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

La Antenas and Ventana In Chipinque

Preface: 

Me in the Path leading to Antenas, Ventana and La M in Chipinque

It was a long time desire for me to Visit La Ventana and La Antenna in Chipinque after visiting other 2 summits La "M" and Copete De las Aguilas in Chipinque. During the Trek to La M, i have seen the path to La Antenna, La Ventanna and guide was saying that it was easy and we can go by ourselves. But, we needed the permit from Chipinque guys to go there and thought of applying for permit to go there. Venky wanted to go to Chipinque after our trip to Pico Norte and somehow timings were not matching. So, keeping both of us in mind, asked Nancy and she was ready at the instant although the confusion on date to go there was still on. But there was a doubt on her mind on how would we go to Antenna/Ventanna as we would need a guide who has been there before to apply for permit. I said i have seen the halfway to Antenna and have asked couple of guides in different trips about the rest of the parts and everyone has mentioned it was easy. As i had been to Chipinque 5 times before and travelled in different routes over there, she was convinced with that somehow and agreed to apply for permit. We were three and she was thinking on Rosaalba and her friend who wanted to come to "El Pinar" which is one more peak in Chipinque which we went few days back and could not join us as she got late. But her friend could not join us and there was a question on who should be  the fourth guy/girl for the trip. Asked Nira and Biswa thinking one of them might turn up. But both turned up increasing the count to 6 . Chipinque Form had place to fit in only 5 guys per group and i was bit hesitant on whether they would approve our application or not. Then Srini came up saying he wanted to go as well taking the count to 7 and we had to just hope that Chipinque Guys approve our application :-) 

Some Sad News about Trekking in the meanwhile: 

Chipinque guys had cancelled the trek route to Copete De las Aguilas until further notice due to landslides over there. The treks in Arteaga were suspended due to forest fire. I Could not fit in for the batch for 4 mountain treks in Cerro De La Silla in single day i.e Pik Antenna, Pico Norte, Pico Sur, Loma La Vergin as the batches were full by the time i got to know about it. One more batch to Pico Sur was cancelled as well due to high temperatures. So, i was not having much hopes any further trekkings nearby and was aiming to complete Las Ventannas and La Antenna in Chipinque to complete the set of 4 summits in Chipinque atleast before i go back to India. 

Day of Travel: 

Luckily Chipinque guys approved our application of 7 guys/girls into Chipinque and i was the unofficial guide who would take them to there :-) We planned to start from our place by 6:15 and thanks to Nancy and her Friend, we ended up leaving from our place by 06:50 which was the time we planned to start our hike in Chipinque :-) People who woke up so early on their day, fell asleep in the car while we reached Chipinque :-) 

By the time we reached Meseta in Chipinque from where trekking begins to Antenna/Ventana/La M and reached the place where permits were being checked, it was 07:59 AM ! The permission to Antenna/Ventana was allowed till 8 AM and we were in time!!

They allowed after getting our signatures to the mandatory form for entrance and we were all set for the hike. 

Chipinque Permission Letter

We started from the beginning point of trek 

4 Guys at the beginning point of the trek 

Trekking was Easy to Moderate based on the level of fitness you have. There is nothing like Ropes, Stairs etc as in La M or Copete de las Aguilas. So, It is a gradual inclination followed by a momentary declination and continuing further with further inclinations. Nira, Srini and Biswa were having difficult times here and there as it was their first trek for any summit and had to stop a while to relax and move forward.

one of the pitstops on the way

However they started enjoying it when we started getting the views above the clouds and surrounding mountains

on the way with Mitras at our backdrop

We reached the midpoint from where we have to take left to Antenna/Ventanna by 10:00 AM and previous trek was to La M from there. So, took the left path and started ascending further.

The views were getting better when we were moving above the clouds and the view of Cerro De La Silla, Cerro De la Mitras are superdb

A View across the journey towards Antenas after midpoint

we were getting good views of La M as well although we were not moving towards it.

Views of La M from distance

 We walked for 30 more minutes and started to come across the guys who were coming down after their trek.  They were saying 20 minutes to Antenna and 45 minutes to Ventanna. Some even said 1 hour to Ventanna and our new bees to trekking were getting tired and were asking how much more for Antenna. As a guide, i had to say "Benti Minutos Mass"/20 minutes more always irrespective of the time needed ahead :-) 

We reached the diversion from where we had to take Left to go to Ventanna which was marked as Long and upwards going Antenna. 

Junction which joins the paths to Antenna and Ventanna in Chipinque

As per the map, Ventana was marked long as well and Antena was shown shorter from the midpoint. So, started to go up. Within 10 minutes we reached Antenna which was after 3 hours of hike from the bottom with multiple stops. 

La Antenas:

Me At La Antenas

It is at a height of 1950 meters from Sea level and considered Easy summit in Chipinque. The Views from the top of it are amazing as you can see in the pics, videos as given below

A Panoram at Antenas

After spending approx 45 minutes at the view point of Antenna,We came down from Antenna and wanted to go to Ventana. 

Our Group pic at Antenas

Way towards Ventana:

ut 3 new bees were already exhausted and wanted to rest there. Based on the explanation given by previous guys, i thought it might take 30 minutes to reach ventana from there and other 30 minutes to come back. So, i asked these guys to wait there for 1 hour.

Me, Isaalwa, Nancy, Venki towards La Ventana

Nancy was in a dilema on what to do if we get a shorter route to descend from Ventana as the path from Antena to Ventana started to descend initially. But when i was checking in chipinque maps, could not find any direct paths from Ventana to downwards and we had to come via Antenna only. So, i assured that we would come back here and in case we get other shorter path, we can call these guys and ask them to start descend as we were getting good signals there. But these feels were momentary as the path started to ascend again towards Ventana and we reached Ventanna in 10 minutes :-) 

La Ventana

Las Ventanna: 

It is the smallest summit of the four in Chipinque and is at a height of  1910 meters from Sea level. Compared to Antenna, the view from here are restricted as the peak extends to a height which can't be climbed unless you have mountaineering gears. But it has a majestic phenomenon of blocking clouds as you can see in my video. There clouds would be rotating like Tornado as it blocks the clouds !

After spending some time there, we came to our intersection point where others were waiting for us. 

Venki at Ventana

Views from Ventana

Lunch Break: 

As we have covered both summits for which we had the permit for the day, we had nothing else to do than to get down. We had the option to have lunch right there as it was approaching 12:30 or travel some more distance and have a lunch break.We decided to have it there and then and gain some energy. Reducing the weight of backpacks was an added advantage. 

Way Back:

At 1:00 PM, we started from there after our lunch and some quick nap. 

Descent was OK except the places with rocks where Rosaalba and Nancy were competing with each other on who would fall most number of times :-) Others managed somehow although it was slipping here and there. We reached the eventual photographic points where we stopped in morning and took breaks every 40 minutes or when the legs of newbees were shivering and they were having difficulties to move forward. 

Our Group heading back towards Meseta of Chipinque

We reached the bottom around 3:15 PM and freshened up in Chipinque's restrooms. The Sliders over there are good time pass for the kids and adults as well when your other trekking partners are taking too much time to get freshened up :-)  With some wonderfull  memories and happiness of being a guide , let me conclude this blog and hope to see you again in some other trekking/travel memory soon.