Richard Watts

I ended up on the top of this 6025m volcano, because of a walking tour. There were 5 of us who were waiting to check into a hostel from a night bus, and we all decided to go check out Arequipa together. On the tour, the slightly crazy guide, laid down the challenge, I looked at Jaques, we both looked at Harriet and Laura, just under a week later we were sat in a 4x4 heading up to the start of the trek. The guide had said that it was one of the most accessible peaks about 6000m in the world, and if he could do it, anyone could! Well, not everyone it seems...
There were 6 of us who went in the end, the guys I arrived with, Anna, who Id met in Colombia and a friend of a friend called Herman.
The day before the hike, we went and got kitted out, bought some snacks and mainly worried each other about what might be in stall for us. The next morning, we were picked up, went to the office to get our kit, and set off.
The first part of the drive would take us out of town to the base of the volcano, then we started climbing. The danger with this trek for us all as the night we’d have to spend at base camp at 5200m. Getting there was also a bit demanding on some as we found out. The 4x4 ride takes you from Arequipa at around 2300m, all the way up 5000m, which is a lot of gain and as it turned out, too much for Laura. We figured out after the hike that she had quite bad altitude sickness from this steep climb.
The arrived at the car park at 5000m and the headed out across a boulder field towards base camp. This was to take about 2 hours as we were carrying our packs, water and supplies. On arrival to base camp we dropped our things and had a chill. We’d be eating about 6pm, then sleeping as we’d be up at 12:30am for breakfast.
The view was amazing and the height was a bit of a struggle already, not to mention the Inca toilet, but we had a little fox as company, he obviously knew where he could get a snack!
We headed to bed and it was cold already, even before sunset. I did wonder why we had been given so much clothing, but it clearly was needed come the breakfast!
I woke up after some sleep, banging headache and not really feeling the Tal’s ahead. A bit of food, two cups of coca tea and some paracetamol and we were off. Laura, bless her, made it 20m from camp and turned around, she was not in a good place and now having been to the top, it was a good job she did!
The climb up was relatively easy. Switchbacks upon switchbacks going up a slightly compacted scree field. It was like walking on loose gravel. It was pitch black and everyone had head torches. The aim would be to get to the top for sunrise, that would depend on our speed.
I had some I’ll fitting over trousers which were being quite restrictive, so I hung at the back until we stopped and I could sort them out.
Fast forward 4 hours, and things were getting tough! We were up around 5700m and the pace at the back had slowed. Other members of the group, randoms, were struggling, and few others had forged ahead. Myself, Jaques, Herman and Harriet were going alright. I had caught everyone up once the sun had started to show around 5am. It was still really cold! I was wearing two thermal tops, two fleeces and a ski jacket. Over trousers, hat, neck warmer and snowboard gloves. I did not really get hot in that lot!
Another two hours later we had reached 6000m! Just as we did, Herman walked past me, sat down and threw up all over the path. He was soooo pale and had blue lips, but still kept going. The altitude was getting us!! I was taking roughly 10 small steps and stopping to catch my breath, so the going was slow! Looking back down the switchbacks, I could see Anna flat out on the path maybe 50m below is and really didn’t think she was going to make it. It’s a proper mental struggle even getting up in the night to start walking, so we all new her pain. The four of us kept going at the top, not much more to go, but Herman was really feeling it.
That last battle for me was getting to the plateau before the summit. There was a ridge walk, which I hate, so I went around the back with a guide, which was evidently more dangerous, but no sheer views of the steep face on the other side. I was almost there! Jaques and Harriet had waited for me on the plateau, so we could get to the summit together. We dropped out backs a continued up the small hill to the top. We’d made it!
The views were awesome, and even though we were late for sunrise, the light was unreal,it gave a real sense of being up in a different part of he atmosphere. There was only 5/6 of us at the top, so it really felt special. I had a piece of quartz in my pocket from Salkantay, so I found a suitable cairn and balanced it on to. It was quite emotional as it was such a big effort to get there, but so worth it!
We hung around for about 25mins on the top, checking out the scenery and enjoying the view. I found it easy to be up there, no trouble breathing. Herman finally appeared just as we started to head down, so we left him to it.
Luckily, the way down off most volcanos is a lot easier. It’s normally covered in scree somewhere and you can almost run down. Over 6 hours of hard work getting up and less than an hour to get down. You can really feel the temperature difference as you descend and layers had to come off. The base camp was in sight the whole way back, so it was just getting bigger and the thought of a rest in the warm was good. I made it back soon after Jaques and we chilled and checked on Laura, she was still bad, but not too long to go before we headed back. We saw Anna heading back down the scree, she had made it to the top, so fair play to her for pushing on!
Once everyone was back down, all made it to the top, we packed up camp and headed back towards the pick up point. We had all gone on about food, so a McDonald’s was on the cards when we got back to town.
On he way down, Laura became more chatty and the colour came back in her face, so it was obvious that she’s not great at altitude. Back in town, she was back to normal, which was great and also a real life demonstration of altitude sickness.
McDonald’s in our bellies and back to the hostel, everyone really happy. What a great couple of days and not something that a lot of people get to do! Win!Read more