We had been wanting to do something super active while in Arequipa. The town is super active and has tons of tour agencies doing all sorts of trip—hiking, rafting, biking, walking etc so we figured we would get ourselves here and then sign up for a couple day trip. We went to a bunch of different tour agencies, but ultimately chose the one we did because we liked the guy we originally spoke with and turns out he is the owner, but what resonated with us was that he is actually a guide. Every other place that we went to, we spoke with someone behind the desk who just sold the tours, but ultimately had probably never done them so didn’t really know how to answer our questions etc. Our guide has 30 years in mountaineering exp and turns out he is a yoga teacher! We really hit it off and he just had the right attitude about the hike.
The hike leaves at 1am from about 5000m. You could do it either in one day or go the day before and camp out which is what we choose to do. Some agencies go for the day b/c it’s not a technical hike..ie anyone (who can deal with the altitude) can do it. You just need to have the ability to walk forever and ever. Some tour agencies stay over night to help people acclimatize. Although we have been at altitude for awhile we decided to go for the two day hike b/c we wanted to go with this agency. We were hoping to do it on Wednesday with a group (which made it cheaper b/c there is a 3 person minimum) but even though we kept checking in with this specific agency, they didn’t have anyone until Friday. We finally just decided to pull the trigger and pay for that third person b/c we didn’t want to wait to do it. Ultimately it was worth it.
Wednesday morning we were picked up at our hostel and we were off. Although the mtn isn’t that far from town, it takes about 2 hours to get there b/c of the windy, dirt roads that just go around and around for ages. When we get to the part where the car leaves us, with about a 30 minute hike before us to get to base camp, we hung out with our guide and the driver for awhile just chatting about sushi, yoga, being a vegetarian and meditation. Who would have thought?!
We finally set off for base camp, hiking at a slooooow pace, what’s the rush right? Upon arrival to base camp we set up our tents and James and I actually take a nap b/c we were wiped. Then some dinner of spags and soup and we went back to bed. At this point, the sun was down and it was dark, around 6pmish and we tried to go back to sleep. Luckily the good thing about us traveling together is that we can snuggle up for warmth. So we tried to catch some zzzz’s, but they escaped us.
At 1am, our guide was up and ready to go so we crawled out of the warmth of our sleeping bags. At this point, with no wind it wasn’t “that” bad outside. The stars were plentiful and there were no one around. We put water and food into a backpack, had some tea and we were off with our headlamps and layers of clothes. Yes, it was pitch dark out and we moved at a snails pace across some snow, ice and much rock.
I couldn’t have told you where we were nor had any sense of time. I knew the hike would take anywhere from 6-8 hours to reach the top but that meant nothing to me. All I knew is that my fingers and toes were beyond freezing. Luckily at one point our guide gave me an extra pair of gloves, but good lord it was cold. Over the course of our hike I am thinking, what on earth are we doing? This was a stupid idea. I am god knows where, frozen and it’s PITCH black out. All I wanted was for the sun to come up so that it didn’t feel so desolate.
We finally reached a point at 5800 m, the sun was coming up and our guide told us we were to rest here for about 30 mins. It was so odd b/c the sun had come up and I thought it was about 9 or 10am..it was that level of brightness, but when I asked the time, I was told it was 6am which blew my mind! Unfortunately James wasn’t doing so well…he was shaking from the cold and didn’t want to eat or drink anything which was important considering what we had walked and were still to walk. His tummy was quite upset and wasn’t in a good spot. I honestly thought we would turn around which would have been fine with me as we were in this together. I mean, we were at 5800 m and the view was unreal!
But our guide was insistent on just chilling and trying to get him to drink/eat something. He did some massaging to get the blood flowing. James took a bit of a nap while we just took in the sights. The trick seemed to be in a Red Bull which gave him some energy back. We had about a 2 hour walk in front of us to reach the top and our guide just made sure that James went extra slow to conserve energy, to keep breathing and to enjoy it all (not sure that happened at that point in the walk!) The 2 hour hike turned out to be 4 or so hour walk up and across more mountain and ice and snow.
Looking back, it was one of those things had we known what we were getting ourselves into, we probably wouldn’t have done it. But with our feet back on solid ground, I am glad we did. Needless to say it was a slooooow trek, slowly putting one foot in front of another, at times not feeling like we were making any progress. It was one of those situations when you felt like, okay just around this corner, or up this hill and there will be the summit. Well, we had that feeling about every 30 mins and I swore the summit was moving away from us! But somehow or another, thru some act of God, we made it and let me tell you, we got there with no more energy in us. James was just drained and I was also reaching the end of my energy reserves…considering we had a 4 or so hour hike back that wasn’t a good situation but that hike just took everything out of me.
The top was totally worth it though. The view was amazing as we were surrounded by volcanoes and higher than most mtns around us…when do you actually feel like you are on top of the world?!
Now came the descent. One thinks, oh you went up so now it’s just a walk down. Riiiight. Unfortunately, the descent had many ascents in it, up and over mountain passes, back thru the snow and ice. Looking back, I have no idea how we made it, but we finally reached our base camp. We had to break down our tents and then hike back down another 20 or so mins with our backpacks to the waiting car. We were both total zombies and struggled to wrap everything up as we were just sooo tired.
All in all, we have zero regrets. Not only did we have base camp to ourselves, but we had the whole mountain to ourselves. Not a single person. It was so breathtaking and beautiful with the silence just surrounding us. When we got back to base camp around 2pm, after being gone for about 12.5 hours, we were greeted by about 15 or people that had just arrived at base camp, to hike Mt Chachani the following day. I can’t even imagine doing what we did, surrounded by so many people. There was just something so unique about being the only 3 people up there.
