By the way, I looked up how long the Huayhuash trek was and I read that it is approximately 165km ( 102 miles). During the trek there wasn't tons of food. Partly bc it is even hard for the burros to carry everything. In truth, the amount of food we got each day was less than how much I would eat if I was doing nothing. So when you combine this with all that hard trekking and your body working to keep itself warm, you definitely lose a lot of weight. People on are trek were guessing we lost 5 to 10 pounds. I did notice that none of my pants, my money belt, and even my underwear sagged when I got back. Not to worry, as I am spending a lot of my free time in Huaraz filling up on greasy street food and icecream.
6-22
I had been expecting to re-do the Santa Cruz trek after I got back from the Huayhuash. I was going to take one day "off" by visiting Pastoriri glacier then go on the the 24th, 25th, and 26th to arrive back on the 26th in time to take the 10:30pm night bus to Lima to catch my 8:30 am flight the next day. I was wanting to have another go at the Santa Cruz trek bc it is supposed to be uber pretty, one of the supposed best treks in the world (according to Nat Geo). When Elisha, Dacre, Kimmy, and I did it, we had so much snow and rain that we really didn't see much sadly. Before the Huayhuash trek, I had actually gone out and bought all the food I would need for the trek, my fuel for the stove, etc. so that I wouldn't have to do all that when I returned.
However, things change...
During the Huayhuash trek, Scott and Leo started talking about maybe climbing a peak in the Cordillera Blanca. I thought this was an excellent idea and I hadn't known there were some 2 and 3 day peak climbs one could do. Considering my amazing amount of acclimitization after doing Santa Cruz, several day trips above 4500m and a 10 day trek where everynight we slept above 4000m and almost everyday when above 4700m, I felt that I shouldn't "waste" this acclimitization by not climbing a peak.
So Scott, Leo, and I decided we would try for a 2 or 3 day peak. The guy at the agency we had done the Huayhuash trek with said there were about 3 or 4 decent ones. The two highlights being Pisco and Vallunaraju. Pisco takes 3 days usually, though he thought Leo and I could do it in 2. The issue we had was that Scott and Leo only had 3 days left before flying home, so with a rest day, that meant we could only do a 2 day peak. We were going to meet at dinner to decide which peak to do, but when we reconveined over Chifa, we found out that Leo only had 2 days left as he had not remembered his actual flight date. So that pretty much meant he couldn't go unless he left the next day, without a rest, for the climb. So it was going to be me and Scott deciding on it. But then Scott was being kind of iffy, saying he was tired and his feet hurt and maybe he didn't want to do it. Well, you need two people to form a group and I really wanted to climb a peak now, but now it looked like I didn't have a second person. When we went back to the agency to say this and for me to ask if there were any other solo people (which generally isn't the best thing bc you kind of want to know and trust your partner on the glacier, plus you want to make sure you have one that you know is in shape and can do it bc often if one turns back, both have to turn back), the guy was like "Leo, why not skip the rest day and just leave tomorrow as we have a group of 2 leaving tomorrow". Keep in mind this was about 9:30pm. Well if Leo was going to go, then I sure in heck was going to go, bc I trusted Leo and knew for sure he could make the summit. So at 9:30pm that night, Leo and I decided to leave tomorrow to go to base camp of 5686m/18650ft. Vallunaraju for an attempt of the summit early that next morning. So long Santa Cruz Trek, hello big mountain climb. Plus this mountain had the added bonus that I would be able to SKI down it!
6-23
I went early in the morning to the agency to get all my equipment. As per usual, they had no ski boots close to my size. They actually had a couple decent pairs of skis, but no ski boots to go with them. Instead I went with a short and skinny pair of skis from the 70s that had a type of AT binding on them that could fit the plastic mountaineering boots that I would be wearing. We had to do some adjustments on the bindings to make my plastic boots fit in them, and I was a bit apprehensive about how they would hold doing sharp turns, but they were my only choice, so I went with them.
We started the day by driving up Cocuy canyon to the trailhead for the high camp. We got dropped off at about 4300m (14,104ft). The trailhead was near Laguna Llaca which we would see as we gained elevation on the hike. We had stunning views of an incredible steep snow peak the whole hike up to high camp. The trail, if you could call it that, was super steep, and it was definitely a huff carrying up our packs. We didn't have donkeys for this trip and with all the warm clothes, tents, 4 liters of water, food, crampons, harnesses, plastic boots, ice ax, skis, etc, I would guess my pack weighed about 70 pounds. There were two other people in the group: a japanese guy and an israeli. Leo and I arrived up to Moraine High Camp (4960m/16,269ft) about an hour before the other 2. The japanese guy, who was going to try and snowboard, had to have one of the guides go back down and carry his pack up. The view from our camp was stunning with that same peak. In fact, from my tent, all I had to do was unzip the door and the mountain was right in front of me! We had a filling dinner in the rocks of the camp and then watched the sunset glow on the peak. As it was a full moon, at night you could still see the peak illuminated beautifully by the full moon.
6-24.
Leo and I got up at 2:30 and left at 3:30am for the summit bid. Our guide had wanted to wake up at 1:30am, but I convinced him that Leo and I would reach the summit far before sunrise if that was the case. The other 2 with their guide did leave early as planned. It was a 30 minute scramble over rocks to reach the glacier where we donned our crampons, mountaineering boots, and harnesses. The japanese guy had already turned back having only gone about 200 meters up the glacier and the cook was there to take him back down to camp.
