Acatenango Part 1 - The Ascent

The summit of Acatenango Volcano lies 3976m above sea level – and that was the task for the day!

Having packed a mediocre set of clothing and a selection of snacks, I was picked up at 9:30am to be taken on the 1 hour drive to where we would start our ascent. Luckily for us, this was already 2200m above sea level – but the air was already thinning and every step would be that little bit harder.

We set off with our trusted guide (Fernando) who enjoyed pointing out plants along the way – although often when asked about a specific plant, he’d just call it a “flower”. His English was good and he was able to communicate well with us. From the very beginning of the journey, the path was steep and a lot of the path was along muddy roads which required that little bit of extra work to reclaim the ground lost as your foot slipped downward.

 

This did not go unrewarded though, with almost the entire journey being filled with luscious green plants (which I’m sure helped increase the oxygen concentration of the air) and beautiful landscapes of the surrounding areas and the nearby volcano of Agua (this is the characteristic volcano seen on pictures of Antigua).

As we went higher and higher, the air became thinner and thinner – every few steps left most of us panting for breath and needing a small break, which left the guide a bit confused. He would often go ahead and call to us asking where we were! His characteristic whistle would tell us how far ahead he was but as we knew that we were aiming to get to our camping area before sunset, we took the journey at our own pace. Some of the path was slightly frustrating – as the path had an ash-like consistency and every two steps you took up, you’d slip one step down.

    

By 4:30pm, we had reached a height of about 3700m which is where we could camp for the night. The plan was to climb to the summit the following morning in time for sunrise.

The climate at this level was unfortunately not very friendly – clouds often reduced visibility and the temperature was very much colder than I had expected. Due to previous days of rain, the wood which was round was too wet for us to be able to build a fire and we resorted to resting in our tents whilst the wind and rain beat down on the area.

   

Fortunately, there was a bit of a clearing at sunset and we saw the sunset through the clouds and watched as the clouds below rolled past. On one side we could see the sun set over Lake Atitlan and on the other, we watched the clouds roll over the lit city of Antigua.

  

Despite getting into the tent so early, the altitude and the temperature meant it was difficult to sleep well and we struggled to get much sleep before the following morning arrived.