up again. We left camp after a cup of Coca tea around 2.45am.
Unfortunately not long after this our group halved in size down to 3 as the altitude was taking its tole.
We continued on up in the dark, around 5 am the sun started to rise of Pichu Pichu a mountain range next to us and we could then see the path and how far of it that was left in front of us. The terrain had changed from a dirt track on day 1 to a much steeper route picked through the rocks.
The altitude was again taking its tole on the remaining group but about 6hrs later we had made it to the Crater at 5600m.
From here you could see for 100´s of miles across Peru. But the Summit was insight!
Roy and myself left the remaining two at the crater as by this time they were both suffering and headed to the summit. The final 200m were by far the easiest and hardest at the same time, and as I raced up the final few metres to beat roy to the cross the air was getting super thin with about 55% less oxygen. As soon as a hand was on the cross i was sat on the floor for a much needed rest!
An amazing view from the top was deffinately worth the 6.5hrs trek.
Once the obligatorie photos and a snack had been consumed it was time to head back down to the camp and re join the rest of the group. What took so long to get up only took 35 mins to get back to by running down one of the lava gullys.
We packed up camp and headed down the hill to meet the truck again.
The trek started by loading all our gear into what appeared to be a 40 yr old Land Cruiser before driving out into the desert in the direction of EL Misti.
45 minutes later and we turned off the road heading along a dirt track towards the base.
Starting at 3400m Roy our guide for the trip led the procession of the 6 of us aiming for the summit. The track weaved through small valleys that 2000 yrs ago were created by lava up to our first camp 4hrs later at 4700m.
After a quick dinner an early night was in order as at 2am we were back up again. We left camp after a cup of Coca tea around 2.45am.
Unfortunately not long after this our group halved in size down to 3 as the altitude was taking its tole.
We continued on up in the dark, around 5 am the sun started to rise of Pichu Pichu a mountain range next to us and we could then see the path and how far of it that was left in front of us. The terrain had changed from a dirt track on day 1 to a much steeper route picked through the rocks.
The altitude was again taking its tole on the remaining group but about 6hrs later we had made it to the Crater at 5600m.
From here you could see for 100´s of miles across Peru. But the Summit was insight!
Roy and myself left the remaining two at the crater as by this time they were both suffering and headed to the summit. The final 200m were by far the easiest and hardest at the same time, and as I raced up the final few metres to beat roy to the cross the air was getting super thin with about 55% less oxygen. As soon as a hand was on the cross i was sat on the floor for a much needed rest!
An amazing view from the top was deffinately worth the 6.5hrs trek.
Once the obligatorie photos and a snack had been consumed it was time to head back down to the camp and re join the rest of the group. What took so long to get up only took 35 mins to get back to by running down one of the lava gullys.We packed up camp and headed down the hill to meet the truck again.
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