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| La Azufrera   | 
| Page Type: Route Location: Arequipa, Peru, South America Route Type: Scree, ice Time Required: Two days Difficulty: High altitude, nontechnical, snow and ice
| Route Quality: | | | | Loading...
| Page By: Mike N Created/Edited: Nov 15, 2005 / Nov 15, 2005 Object ID: 167592 Hits: 1306 Loading... Page Score: 68.23% - 1 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Approach
Leave Arequipa by 4WD to the road that takes you to Aguada Blanca, in between Misti and Chachani. This is a very rough drive. After about 1.5 hours or so you will come to a fork in the dirt road. The right takes you to Aguada Blanca and Misti. Take the left fork and you will start going North and head behind Chachani. There seem to be many roads that parallel each other. There will be a flat point where you should be looking for a dirt road that takes you straight up onto some short hills directly behind Chachani. Make your climb up these hills and follow the main dirt roads at all times. Eventually you will come to a wide large sandy slope behind Chachani. Trucks can be parked here or you can follow some zig zag roads up Chachani for a while. This used to be a mining area for sulfur and trucks used to use these roads in the past. Since few people use them, they are in bad shape. The road up this last part of Chachani can be quite narrow, and would only advise if you are confident in your driving and off-road skills. The other option is to hike the well worn dirt road and follow a trail up to a U-shaped notch toward the left (South). This will lead to an excellent base camp with flat sandy areas for camping. The campsites also have rock walls to protect against the wind. Check out my pics.
Route Description
From base camp, you will leave in the dark. It might be wise to check out the initial part of the route because you do have to scramble over some boulders. There is no right or wrong way, just easier or harder. You will make your way up to the broad col. Cross over this col and down slightly. You will then start a slow descending traverse which will then start to ascend as you get closer to Fatima (the peak to the right as you look at Chachani from Arequipa). This section will likely require crampons. There can be rockfall danger under this headwall.
From the base of Fatima you will follow a series of traverses and zig zags that will take you close to the summit of Fatima. Do not go all the way to the top unless you want to. There will be a slight descent until you start up the summit pyramid. This doesn't take that long, but the traverses seem to go on forever. The true summit is just past the highest point you can see. Time from base camp to summit can be 3-6 hours depending on condition. I think camp to camp for us was 4:15. Touch the cross and juice up.
The return trip can be just as tiring. Remember the initial descending traverse. Now it's all uphill and it can feel like it never ends. Get back to the col and descend back to camp. There are great views of Coropuna, Ampato, Misti, and all the craters of Chachani (there are around 6).
Essential Gear
Ice axe, crampons, warm layers, shells, headlamp, etc. The guides can be pretty "machista" and cavalier, but I would also bring helmet. Depending on your level of comfort on ice slopes and the mountain conditions, you may need a rope for some short sections. No technical gear needed.
Miscellaneous Info
If you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.
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Volcanoes of Arequipa
