Arequipa 1 Chachani 1

Friday, October 24th, 2008

Day 117 on The Big Trip. “Base Camp?”
TWO NIGHTS AGO we arrived in Arequipa from Puno. We should have ridden a bat instead of a bus. Anyways, we made our reservation at The Point Hostel, even though it was post-midnight. We found a place to eat in town. The next morning we got down to business. The business of conquering peaks over 6000 meters above sea level. You don’t need to get a new prescription for your glasses; you read it right: over 6000 meters above sea level.

OUR REASON for registering so quickly upon arriving goes by the name of desire. Nevada Chachani, standing at a solid 6075m is tantalizing. And 6075 is the conservative measurement. Watches and other personal equipment have measured upwards of 6130m at the summit. Regardless, it seems to sport better views than El Misti, the 5700+m dusty volcano that hovers slightly closer to the city than Chachani. El Misti costs $60/p, while Chachani costs $70/p. Our minds are made up. We register for Chachani through Point Hostel our first morning in Arequipa. As a result, our first morning in this city mostly involves tasks related to preparing for the climb. Also, we bought a massive amount of groceries so that we can cook every meal for the day before the climb and the morning thereof. We do this to save money.

THURSDAY MORNING means we’re up early and getting ready for battle. The guide picks us up in a 4x4 at 8:30 from our hostel. All three of us. Alisa, myself, and Mark Cosgrove, an Irish guy we luckily met as we were trying to register and just then finding out that this climb requires a minimum registration of three people. Before we can get on the road to get to base camp, we have to deal with the

MISSING EQUIPMENT such as boots, gloves, a second pair of pants, and for me, sunglasses. After a few stops we find boots - or heavy duty shoes – for all of us. I am lent sunglasses; we stop for extra water as the guide just now tells us what wasn’t in the information binder at the hostel: boots are US$6 (not S/.6, which would be three times less); trekking poles are necessary and will add another US$1 or 2; and each person needs 5L of water: 4L for them and 1L for the guide in order to make dinner for them. This isn’t breaking the bank, but for the sake of efficiency I’d much rather know far in advance pieces of information such as these. So we pay, grab some extra water and a snack called “Sin Parar”, meaning “Without limits”, that is like but better than Crunch bars, and we are on our way!

HIDDEN INFORMATION surfaces by empiricism, not communication. Namely, that the drive up to 5200m from Arequipa takes not 2 ½ hours like the info. binder at the hostel said, but more like 3 ½ or 4 hours. It’s a really memorable ride (not drive). Just like any climber in the Seattle area remembers the ride to Gold Bar! [Gabe C., have you fixed the road yet?! Sent RB?!]

DROPPED like a triple-decker ice cream cone when the soccer ball is run over by an 18-wheeler carrying gasoline, the three of us are left with our bags at 5200m. We portion between us the tents and sleeping bags that are provided and start hiking slowly up winding foot paths made of dirt to base camp at 5400m.



SETTING UP tents is fine. We have a camping area for the three-person tent that Mark and the guide, Roy, share and a two-person tent for Alisa and me. At 3:00pm we have dinner of pasta and sauce. Our next meal is soup at 6:30pm. Mark and Roy zip up tent to search for the tail of the alphabet. Alisa also caught a few Z’s but I wasn’t yet tired and was more curious about all of the rocks around our camp and why my legs wanted to bounce around. So I went for a walk with a few easy bouldering sessions, climbing the larger boulders in the area.


AS THE SUN sets, and I return to rest a little before the temps get really cold and our food gets warmed, Alisa decides she’s like to join me for a walk. So out we go again for a brisk walk at 5400+m with some pretty nice base-camp views.

MEALS are complemented by our snacking of the chocolates and peanuts and chocolate peanuts that we purchased for energy and calories for the climb!

NOW it’s time to try to sleep, even though it’s something like 8pm because we’re waking up at 2am for a small breakfast and pushing out at 2:30am for the

SUMMIT! I put on all of my layers, we get out our headlamps from our pack, and we pack the daypack with 2.5L water, 2.5L Electrolyte, lots of snacks, sunscreen, scarf, and some miscellaneous items.

STAY TUNED FOR THE WILD AND WILDER SUMMIT NEWS!!! – Your landscaper, n8!