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travel / adventure zone
| The Adventure Zone |
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| René and Sacha Morin with France’s Mont Blanc in the background
(Courtesy René Morin)
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Tangling with Bolivia’s Acotango
One man’s daring encounter with a South American volcano
By Tracy C. Read
For René Morin, getting away from it all is usually a family
affair. On family vacations, Morin, his wife Andrée Sirois,
son Sacha and their eight-year-old daughter Arielle pack up the
canoe and car and head out from their Cantley, Quebec, home into
Canada’s provincial and national parks to satisfy a shared
craving for Canada’s wilderness areas. If Morin craves more
rigorous wilderness challenges, he and 13-year-old Sacha trek together
in nearby Gatineau Park. “The farther in you go,” says
Morin, “the more nature you find.”
In mid-February, however, the Canadian Geographic contributor
and weekend warrior will take a giant step outside his personal
comfort zone when he travels to Bolivia — to confront the
most rugged nature he’s ever experienced. Morin’s mission,
along with five men from his community, is to summit 6,056-metre-high
Acotango Volcano, a strato (or layered) volcano that sits along
the Bolivia/Chile border.
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En route to Acotango: Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni (Courtesy Zach Dundas)
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The six-man climbing team came together last summer as a fund-raising
initiative for the Fondation du CSSS de Gatineau. Their goal is
to raise $30,000 to support the hospital’s purchase of a $4
million Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner, which health-care
professionals use to identify cancer cells and track patient responses
to treatment. “When I learned that almost 40 percent of Canadians
will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lives,
I looked at my little town of 8,000 and realized how many friends
and neighbours could be affected,” Morin says. “The
more technology we have within the health-care system, the shorter
the wait times.”
The Acotango expedition was scheduled with the help of Karavaniers,
a Montréal guiding company that will handle logistics, including
gear and support. To get in shape for the climb, each team member
has been assigned a personalized training program. For Morin, the
regime includes a one-and-a-half hour workout five days a week that
combines cardio-muscular exercises and stretching. Every weekend,
the six men hike Gatineau trails together, building stamina, strength
and team spirit.
The first challenge of the expedition will be the team’s
arrival in La Paz, Bolivia, where they will acclimatize to the thin
air. At 3,000 metres above sea level, it is half the height of Acotango’s
summit. “I don’t want to suffer,” laughs Morin. “I
want it to be enjoyable.” The group will spend a day in La
Paz, before driving to the base of Acotango. En route, they’ll
experience the wonders of Bolivia’s landscape, including the
dazzling 11,000-square-kilometre Salar de Uyuni, the world’s
largest salt desert.
The team will then devote six to eight days ascending and descending
three nearby mountains of increasing altitude to warm up for the
five-hour assault on Acotango. “Going on a high-altitude climb
is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” says
Morin, who’s thrilled that their South American destination
is relatively unknown. Unlike better-known peaks that are often
crowded, he expects only his team will be on the mountain, making
the summit experience all the more dramatic.
Then it’s back to Cantley to make good on the team’s
pledge to the hospital. “Climbing a mountain is rewarding
in itself, but the rewards are even greater when it’s for
a good cause,” says Morin. “I’m doing this for
the people in my community, but it will also have an impact on Quebec
and beyond.”
For more information, visit acotango2008.blogspot.com.
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