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Stacey's Adventures
SO, what did ya'll do with your day today? Work, school, errands? HMMM?! That's nice! I climbed a 9,000 ft. ice and snow covered active volcano and then slid down it! Wish you were here now?
I know I am missing some days, and I will catch up, but I have been on the go so much lately! (plus, i am a slacker when it comes to journals!) But, I just wanted to tell you about my day yesterday, cause it was so great!
I had heard about this climb from some other people I have met along the way, and I thought it sounded difficult, but really cool! How often does the chance come along to climb an active volcano? Much less in South America! And it was totally worth it too!
We met at the company at 7am and got all our gear ready! They gave us each a backpack that had a gas mask(!!), ice crampons, rope, and a pair of snow pants, a jacket, and gloves, along with an ice pick to carry! Admittingly, a little daunting at first, especially since I have no experience ice climbing! They then outfitted us in these huge teflon coated hiking boots! From there it was off for what was probably the most bumpy car ride of my life along this rock-strewn road to the base of the volcano!
There were 5 of us in the group, including the guide and I knew 2 of the guys from the last town! Once at the base, we had the choice to take a ski lift or an extra 40 minute hike! Boy, are we all SO glad that we took the lift! The people below us were struggling a lot on a steep, slippery volcanic hill!
At the top of the lift, we geared up and headed off! I got a cramp in my calf within the first 20 minutes and that really sucked trying to get that out! The walk up was so gorgeous! Views for miles of the surrounding area included rivers, lakes, mountains, and other volcanos! The climb was worth it just for that!
About 1/3 of the way up, I really started feeling bad and think I developed altitude sickness, which I have never had a problem with! The rest of the way up was REALLY rough, but my group was awesome and really understanding and took the time I needed to make it! Not too fun, though, when you are on a ledge about as big as your foot looking down the volcano sure you are about to pass out! But somehow, I pushed on and kept going! I was determined that I had come this far, I was going to make it to the summit!
About an hour from the summit, we stopped to have lunch and all of a sudden there were these 3 condors flying over us! So cool!!! They were HUGE!! And they came so close to us! Unfortunately, it's really hard to get a good shot of a flying bird, especially when you are about to pass out, so I dont have any good ones, but the guys with me got some really good ones! They are going to email them to me and I'll post them then!
The last part of the climb was, of course, the most difficult! It was like a vertical ice wall that we had to traverse to get up it! But we couldn't go across that far, cause there was crevices there! Needless to say, it really taxed everyone and we were so glad to finally make it to the summit!
As soon as we got there, the noxious volcanic fumes started choking us, so we hurriedly pulled out our gas masks and went off to explore the lip of the crater! The volcano was releasing a lot of fumes, so we couldn't see the lava, which was REALLY unfortunate! I'll try to find a picture to post to give an idea of what its like though! The smoke was so bad, I also didn't get a really good picture of the crater!
So, I know, I know, can't leave off in the middle of a good story, but I have to get off the computer! More to come soon!
CHAO!
Stacey
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