Acatenango and Fuego Volcanoes

Guatemala and indeed Central America is known for its volcanoes. So we signed up for a one night two day trek to climb Acatenango. However the main focus for the trek was actually Fuego the neighbouring peak which is a highly active volcano erupting several times an hour. Our camp was level with Fuego and provided excellent views of these eruptions less than 2 miles away.

(Unfortunately Helen wasn’t able to join me - Michael - for this having felt a bit unwell and not sleeping the night before - she is fine now).

On the first day we climbed from the road at 2450m to 3600m to our camp. We passed through four clear zones - Agricultural (maize, avocado etc), Cloud Forest, Pine Forest and lastly the baron volcanic zone. There were 19 of us in the group plus our guides and porters.

From the camp we had excellent views of Fuego during sunset and into the night. We arrived at 3pm and whilst most the group did an extra hike to get closer to Fuego (see head torches in Timelapse video) I stayed to relax and focus on photography. About every 10 minutes there would be an eruption - you would see it first and hear it a few seconds later.

Getting the shot of the volcano erupting at night was very tricky. These lava spewing eruptions only happened about once an hour and it was hard to even see the mountain to focus the camera.

I went to bed without a shot I was happy with, it was a very cold night but I got a couple of hours sleep. I woke up at 3am and went out to try for the shot again and nailed it at about 3.45. At 4am those that wanted to summit Acatenango set off (only 5 of us as most had burnt themselves out with the Fuego hike) under head torch.

This was a tough 90 minutes to ascend to the summit (3976m). We were all feeling the thinner air (at sea level you have 20% oxygen but at this height it was effectively 12%). Someone with another group was vomiting with altitude sickness. Plus we hadn’t slept well, were walking under head torch and it was incredibly dusty due to all the volcanic ash. It was two steps forward one step back.

It was all worth it to see another sunrise and be above the cloud. Me and another in the group (from a mountain rescue team in England) noticed that the view point we were at was not the high point and insisted on running to the true summit. This turned to a slow trudge as soon as it became up hill.

We were back at the camp for seven covered head to foot in ash and dust, After breakfast we descended to the start 1200m descent in two hours. Exhausted but very happy to have done this amazing experience.Read more