El Misti, also known as Guagua-Putina
is a stratovolcano

Stratovolcano

A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a tall, conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile and periodic, explosive eruptions...

 located in southern Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 near the city of Arequipa

Arequipa

Arequipa is the capital city of the Arequipa Region in southern Peru. With a population of 836,859 it is the second most populous city of the country...

. With its seasonally snow-capped, symmetrical cone, El Misti stands at 5822 metres (19,101 ft) above sea level and lies between the mountain Chachani

Chachani

Nevado Chachani is the highest of the mountains near the city of Arequipa in southern Peru. Its name means “skirt” in Quechua, and a female character is normally attributed to the mountain in local legends....

 (6075 m (19,931.1 ft)) and the volcano Pichu-Pichu (5669 m (18,599.1 ft)). Its last eruption was in 1985.

Facts about the El Misti

El Misti has three concentric craters. In the inner crater fumarole

Fumarole

A fumarole is an opening in a planet's crust, often in the neighborhood of volcanoes, which emits steam and gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrochloric acid, and hydrogen sulfide. The steam is created when superheated water turns to steam as its pressure drops when it emerges from...

 activity can be seen. Near the inner crater six Inca mummies

Mummy

A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...

 and rare Inca artifacts were found in 1998 during a month-long excavation directed by the archaeologists Johan Reinhard

Johan Reinhard

Dr. Johan Reinhard is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at The Mountain Institute, West Virginia, a Visiting Professor at Catholic University, Salta, Argentina, and an Honorary Professor of Catholic University, Arequipa, Peru...

 and Jose Antonio Chavez. These findings are currently stored at the Museo de Santuarios Andinos in Arequipa.

There are two main climbing routes on the volcano. The Pastores route, which is more used, as its starting point is nearer to the city of Arequipa, starts in 3300 metres (10,826.8 ft). Usually a camp is made in 4500 metres (14,763.8 ft) at Nido de Aguilas. The second route, the Aguada Blanca route, starts at 4000 metres (13,123.4 ft) near the Aguada Blanca reservoir and a camp is made in 4800 metres (15,748 ft) at Monte Blanco (the name of the camp comes from the fact that it has more or less the height as the summit of Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc or Monte Bianco , meaning "White Mountain", is the highest mountain in the Alps, Western Europe and the European Union. It rises above sea level and is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence...

). Neither climbing routes presents technical difficulties but both are considered strenuous because of the steep loose sand slopes.