Grant Cherwenuk’s latest blog from his travels around the world. He started in Guatemala, and today he shared his climb up a volcano. I’m following his journey closely as I admire his courage to follow his dreams, not conventional thinking.
Because It’s There
Posted on March 1, 2016 by Grant Cherwenuk
Acatenengo is by far the most talked tourist attraction within the Antigua region. By itself there is nothing that separates it from any of the other 119 volcanoes located in Central America. Fortunately for the many tourist companies located in the town, Acatenengo is located next to the aptly named Fuego volcano. According to locals the past two months have been Fuego’s most active in the past thirty years. The massive amount of activity has treated Antigua to some surreal volcanic eruptions over the past couple of months. Climbing the adjacent volcano offers the opportunity to witness the explosions up close and personal. The summit provides sweeping views of Guatemala.
Fuego erupting as seen from Antigua
Photo Credit Sarah Irwin
These rewards do not come cheaply, from the 2,200M (7,000 Ft) starting point it is a 6 KM (4 Miles) hike to the summit at 3,900M (13,000 Ft). You can bag the peak in a single day, I elected to pursue the two day option which permitted a sunset view from base camp at 3,756M and a sunrise summit bid. My body responded well to the altitude, while it wasn’t easy I would have a difficult time agreeing with the common refrain of “that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done!” My ascent went smoothly but the attrition rate based on non-official surveys appears to be about 30%. Many people drop out due to the indiscriminate effects of altitude, others simply lose the motivation to continue. As our group begin the summit push in the freezing predawn morning, I contemplated the latter group of hikers and my own motivations. It occurred to me I didn’t really have a good answer to the question posed by a fellow hiker the previous evening, Why?
You can read the rest at his blog: