La Culata Otra Vez

This past weekend we headed back to la Culata with a crew of five, including one guy who had done the trip with a guide and would be relying on his memory to lead us through the mountains. The plan was to follow the route we had already hiked and then go further to Pan de Azúcar, which we were unable to climb last time. The tricky part would be finding the path after Pan de Azúcar to las Aguas Termales, some hot springs on the other end of the park that Adam only vaguely remembered. We rolled out early on Friday morning with a couple extra friends who were day tripping with us. We had a nice warm, clear day and by about 11AM had made it past Valle el Muerto. Around noon, we approached the Segundo Refugio, soon after which our friends headed back and we continued on to the waterfall where my friend Andrew and I had left off last time. As we approached the waterfall, Adam pointed up a steep slope and said, “we just have to climb that to get to our campsite.” The ridge ended up taking us over an hour since it was so steep and the altitude was starting to get to us. I was hit with occasional spells of dizziness and had a permanent lightheaded feeling. I needed to take about forty slow steps and then take a break in order to keep my breathing at a normal rate. Around 2PM, we arrived at our campsite on the top of the ridge just as the daily clouds and fog were rolling in. This spot would be our base camp for the climb of Pan de Azúcar the next day. This round we brought a stove so we whipped up some black beans and rice for dinner, and then since the fog had lifted somewhat we walked out to a point near our site and noticed for the first time the awesome peaks surrounding us on two sides and the deep river valley in front of us. Later on that night after playing a round of O´Hell in the other tent, Andrew and I looked in the distance and noticed some crazy lightning illuminating the entire southern sky orange. I was reminded of a scene in the Two Towers when Frodo, Sam, and Gollum look toward Mordor and see a red, fiery storm behind a chain of jagged peaks. We walked back out to the point and noticed a thick, eerie fog creeping toward us from the valley below at a supernatural speed, so we called it a night. In the morning, we got up for the sunset and I took lots of pictures of the surrounding mountains since it was clear and the light was good. After some avena, we started the climb up Pan de Azúcar. There was not really a path at first so we were just climbing through the brush, which is generally pretty thin since only the hardiest of shrubs live in the páramo. Eventually we reached a point where the vegetation stopped and rocky sand began. This is the part of the páramo usually categorized as superpáramo, a world of rocks, sand, and sometimes snow where few creatures can live. Somehow I got in a really good rhythm and continued for about an hour until I was just a short climb from the peak. I have discovered my preferred mountain climbing strategy is comprised of slow, short steps with few breaks. After a bit of legitimate climbing (hands and feet involved), I arrived at the windy peak and looked out on the mountain world surrounding me. From the peak, I could see Pico Bolívar, Pico Humboldt, and hundreds of other peaks scattered in all directions. At 4680 meters (15,350 feet), Pan de Azúcar is the ninth highest peak in Venezuela. It seems kind of insignificant, but Pico Bolívar is at 4978 meters and numbers two through eight are all in the vicinity of Mérida. On the way down from Pan de Azúcar, we slid much of the way on the sand and were able to get back in an hour or so. We broke camp, had a small lunch, and headed down the path Adam remembered. He had mentioned we were looking for a trail that went uphill for a couple hours, across a mountain pass, and then into a wide valley with a few lakes where we could camp. After a couple hours of walking, Adam told us he no longer recognized where we were, and we decided to cross the next ridge and head down the valley beyond. After another hour, we still had not reached the valley Adam was looking for so we found a cool lake and set up camp there. The site had a rock overhang under which past campers had built fires so we did the same and cooked our dinner on the fire. We also enjoyed the luxury of some limoncillo tea. When I woke up in the morning on Sunday, I went on a small adventure up a hill to try to find our elusive route into the valley. I developed a sort of “just over the next ridge” mentality and ended up climbing for a couple hours. I eventually got high enough that I could see the valley we were looking for over the ridge, but there was no path to be seen; we had somehow missed the pass. At that point, I was finally resigned to the fact that we would have to turn around and head back the way we came. The fog rolled in just as I was climbing down and it started to rain, probably around 9AM. At one point, I thought I heard the dull purr or growl of some large animal but then turned around and noticed a hummingbird just feet from my head. I am always amazed when I come across wildlife in the páramo; it’s such a harsh environment that any signs of other animal life are very encouraging. By the time I got back to the campsite it was raining pretty steadily so we stayed in the tents. If you remember from my last Culata post, the weather tends to be clear and sunny all morning and then foggy and rainy beginning around 3PM, so this rain at the beginning of the day thing was pretty strange. It subsided around noon so we headed back the way we came. Since we had abandoned our efforts to reach the hot springs, we decided to return a day early. We took a shortcut over a ridge and discovered we were about an hour walk from where we had camped the first night. We booked it down the steep ridge from day one, continued on past the refugios, and made it to the end of Valle el Muerto around 3PM. We arrived at the trailhead around 4PM, caught some taxis, and headed straight to a cheap Chinese place for dinner since Cointa had refused us dinner on such short notice (she has gotten pretty feisty recently). It was pretty strange walking out of the Culata; there was a sense that this would be the last time we would ever see this fantastic area. We have been making mad plans of returning to Venezuela, but with the current president and the way things usually turn out with people's work schedules, girlfriends etc. I am guessing it will not happen any time soon.