I had read on the Internet that the local guides on Ometepe Island won't climb to the top of Volcan Concepcion because it is too dangerous, but that didn't stop me asking yesterday, when I was organising my tour up the Volcano.
- 'Too dangerous, too dangerous.' the guy in the tour office shook his head firmly at me. His name was Manuel, and he told me I could only climb to 1300 metres.
This was disappointing news. Volcan Concepcion is 1610 metres to its top. I wasn't even going to get high enough to smell some volcanic sulphur. - 'I read on the Internet that its possible to climb to the top.' I shook my head back at him, my wallet still firmly in my pocket.
Waivering at the possibility of me taking my business elsewhere, Mauel made a call on his mobile phone to the guide that would actually be doing the climb with me, out of my earshot. For a minute, I thought the stubborn extranjero was going to get his way. But he wasn't. - 'We only climb to 1200 metres tomorrow.' Manuel came back off the phone, shaking his head again. Apparently there were two other tourists already booked to climb Concepcion tomorrow, and they only wanted to climb to 1200 metres.
Sighing loudly, I handed over my deposit. I had already asked in another tour office and been told it was impossible to climb to the very top. and decided I had better sign up for this trip before the guide haggled our intended altitude down even further. 1200 metres up Volcan Concepcion would have to do.
***
As it turns out, I have absolutely no idea how high I climbed on Volcan Concepcion today, as it was so cloudy that I could see neither the top nor anything around or below me that was further away than twenty feet.
The views from Volcan Concepcion were a little depressing
I had read on the Internet about other climbers having sore legs for days afterwards, and having to climb part of it on hands and knees from being so exhausted. I had even prepared to the extent of packing tins of tuna to give me energy incase I started flagging half way up. Tins of tuna that went uneaten, along with about half the bottled water I had carried up in my rucksack.
Ross and Roos at 'the top'
I had also read on the Internet about it being a hard 7-10 hour slog up the Volcano, but it only took me and Roos, the Dutch medical student with whom I did the climb up Concepcion a meagre 5. Luis the guide said afterwards we marched quickly, and indeed we did as it turned out Roos has a similar philosophy to climbing steep volcanos as I do: walk quickly to shorten the misery.
But I still have my doubts that we got to 1200 metres. I don't think I am superhuman, and even with our fast pace, I don't think I climbed near to the top of a volcano in half the time that most other climbers take. Instead, I suspect our guide Luis scammed us in the clouds. I will unfortunately go to my grave not knowing how high I really climbed on Volcan Concepcion.
I wonder if these people went to their graves not knowing how high they climbed
