I awoke at 5:30 to drizzle, and while it was still dark I could see no stars out, it was completely overcast. It did not bode well for the climb. My guide said that the fog was due to the exceptionally hot day yesterday, and the climb would still go ahead as we would start trekking above the fog layer.
Sure enough, our mini-bus gradually climbed through the clouds, and once again we were greeted by a gloriously sunny day, and the sight of the Volcano rising 2850m into the sky.
I chose not to take the ski-lift 1/3 of the way up the Volcano and started the 5 hour ascent all on foot. The first few hours were spent scrambling up volcanic rock, after a few short stops we rested once we made it to the snow line. There, we attached our crampons, got out the ice-axe and started to the final 2 hour ascent to the crater. We could see the smoke rising from the crater at the bottom of the volcano (and from town when the sun was clear), but as we finally made it to the top the smell of sulphur told us we had reached our destination.
And what a magnificent trek it had been! With the fog covering the ground it felt like we were high above the world, with only a few surrounding mountains and volcanos managing to poke through into the sunlight. The view from the climb up was breaktaking, and if that wasn´t good enough every so often the volcano would throw up a some magma!!! I have always wanted to see lava, topped off an amazing climb.
The return was much faster as we could slide down the ice on our arse, and the rock sections were much easier too. The descent took about 2 hours. It wasn´t the hardest climb, I was tired but not sore or exhausted, but it was one I will definitely not forget!
More photos here
