17. Beitrag - the Snow Peak

The time has finally come: climbing the highest mountain on the island and the entire Indian Ocean is about to happen!

On Saturday at 7:16 a.m. we took the bus towards Cilaos. Unfortunately, because we missed a connecting bug, we didn't arrive until around 1:45 p.m. instead of 10:45 a.m. You might think it was half as wild, but in fact it almost ruined the whole project in the end. But only almost, don't worry :D

We started at the “Le Bloc” bus stop, the official starting point for the climb to Piton des Neiges. From there we didn't do anything for quite a while other than walk up a steep path made of irregular "natural stairs".

It took us a total of 4 hours to complete these 5km and 1100 meters of altitude - it would certainly have been a little quicker if we hadn't been surprised by the rain in the last hour. It really just pissed heavily (excuse the choice of words) and not only we, but also our backpacks and their contents were completely soaked. If only the bus had come earlier... So we arrived at the hut absolutely exhausted, wet and hypothermic.

The hut is the only one that can be used as a stopover from Cilaos to the Piton des Neiges. It consists of a large room full of benches and several small rooms with bunk beds as well as four tents with 8 beds each. There is no heating, no running water, no toilets, food for €25 and a bottle of water for €2.50. You could say luxury is clearly something different, but honestly I still thought it was pretty cool. Admittedly, I would have given a lot for a warm shower at that moment!

We spent the evening trying to warm ourselves up (in vain) and reassuring any concerned fellow hikers that we weren't about to die. One tentmate even asked us to smuggle the food he had paid for out of the hut to give to us because we looked so miserable...

At around 8 p.m. we went to bed, still wet and cold. Luckily there was a really thick blanket and Amelie had even negotiated sleeping bags for us (thanks, that really saved us :D).

After more or less a lot of sleep, the alarm clock rang at 2:30 a.m. (by the way, we had no time difference and Germany is now 3 hours behind us), because we wanted to be at the summit at sunrise. So we put on our (wet and cold) clothes, put on our (wet and cold) hiking boots, put on our headlamps and made our way up together with everyone else at around 3:10 a.m.

We had 3 kilometers of lava rock and 600 meters of altitude ahead of us, all in absolute darkness and bitter cold. There was something magical about seeing the mountaintop with the moon directly above and many little points of light both in front of us and behind us, all aiming for the same goal

Since the previous day was really strenuous and we sometimes needed a little more break than planned, we didn't make it to the summit on time. So we sat down about 50 meters further down and enjoyed the light spectacle from there. I was so incredibly cold that we all moved together and snuggled up. Once again we looked so miserable that everyone who passed by asked us if we were okay :D

Still, the sunrise above the clouds was simply breathtaking and worth any suffering.

After the sun had risen and some other hikers had already started their way back, we made our way to the summit. By now I couldn't feel my hands, feet or nose, but of course stopping wasn't an option.

When we got to the summit, it was absolutely magical again. The view was great and it was impressive to see that the ground was actually frozen up here - on a tropical island!

We looked around for a while and took photos before we descended back to the hut. The way down was somehow much more strenuous (for me) and it was quite tiring. But mostly I was wondering how the hell we got up there in the cold and especially in total darkness? Now that I saw the path, it seemed like an impossibility.

When we got back to the hut we bought some water, took a short break (maybe 15 minutes), packed our things and started the final descent. It wasn't a problem for me in terms of endurance, but towards the end my legs were shaking due to the unusual strain and my knees were quite sore. After about 3 hours we arrived at the bottom and were able to take the bus home. At this point, apologies to everyone who was on the bus with us - we hadn't seen running water for two days and climbed a total of 1,700 meters in altitude, which was definitely not pleasant for you:

At around 6:00 p.m. I was home and absolutely knocked out. I almost couldn't walk anymore because of the knee pain and had been awake and on my feet for 18 hours. In addition, I hardly ate anything that day because I couldn't pack enough provisions and was too stingy to afford the expensive food at the hut. So I went straight to shower, made myself something to eat and fell into bed.

The whole thing was incredibly strenuous, unlucky and absolutely damaging to my knees, but in my opinion it was totally worth it. I will definitely climb the Piton des Neiges again in winter when it stays dry and there are fewer clouds - it will definitely be even more beautiful!

[Disclaimer: This is just my point of view. I thought the mountain was great, the path was cool and the hut was really nice. If you ask my hiking companion, it was the worst hike they have ever done and the hut was a nightmare. Well, I was happy :)]