Low Price Hotels - Adventure Travel In Peru - Climbing Volcanic Crater Huambo - Part One

I passed through a small village where the trail followed the road going through the village, after 30 minutes. Until I finally got into the sunlight, even with a steady climb, i was freezing the first 20 minutes. Which unfortunately was blocking the sun; ao, huiñ. I started hiking along the base of Mt. Which of course was my goal, the highest part on the rim of the crater looked like the point on a crown. With the open side facing Cotahuasi, the crater is kind of horseshoe shaped. Which is just above Cotahuasi, today my plan was to hike up to a volcanic crater called Huambo. But not today, i start out with shorts and a T-shirt and usually am hot within five minutes. And then goes down into the canyon, climbs to a pass, it starts uphill in the sun, lately I have been hiking in my favorite canyon a lot. I left the house at 8:30 and didn't even have to go back for anything that I had forgotten. Not a cloud in the sky, winter morning here (well actually the last day of fall), but cold, it was another beautiful. Managed to get out of my warm bed at 7:00, my alarm went off at 6:30 am.

It started just past the local school. About a foot wide and said that was a good trail that went all the way up, she pointed out a small path. I hadn't been on either trail past Cachana before so asked a woman where the trail was "to up there" and pointed up to the crater near the rim of Cotahuasi Canyon. Especially as I prefer small winding trails, until they both met up again at Cachana so it worked out well, however this trail followed along the other side of a small canyon. Which branched off the road up a few minutes farther than this one, i later found the correct trail. Especially in the morning) I realized that I was on the wrong trail, finally after about the fifth time of rock hopping and wall climbing to avoid the water (many trails here double as irrigation ditches. Right outside of the village I took what I thought was the continuation of the trail but it didn't seem as wide as I remembered it from about a year ago when I had last hiked here.

He had thought I might have an instant print camera. The director said he needed them in two days for a special project so that wouldn't help any. Until I would be going to Arequipa, i found the director and offered to take pictures for them but said I could not get them printed for a few weeks. I felt convicted so turned around also and walked back about 10 minutes to the school, after he turned and ran back to the school. Not a film camera (I had never gotten digital prints made here because they are too expensive), i told the boy that I only had a digital camera. I have no idea how he even knew I had a camera but I suppose most gringos here have cameras. He said that the director of the school in Cachana would like me to take some pictures of the students. A young boy came running up behind me, a few minutes later as I was happily going up the trail.

And leaned up against that, which was warm, so I found a rock facing the sun, and the breeze was cool, partly due to the altitude, it was chilly again. I stopped and had lunch, it was 12:30 so after finding a sheltered spot in some rocks. 000 feet so that explained it, i usually seem to "hit a wall" around 13. 800 feet), 500 feet (after starting at 8, i checked the altitude and it was about 12. I still could not see into the crater bowl and was starting to slow down, after passing a few stone houses and about five ridges later. It looked like I should soon be able to see into it; i finally got up high enough that I could see the crater again. Somehow I had missed that turnoff; within five minutes I crossed the correct trail. Found an animal trail going my way and continued climbing, i backtracked a bit. And all of a sudden the trail ended, which still ice on the edges, i was following a small irrigation canal, at about 11:00. There were various trail junctions but I kept aiming in the direction of the crater and it was always the right trail. I was going up about 35 feet per minute according to my altimeter; it was a steady climb up a narrow trail. I am a bit competitive so when I can keep ahead of the locals it always makes me feel good! I saw a man coming up behind me but he stopped for a break and never saw him again, a few minutes later. Even though I had been looking for it, i drive the road every week going to Toro and had never been able to see where the trail crossed there. There it was, so I looked down the road a short distance and sure enough, the trail didn't look like it crossed the road there. I came to the last crossing of the road as it zigzags up the canyon wall to the rim, continuing on up the trail.

But at least the rocks were nice and warm, very miserable climbing, rocks from a couple of inches to a foot across, i was going up a rock field. 230 feet and I had set a tentative 3:30 turn around time so was doing fine, at 2:25 I was at 14. And I was getting the full benefit of the afternoon sun on the slope of the crater, by now it had finally warmed up. Of course I had to go down a couple hundred feet before reaching the edge of the crater to start climbing up. 000 feet and was sure that I could scramble up another 500 feet somehow, i was now up to almost 14. Where there was a gentler slope, the edge of the crater in front of me looked really steep and I wasn't sure that I could get that high there so decided it was best to try going up off to my right. Whitney. 500 feet so that it would be the same elevation gain as a day hike to the top of Mt, but I still wanted to go up to 14, by this time I realized that I would not have time to go to the upper rim on the far side of the crater. Very interesting! It looked like someone had dumped huge piles of rocks from a gigantic dump truck all over. 000 feet, which was at about 14, i could finally see the floor of the crater, and climbing numerous more ridges, after lunch.

It only took a couple of minutes; i "skied" down the scree, going down was much faster! I can easily understand how mountain climbers get into trouble by not sticking to their turn around times. But that will have to wait until another day when I get started earlier, 000 feet, i am guessing that the rim must be around 16. With very little problem, from here it looked like I could continue on up to the rim. I regretfully stopped and surveyed the situation, 040 feet, having reached my goal at 15, at 3:39. Also it was a full moon night and I have really missed the night hikes we used to do in Los Angeles so I was in no big hurry to get home. It seemed like a nice round number, 000 feet, so decided to go for 15, there were areas of firmer material underneath and by zigzagging I was able to climb much faster, at this point. 500 feet, i made it to 14, and shedding my daypack, after many rest breaks. Where it was two steps up and slide back one, the rocks only lasted a couple hundred feet and then it turned into a scree field!

I had hiked to the rim of that one over a year ago and returned by the trail I was hoping to connect up with. It looked like it crossed along the edge of the mountain and connected with another trail coming from a twin crater off to the left. One I had never been on it before, this was also a different trail than I had come up on. I made it down to the main trail just before dark, which at one point looked like a snowball on the rim, even after taking many pictures of the moon. I was puzzled as to why I hadn't seen it before and then I realized that it was the full moon rising! Just poking above the rim, snow covered peak of Nevado Coropuna, just then I saw what looked like the rounded. It was so beautiful, it was still in sunlight and glowing red! I turned for one last look at the crater wall above me. 000 feet at sunset, i hadn't been thinking that I would still be above 13. By now it was really getting chilly so I put on all my layers but I was still cool. And wanted to get down below the crater to a main trail before then, i had 45 minutes until dark. Just as the sun was setting, but didn't find it until about 5:15, thinking I could connect with a trail I had seen earlier, i took a different route down.

And then hiking home under the full moon, 200 feet of climbing (and also descending) while bagging a "fifteener", 6, it was a great day. Almost 12 hours after I left, i got home at 8:15. All bathed in bright moonlight, i did have to stop quite often on the way down to enjoy the panoramic view of the surrounding mountains. By this time the moon had made it over the mountain so I had a delightful night hike back home. I ended up on the trail I had been on before and continued on down, just about the time I thought I must have guessed wrong. Now that I was going down in elevation, it was also getting warmer. I had my headlight so it was not a problem, fortunately. I realized that I wasn't getting any moonlight because I was now at the base of the mountain ridge between the two craters, as I headed down this trail.