Mount Piltrquitrón To The Top

The next morning we woke to a chilly start, no surprise at 2500 meters in autumn at this latitude, the ground was frosted and the air clear so looking good.

IMG_8027 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The day was fine so we were in with a grin, setting off shortly after nine they said 2.5 hours to the summit.

IMG_8039 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The fog and wind started to pick up which wasn't in the game plan

IMG_8048 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

1.5 hours we reached what we thought was the top, we were not sure though cost the fog was racing over at 40 - 50 km with a wind chill bite beyond belief....yeap winter is upon us.

IMG_8047 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The fog was coming over and sticking/freezing to the plants and rocks ….. wind chill a killer.

Frozen fog sticking to the rocks

IMG_8049 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

From our lunch rock we could watch the freezing fog growing on this wee plant

IMG_8071 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Rugging up with everything we had some lunch behind a lone rock when the cloud suddenly cleared, we left the pack etc and gunned it the last 100 meters, by the time we reached it the bloody fog had nearly come back in but it allowed us some view for short time.

Our victory we were here pics, check out the closeup of the blockwork, it is not paint but fog freezing so that gives you a feel for it.

IMG_8053 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_8055 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_8055 - Version 2 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

With our victorious shots, were we here pics and snotty noises we scampered back down to the safety of our half rock....last view from the top

IMG_8074 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

A quick exit along the top and down the first steep section saw us drop maybe another 100 meters vertical into a totally different climate which was not trying to kill us.

IMG_8088 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

From here we enjoyed a leisurely walk back to the refugio for lunch before setting off for the decent to the car park this time hopeful for a ride down.

Back into the tree line it felt like summer

IMG_8103 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

For me with my weak knees I would rather go up and be brought back down, today was my lucky day, a couple behind us had come up in their car, we politely asked if we could get a ride down which they were more than happy to do WOH HOH

I couldn’t believe my luck as a 12 km slog down the road would have very slow and the end would have been swollen knees so yes yet again we were lucky for when we REALLY needed it.

Of course arriving back early to our hosts place he was surprised to see us thinking we had not been to the top so we filled him in on the finer points, great day.