This past weekend, LIFT 42 had an epic adventure, climbing the volcano Acatenango to its summit at 13,044 feet. We began by leaving our host families at 9:30 on Friday night, driving to Antigua, being briefed by our guides with OX, and heading for the mountain. 12:45 am on Saturday morning, we began our grueling ascent.
Dark and wet, hiking up through clouds, we pushed faster than most groups that OX is used to guiding. They said if we made it in 1:00 or 1:15 to the first checkpoint, we'd be OK, and we made it in 45 minutes! Headlamps and endlessly stepping up and up and up while being sprinkled with cold rain was the first four hours of our hike.
Around 4:45 am we were closer to the summit and the winds picked up significantly with gusts around 50 mph. Everyone put on as many layers as we had, and we pushed on through the cold, intense, dark winds to the summit.
Our guide had said, "it probably won't clear." Praise God for his bountiful gracious gifts. Just after sunrise, around 6 am, the clouds began to clear.
LIFT 42 felt the peace and joy of the Lord as the fresh rays carried new warmth and beauty. Shortly, the views truly opened up from the summit of Acatenango so that we could see Fuego's eruptions about a mile away, just over a short ridge.
We descended to the place where OX often sets up base camp for those hikers who prefer to do these 9 miles and this ascent and descent of 5,000 feet in more than one day.
Their base camp location has amazing views of Fuego, just 1,200 feet down from the summit of Acatenango. By this time it had warmed a bit more, and OX had banana bread, spreads, tea, and coffee for us! It was an hour filled with joy, beauty, and camaraderie as we took in the beautiful views and began to understand the words "refreshment" and "rejuvenation" in new, rich ways.
After this wonderful breakfast, we descended the rest of the way down the mountain through beautiful fields of flowers and trees that we hadn't seen as we passed them by in the night.
It was a soul-refreshing hike, though many of us were very tired, having gotten maybe two or three hours of sleep before this, one of the most intense hikes of most of our lives.
We went back for a good meal at the community center and some much-needed rest in the afternoon.
We'll post a bit more about our church visit and our day in Antigua on Sunday sometime later.
Today, we are back in the sites with Students International, learning, growing, and glorifying God!
In Christ,
Tyler Nelson
LIFT Associate Director
Dark and wet, hiking up through clouds, we pushed faster than most groups that OX is used to guiding. They said if we made it in 1:00 or 1:15 to the first checkpoint, we'd be OK, and we made it in 45 minutes! Headlamps and endlessly stepping up and up and up while being sprinkled with cold rain was the first four hours of our hike.
Around 4:45 am we were closer to the summit and the winds picked up significantly with gusts around 50 mph. Everyone put on as many layers as we had, and we pushed on through the cold, intense, dark winds to the summit.
Our guide had said, "it probably won't clear." Praise God for his bountiful gracious gifts. Just after sunrise, around 6 am, the clouds began to clear.
LIFT 42 felt the peace and joy of the Lord as the fresh rays carried new warmth and beauty. Shortly, the views truly opened up from the summit of Acatenango so that we could see Fuego's eruptions about a mile away, just over a short ridge.
We descended to the place where OX often sets up base camp for those hikers who prefer to do these 9 miles and this ascent and descent of 5,000 feet in more than one day.
Their base camp location has amazing views of Fuego, just 1,200 feet down from the summit of Acatenango. By this time it had warmed a bit more, and OX had banana bread, spreads, tea, and coffee for us! It was an hour filled with joy, beauty, and camaraderie as we took in the beautiful views and began to understand the words "refreshment" and "rejuvenation" in new, rich ways.
After this wonderful breakfast, we descended the rest of the way down the mountain through beautiful fields of flowers and trees that we hadn't seen as we passed them by in the night.
It was a soul-refreshing hike, though many of us were very tired, having gotten maybe two or three hours of sleep before this, one of the most intense hikes of most of our lives.
We went back for a good meal at the community center and some much-needed rest in the afternoon.
We'll post a bit more about our church visit and our day in Antigua on Sunday sometime later.
Today, we are back in the sites with Students International, learning, growing, and glorifying God!
In Christ,
Tyler Nelson
LIFT Associate Director
Thank you for these wonderful blogs Tyler! The Gallagher family and friends are truly enjoying them! Praying for you all !!
ReplyDeleteThe Weerheim's are grateful for your updates too! So glad to hear how it is going there for the group. What a hike, what an experience.
ReplyDelete