Ascending Pan de Azucar

One of our first major excursions in Colombia was to Cocuy National Park in the Boyaca department north of Bogotá.  We arranged a tour with De Una Tours for five days trekking in the park, and got our friend Sarah from school to join us. I had been pushing for a longer trip, but as it was we would be leaving on the day before Cath's 30th birthday, and for some reason Cath didn't fancy spending like celebrating in a tent in the middle of nowhere. I graciously conceded and we began preparing for the trip.
After a few trips to the caming shop and walking up Montserrate- a mountain with a church on top in Bogs- we felt fairly prepared to go.  The bus ride up was an adventure in itself, but I'll probably cover that in another post. After spending the night in a small hotel in the town of Cocuy we took a local milk truck into the park.  An hour and several bemused locals later, we were dropped off at the point where our trek would start. Within a few minutes I learned a valuable lesson: the backpack that feels fairly comfortable while leisurely pacing around your living room will seem 10 times heavier when you're walking uphill with your campsite a few hours away.

Pan de Azucar with Pulpito from afar

But on day two, we got to leave our backpacks in the tent as we attempted to summit the 5,100m (about 16,700 feet) high Pan de Azucar.  Neither Cath or I had been that high before, so we were both excited by the challenge, but also a little nervous. We woke up to a crisp, blue sky  and kept warm with aguapanela (basically hot sugar water).

As we first set off, the absence of 40-pound bags energised us along with the beautiful scenery. As we climbed higher the vegetation was more sparse and stops were more frequent as we began to feel the effects of altitude. Luckily, there were always impressive views to admire while we caught our breath. Below us there were deep valleys, and above us was the ever-present peak of Pan de Azucar, our goal for the day.  The name means Sugarloaf, and is one of the few snow-capped mountains in the park.

As we approached the snowline, we got our crampons out and received a very quick lesson in how to use them. It didn't take long to get comfortable using them, and we slowly approached the summit.  I say ´we´ slowly approached, but if Sarah is reading this she would probably take offense,  as she quickly surged ahead of us. I knew she was fairly athletic from staff four-square games back in Bogotá. But she hadn't told us that she had been in the Territorial Army back at home, so needless to say she was a little bit fitter than Cath and myself.
Before arriving at the top of the mountain, we passed the hulking Pulpito del Diablo, the Devil's Pulpit.  This is an incongruous vertical slab of rock that juts out a few hundred feet from the mountain. Having seen it from afar for most of the morning, it was shocking how big it actually was while standing underneath it.

Pulpito del Diablo (with Sarah underneath on the left)

All in all, the ascent was going well, but it became apparent we were in a kind of race to the top. From behind, a bank of white clouds were rapidly approaching, and it was apparent our blue sky would be gone once those were above us. Personally, I wanted to make sure I got some good pictures from the top, so I tried to quicken my gait a little.
By the time I arrived to the top, Sarah and Thomas (our guide) were already there, and I could see from their expressions that the hike had been well worth the exertion.  The clouds were amassing on all sides, but the views were still spectacular. Almost directly below us was Laguna de la Plaza (our next day's destination), and dozens of craggy peaks stretched out in every direction.

The feeling of looking down on the clouds was pretty dizzying as well. Cath later said the views reminded her of one of those posters in classrooms that say something cheesy like 'Soar with Books' or ´Learning is the Greatest High´ or something equally inane.

We didn't spend much time up there, but as we descended through the clouds I think we all felt a buzz from making it to the top.