The travel to this peak is one filled with long walks, cold nights, dark and dense tropical forest, rocky mountains and sandy parts, is the most physically demanding trip you can do in Venezuela besides Bolivar Peak, i lost a toal of 6.5 kilograms of weight in the 5 day long travel the first time i did it, it is so demanding because of the different biomes you find on the way to the summit
The day 0 of the trip starts at La Mucuy national park, in Mérida, we arrived at night, and found this amazing dong called Humboldt de las Nieves, has extreme endurance, he done the trip 6 time at that moment, is a mucuchies, a dog breed of the region
We set up the camp and prepared to sleep, we knew there was a long way to go the next few days, the weather here is pretty normal, not so cold, not so hot, you can sleep outside the tents, and that's what everyone does on this trip, but that day was about to rain so we set up the camp
This day the dog was chasing a skunk, it ended badly and he stink the whole trip, making impossible to be closed to him for too long, he sleep outside the tents even in the rain, but he didn't even shake, his fur is dense and prepared for that kind of punishment
Day 1 starts at 3:30 Am, we take some breakfast made with cereal, yogurt and some bananas, i ate more than i should and i was hell the first 2 hours walking, at 4:30 Am we started to walk, the forest starts right there, you can see a lot of night birds, the forest is dense, you don't eve need sun protection, as the sun will never touch your skin while in the forest, is moisty, i ended damp just from the water falling every time i touch a tree, this part of the trip is the harder one, it kicks your brain out, the forest is a zigzag, and it looks like it never ends, my backpack and ice pick was getting stuck in the trees every 5 minutes, and is a 5 to 8 hours long travel, so it was pretty annoying
At this point in the day we were half the way out to our target destination, we rest for 20 minutes, 4 hour walking almost nonstop, the dog was the first to made it to this point so he fell asleep waiting for us, in this part in the forest we started to see a small but strong river that comes from the base of the glacier, the soil around is covered with some type of clay
The brown dog joined us in the morning, but Humboldt attacked him a lot, so we keep them apart for each other
Finally! we made it to La Coromoto lagoon after 8 hours of walking, this picture was taken the day 2, when we made it to the lagoon we were dead tired so no one took photos, we set up camp, eat, and sleep, i was stinking a lot so i take a small bath in the river first as well as my tentmate, it was ice cold, but it worth it
The dinner of day 1 was the ugliest yet tastier pasta i ate in my life, some chocolate and some ice tea, i was happy that the forest ended, but my brain was spilling out of my nose thinking of the torture it would be to walk through that forest again at the end of the trip
Day 2 started, our breakfast was burritos with a juice similar to a kool aid, we started walking at 5:30 Am, since the first moment the way was a slope up filled with loose rocks, but way easier than walking on the forest, after 2 hour of walking we found this bridge attached to the rock, was scary for some, but it wasn't a big deal (For sure if you fall you will break all of your bones at once and die), at this point the altitude symptoms were more evident
The mountains at the other side in this photo are part of another group of mountains called sierra de la culata, by my experience is the coldest group of mountains in Venezuela, and the driest, there's no snow or glacier on that group of mountains, sometimes it falls snow, but this is rare, one night at one of this mountains i get -8ºC weather, i know is not so cold, but remember that this is a tropical country and no one is used to a weather below 22ºC
Now we can see the summit for the first time, at this point we have walked around 4 hours, at some parts it was necessary to climb, and the dogs performed like they have done it a thousand times, this day is not as demanding for the soul as day 1, but my leg muscles were totally tired
Finally we made it to La Verde lagoon, our point to start the way to the summit at day 3, the camping site is at the other side of the lagoon, so we should get there throught the small hill on the right side of the picture, this was a scary moment for some of us, since at one point you have to climb in a very weird position, and if you fall, the fall is something like a hundred straight meters or more, after that, day 2 is done, and we got a good view of the peak
Day 3 starts early in the morning, at 3 AM, it was my turn to cook, the breakfast was some scrambled eggs with sausage, no one dies from it so i think it was good, and some liquid hot gelatin, it was heaven, we prepared and check our safety equipment, pack some boiled eggs and water and started walking at 4:30
Walking in the mountains at night must be one of the best experiences i ever had, the peaceful darkness and cold that remains there even when the dawn is starting gives a unique opportunity to see the mountain in all his beauty
Walking with cold equipment is harder than i expected, i was sweating hot while walking, and ice cold if i stopped for just a second, if i remove my jacket i freeze, if i put it on the heat was slowly eating me alive, but i manage to stay comfortable while walking
The walk was pretty demanding all the way, in the first 10 minutes you have to climb a small waterfall, and half of the way was a sandy terrain that for every 2 steps you take it takes you back 1, after that you start to do small climbs to finally get to the base of the glacier
Sadly after we got to the base of the glacier 2 of the girls that were with us started to feel hard symptoms of altitude sickness, we decided that they should go back, and another group that was already at the summit take them to the camp
The girl on the picture is just resting, she is the harder person i ever met, she climbs like a goat and have the endurance of a bull, and she made it to the summit without a problem
We finally made it to the summit, sadly the weather was getting bad and no good pictures were taken, the snow was deep enough to cover me to my waist, a friend lost all the sole of his shoes at the summit, he tied them up but his feet were full of snow and the shoe break apart every half an hour
After some hours walking we made it again to the camp, i was dead tired, in some rare moment of nostalgia i burst into tears for some minutes, we made our lunch and fell asleep right away, i walked a total of 12 hours that day
At night it started to rain hard, my tent was filling with water, but i was so damn tired i didn't care, i slept like a newborn baby
Day 4, we have to get back to La Mucuy in just one day, 4 hours after we started walking the shoes of my friend finally break apart, but there was a pair of shoes of his size in the same spot, so he take them, the shoes weren't brand new but for sure they do the work
The forest was a torture, i just wanted to scream and run, i was so tired, and i lost so much weight that my pants were falling, and in the process of falling and rubbing against my backpack and my waist i started to bleed, it was a torture, when i finally finish the forest i have been walking for 8 hours, and my neck was locked looking to the floor, it was over, i ate the most expensive burger i found, this was the end of my 2016 travel to humboldt peak
We took a video, bad quality, bad music, we took it just to revive the moments going to the summit, you can see it here if you want
I hope you enjoy the pictures, and the story behind it, if you want to know more about this peak and other travels i have done let me know, i have more photos to share, all the photos were taken by members of my group
Goodbye