Copete De las Aguilas Hike; Chipinque

Pre Face: 

View of the surronding mountains from Copete De Las Aguilas

It was the 3rd  Sunday in April(April 15th) when there was a hike from Alpek guys into the highest peak in Chipinque which is known as Copete De las Aguilas. As i have seen the half way through it during my previous hike to Brecha El Epizote, and had been to Pico Perico and Pico Pyramides with Alpek already, immediately decided to go here as well with them and Nancy, Aman joining in as well for their first summit hikes in Chipinque.

Day of Trekking: 
We were supposed to report around 05 AM in HEB Chipinque and drive from there to Chipinque to enjoy the sunrise during our trek.  Trek was supposed to start around 05:30 AM from Meseta. We were somewhere on track and have started our trek pretty early by parking our vehicles at Explanada. We had to take the route towards El Pinar. It was still dark and could see the lights of Monterrey. As usual Nancy did not tell us that we might need torch or overcoat to cover for the cold and we were shivering in the early morning cold of chipinque !

Lights of Monterrey as seen from Chipinque

Wrong Turn: 

We had to take the right diversion to Brecha El Epizote and Me, Aman, Nancy and Maricela were seperated from rest of the group thanks to Nancy :-) Maricela somehow got confused and took us to the path which was going down when i was thinking that we should be going right as per the previous memories i had in path to Epizote which had the signboard towards left for Aguilas. But After some distance, she realized the mistake and we came back and continued in the route of Epizote. Rest of the group was waiting for us in that road in a view point which was not very distant from us. 

View of Sunrise and surrounding mountains of Chipinque

Hiking Route: 

It is filled with so many pine trees and other flora from Chipinque and you might need some warm wear, gloves if you are starting the trekking in early morning .

our Group at various points during the trek 

Needs Adrenaline: This trek needed lots of Adrenaline and courage as we had to go through the stairs for some distances and were damm scary looking down from there.

Me at one of the stairs, PC: Aman

The above one is first of such stairs where we need to come from the rock which is visible at left to the metal railing and ascend the 4-5 steps before reaching the next rock above

 Some had ropes which we could hold while climbing up on stairs and we had to hold them at the joints. It remainded me of Pico Perico and Pico Pyramides in Mitras where we had to climb up with only ropes based on their joints. But there it was between 2 rocks and we could balance with our legs in both sides. Climbing 90 degrees on some metal stairs with or without ropes was a new challenge and we could do it successfully

Me during one of the trekking points

The margin of errors are very less in few points and guides Andres and Maricel were damm good in taking us through it.

Our Group during some more climbing points

We with our Guide Maricela who helped a lot during the difficult parts

View point 1: 
We started getting various view points after the climbs of stairs and we had subsequent climbs via stairs as well. Although we could find multiple view points here, putting 3 of them here which have majestic views of surrounding mountain ranges



Various Flora and Fauna on the way: 
This route is recommended for nature lovers as you would come across various vegetation which is not visible in other hiking routes of Chipinque.
We could spot some hedgehog cactus

An unknown plant on the trekking route

Hedgehog cactus flower

An unknown plant

We would also get some caves on the way as this one. As there are no trekking paths through it, don't be tempted to enter them and continue further :-) 

View point 2: 
Views get clearer as you move up

View of Mitras from View point 2

view point 3: 
View point 3 is just before you reach the top and you would enjoy the view here as well .

Views when we are about to reach the summit. Final leg of ascent

At the Summit: 

We reached the Summit around 11 after 5.5 hours of hiking including the photography breaks at viewpoints earlier. 

View of the Copete De las Aguilas summit

Copete De las Aguilas: 
It is the highest summit in Chipinque with a height of 2200 meters above sea level. Views from the mountain are good and was worth the effort.

Lunch Break: 
Ricebath prepared by me and Aloo prepared by Aman were our Lunch at the summit and we headed back after enjoying the stay over there for some time

Not to forget, views from there are very good and clear as it's the topmost peak in Chipinque and no other peaks blocking the views. 

View of Surrounding mountains

 Found so many friends in this trekking as well and was happy to complete the second summit of Chipinque after completing La M few months back. Should admit that experience of this trek encouraged and motivated me to cover remaining 2 summits of Chipinque on single day as in my previous post.

Our Group at the Summit. Our Guide Andres is in red shirt whom we can't forget for the support during the hike