Our day started at 6am with breakfast and we were on the trail at 6:30. The trek: 2.4km, (less than two miles!). But the terrain is basically vertical. They monitor your progress very carefully. There is a stop at 900 meters and you have to be there in 60 minutes time. If not, they make you turn around. Gloria and I made it in 57 minutes. They estimate the 2.4km will take 8 hours. 3.5 hours up, 1 hour at the top and 3.5 hours down. You start at 6:30 and should return in the late afternoon.
Gloria on one of the many ropes, pulling herself up
The climb was relentless and SLOW. Going up it was like hiking stairs that were made of slippery, moss covered rocks and roots. Standing, you could touch the trail in front of you! Then for the last 400 meters, you had ladders and ropes you had to climb to continue. We found this probably the most challenging trek we have ever been on. We carried 6 liters of water between the two of us, we drank it all. I sweated so much I soaked my shirt and shorts. (TMI). The sweat wasn’t dripping off my face, it literally poured. I have never sweated this profusely in my life!
The “trail”, vertical, and slippery
Many rest stops later we got to the pinnacles. A very unique, one of a kind formation of limestone shards created by the weather. Interesting, yes, spectacular, well it was a hard climb to see what we had already seen on the internet! Now, we had the climb down. One usually thinks hiking down is easier that hiking up a trail. Just the opposite in this situation. Again, very vertical and slippery, much of it had to be hiked the same way we went up, backward, climbing down. The ropes were especially challenging for me, again, vertical with no protection. One slip could be very serious, even fatal! But, we did finish in a bit longer than our ascent and were proud to claim another successful climb.
Gloria on one of the many ladders
The Pinnacles, only place in the world. was it worth it? We made it back safely, so I guess so.
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