Before my trip ended, I was lucky enough to find an opportunity to climb another 6,000 meter peak - Nevado Chachani (6,057 metres - 19,872 ft), an extinct stratovolcano outside of Arequipa. Chachani is widely regarded as one of the easiest 6,000 meter peaks to summit, but it's obviously misleading to call any 6,000 meter peak easy. Although physically challenging, Chachani is easy to access given its close proximity to Arequipa, and the climb itself is non-technical - we brought crampons, but never actually needed them.
Day 1: The group was small - just myself, a Canadian guy named Shawn, and our guide Ivan. We also happened to be the only group climbing Chachani at the time, which was great. The first day, like Huayna Potosi, was a very leisurely hike up to high camp, Camp Sulfur. We went to bed early and, once again, I developed a splitting headache and did not sleep much.
Breakfast of Champions!
Me and Ivan, the guide.
Ivan and Shawn at our base camp. Yes, it is snowing.
Day 2: We woke early and hiked for about 4 hours+ 20 minutes before reaching the summit - Ivan said that it typically takes 7 hours! Nevado Chachani has four peaks - Trigo, Angel, Fatima, and Chachani. Before summitting the highest, Chachani, it was necessary to weave and contour up and around the other three peaks.
The summit - there were 3 crosses in memorial of past climbers who have died on Chachani.
2 comments:
those are some beautiful pics
must... return... to South... America
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