Mid July, I arrive to the city of Arequipa. There, three massive volcanoes tower over the city. Naturally I couldn’t leave without hiking one of the colossal beauties. I decided to pursue Volcan Misti, an active cinder cone volcano with an elevation of 19,101 feet (582 meters).
The morning of our departure, we made our way to the trailhead via shuttle. The terrain was rocky and sandy, and there was high brush surrounding the trail. The walk was delightful besides the occasional biting fly that would take a small chunk out of you. The guide emphasized to take our time as a group so that everyone could acclimate as we approached base camp. We each carried all our gear that we accumulated the night before at the gear shop. Our gear contained a winter coat, gloves, hat, snow pants, crampons, sleeping bag, and a minimum of two liters of water.
As we climbed, there was a haze in the air that seemed to increase, apparently a brush fire broke out about a half mile from our trail. In order to avoid the fire and smoke we quickened our pace to the brush line. By the time we met the brushline the path disappeared and our terrain turned to scree and large rocks. Eventually, we were elevated above the smoke and brush fire, and soon enough made it to base camp. The tents were already set from the group before us so we set up our personal belongings and made dinner just in time for sunset.
Two people were designated to a tent, I was paired with a 60 year old mountaineer from Switzerland. He was a great guy, had many stories to tell, but when the time to sleep was upon us I found he was an even better snorer. Our alarms went off around 2 am signaling the moment to start breakfast and organize our things to begin the second half of the climb to the summit. After finishing our after-breakfast coca tea, we lined up and once again continued our ascend with headlamps to luminate our way. The hike pace began incredibly slow, we followed a stable path up the scree and around accumulated rock piles in a single-file line.The glow of the city lights of Araquipa was mesmerizing, and the stars were brilliant.
Hiking in the dark is tough, especially in a close single file line, the lights of the crews headlamps would disrupt your night vision, and the slow pace became unbearable. With only a few hours of sleep it was difficult to be enthusiastic as I began the morning before. Eventually, I asked permission of the guide to hike ahead of the group, agreeing to take breaks for the team, and also to acclimate properly. Hiking solo and at my own pace lifted my spirits and allowed me to take some pictures of our progress. The sun began to rise as we climbed, and the shadow of Volcan Misti towered across the entire city of Araquipa. I remembered being blown away by the magnitude of the shadow, and as we progressed and time passed, the shadow would slowly expose more of the city below.
Finally, we made it to the final stretch, here there was a steep incline of ice before the summit. We strapped on our crampons and had to stomp the ice for footing. Honestly, it was terrifying, these crampons were old, weren’t sharpened, and would slide against the ice to a fatal drop below. There was no room for error.
After the entire crew safely made our way over the ice we had made it to the crater of the volcano. This is where the altitude really began to affect me. The back of my head was pounding and the air felt thin, but we were so close, I couldn’t stop now.
After a few minutes of rest and water, I made my way to ascend the summit. A large iron cross stood tall at the peak, and the view was increadible. as if we were in an airplane. 18,000 feet is an extraordinary view. You could see the magnitude of Volcan Chichani, Vocan Pichu Pichu, and even Colca Canyon in the distance. You could see for what seemed hundreds of miles. I was able to snag my final photos before we headed toward the crater. The crater was a bit lower than the summit, when looking into the crater you couldn’t see lava or exposed magma but you could see the escaping gasses fuming from the source.
The descend was actually one of the greatest experiences of my life. Instead of walking down, we were able to decend by “boot- skiing” the scree. I descended about 5,000 feet in a controlled slide down the Volcano. It had to be the most fun and easiest exit from the summit I have ever had. We made it to base camp and hiked our gear down including the tent we had slept in. We were even able to drop another couple thousand feet by “boot-skiing” the remainder of the scree to the base trail.
I would highly recommend this hike, for me, it was an experience of a lifetime. I have never hiked a mountain above 15,000 feet, let alone a volcano of this magnitude. Peru has so many incredible hikes to offer, and many of the locals don’t experience hikes like this. I found this exposure fulfilling, enjoyable, and bedazzling.
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