Exhausted - but we made it!

Yesterday, as a group of 13 tourists and 3 guides we had started our two day ascent of Misti. A sign at the trailhead says it's 3415m, while the summit is 5822m. At sea level, it wouldn't be difficult to cover that in two days, but at altitude it's different. The first one of our group got in trouble with the altitude only half way or so to our camp site and decided to turn back. He was going slow, a bit uncoordinated and seeing poorly and made the only possible choice. One of the guides escorted him back to the trailhead and arranged transport back to Arequipa for him. We camped at 4500m or so, and started early the next day. Given that most of us group had never done anything like this, the ones that summited have earned the right to be tired! In the end, 8 out of the remaining 12 made it to the top. A pretty good number, if you ask me, all things considering. Many in the group had recently visited places like Cuzco and Lake Titicaca, which certainly helps with acclimatization, but still, Misti is a whole lot higher. 15 May 2011.