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Shane and Sarah's Adventures
Hola todos!
Just returned from our triumphant ascent of the 5,826 metre Volcano Misti!
The trek began with a climb (carrying all the required equipment of food, warm clothing and sleeping gear etc) from the start point at 3,400m to the base camp at 4,700m, a relatively easy trek of some 4 hours. I say relatively easy, as Sarah and I have been staying at altitude for more than 6 weeks now, so we are probably a little more used to the thin air. At this point we quickly got changed in to warm clothes ahead of the impending sunset, admired the view back over Arequipa and the surrounding valleys, ate dinner by 5pm, watched the sunset and then got in to our tent and in to the sleeping bags by 6pm! As soon as the sun goes down it gets pretty cold very quickly!
Actually camping the night on the side of a mountain at 4,700 metres reminded me of the time my father took my brother and I, 4-wheel driving, shooting and camping up the end of Muriwai beach. I remember the old man gave my brother and I the 'pup tent' which from memory had no ground sheet, we did have our sheet like sleeping bags, though we didn't have any mattresses. The weather was so cold that my brother and I just tossed and turned on the cold sand until sunrise. I thught that everyone must have been in the same boat, but I recall poking my head in to the tent that my father and his mates were sleeping in and they all had camp beds, mattresses and decent sleeping bags. Apparently they all slept like babies! Anyway I'm drifitng a bit, but that feeling of cold was my measure of discomfort for latter years.
I can honestly say that the weather on the side of Misti was somewhat more extreme and it's a strange feeling being totally exposed to the weather in this manner. The wind buffeted the tent the entire night. Luckily however, Sarah and I did have decent mattresses, sleeping bags and thermals so we kept pretty warm! We even managed a few hours sleep (which is difficult at such altitude) before being woken at 2.30am, consumed a cup of mate de coca (coca tea, which helps prevent altitude sickness) and then began the trek towards the summit at 3am.
With head torches lighting our way we zig zagged our way towards the summit. The altitude determines that progress is very slow and steady with regular stops to ensure all are ok, snack and drink water. Unfortnatley the climb was made a little more difficult by a ferocious wind which dropped the temperature to around -25 to -30 degrees. Sarah and I seriously wondered if our noses were going to be in one piece by the end of the walk - it was so painful! After 4 hours and 40 minutes and without too much bother other than Sarah getting some dizzy spells (typical at altitude) we finally made the 5,826 metre summit! The views from atop were incredible, back over the other neighbouring mountains and the Misti crater.
To be honest, we are now pretty happy with ourselves - reaching the summit is one thing but battling through the nasty conditions took some effort!
We were joined on the climb by a German, Alex and a Brazillian, Ian who both mentioned at the pub later that evening that it was the hardest thing they had ever done in their lives.
Now we're off to run the Inca Trail!
Shane and Sarah
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