We didn't need to use headlamps because the full moon was so bright. You could have read the paper with the moon way up at that altitude in the clear air. And of course the glacial snow increased the luminescence. In fact, as I told Leo, I thought I would need by sunglasses! But it was just gorgeous how it lit up the glacier and surrounding mountains! It was only our group of 4 that was attempting the mountain this night, so that was cool.
After what we thought was a fairly easy climb (we were well acclimated--I think we could easily scale at 6500m peak in our current state-- and we didn't even huff and puff or really need to rest), Leo and reached the summit of Nevado Vallunaraju (5686m/18,650 feet) at 5:45am, still well before sunrise. Leo and I stayed up on the summit for over an hour enjoying the incredible views and waiting for the sunrise that we knew would light up the peaks. The Israeli guy made it up around 6:30am.
On the way back down, after descending the tricky summit ridge and initial crevasse field, I skied down on my old skies. I skied conservatively and tentatively because I didn't know about how the bindings would hold up, but it was quite fun! The guides got a huge kick out of it and both wanted to video and take pictures of me. They thought it was so cool.
I spent the afternoon doing some internetting and also sitting on the rooftop terrace of my hostel reading and journalling where I had a very nice view of the peak I had just climbed and skied down. It is crazy to see this huge mountain way up there that I had just been on top of earlier that morning
In the evening Leo and I met up for celebratory Pisco Sours and then our favorite street hamburger joint which serves a burger with an egg with hot dog mixed into it and french fries in the burger for about 85 cents. And it is truly amazing how this guy is able to get so many fries, so many hot dog pieces and the burger and egg into between the buns. He has about 7 condiments to choose from (from mustard to mayo to catsup to chili sauce to spicy sauce to plus sauce) and you have to choose one I think or he won't be able to glue it all together.
6-22
I had been expecting to re-do the Santa Cruz trek after I got back from the Huayhuash. I was going to take one day "off" by visiting Pastoriri glacier then go on the the 24th, 25th, and 26th to arrive back on the 26th in time to take the 10:30pm night bus to Lima to catch my 8:30 am flight the next day. I was wanting to have another go at the Santa Cruz trek bc it is supposed to be uber pretty, one of the supposed best treks in the world (according to Nat Geo). When Elisha, Dacre, Kimmy, and I did it, we had so much snow and rain that we really didn't see much sadly. Before the Huayhuash trek, I had actually gone out and bought all the food I would need for the trek, my fuel for the stove, etc. so that I wouldn't have to do all that when I returned.
However, things change...
During the Huayhuash trek, Scott and Leo started talking about maybe climbing a peak in the Cordillera Blanca. I thought this was an excellent idea and I hadn't known there were some 2 and 3 day peak climbs one could do. Considering my amazing amount of acclimitization after doing Santa Cruz, several day trips above 4500m and a 10 day trek where everynight we slept above 4000m and almost everyday when above 4700m, I felt that I shouldn't "waste" this acclimitization by not climbing a peak.
So Scott, Leo, and I decided we would try for a 2 or 3 day peak. The guy at the agency we had done the Huayhuash trek with said there were about 3 or 4 decent ones. The two highlights being Pisco and Vallunaraju. Pisco takes 3 days usually, though he thought Leo and I could do it in 2. The issue we had was that Scott and Leo only had 3 days left before flying home, so with a rest day, that meant we could only do a 2 day peak. We were going to meet at dinner to decide which peak to do, but when we reconveined over Chifa, we found out that Leo only had 2 days left as he had not remembered his actual flight date. So that pretty much meant he couldn't go unless he left the next day, without a rest, for the climb. So it was going to be me and Scott deciding on it. But then Scott was being kind of iffy, saying he was tired and his feet hurt and maybe he didn't want to do it. Well, you need two people to form a group and I really wanted to climb a peak now, but now it looked like I didn't have a second person. When we went back to the agency to say this and for me to ask if there were any other solo people (which generally isn't the best thing bc you kind of want to know and trust your partner on the glacier, plus you want to make sure you have one that you know is in shape and can do it bc often if one turns back, both have to turn back), the guy was like "Leo, why not skip the rest day and just leave tomorrow as we have a group of 2 leaving tomorrow". Keep in mind this was about 9:30pm. Well if Leo was going to go, then I sure in heck was going to go, bc I trusted Leo and knew for sure he could make the summit. So at 9:30pm that night, Leo and I decided to leave tomorrow to go to base camp of 5686m/18650ft. Vallunaraju for an attempt of the summit early that next morning. So long Santa Cruz Trek, hello big mountain climb. Plus this mountain had the added bonus that I would be able to SKI down it!
6-23
I went early in the morning to the agency to get all my equipment. As per usual, they had no ski boots close to my size. They actually had a couple decent pairs of skis, but no ski boots to go with them. Instead I went with a short and skinny pair of skis from the 70s that had a type of AT binding on them that could fit the plastic mountaineering boots that I would be wearing. We had to do some adjustments on the bindings to make my plastic boots fit in them, and I was a bit apprehensive about how they would hold doing sharp turns, but they were my only choice, so I went with them.
We started the day by driving up Cocuy canyon to the trailhead for the high camp. We got dropped off at about 4300m (14,104ft). The trailhead was near Laguna Llaca which we would see as we gained elevation on the hike. We had stunning views of an incredible steep snow peak the whole hike up to high camp. The trail, if you could call it that, was super steep, and it was definitely a huff carrying up our packs. We didn't have donkeys for this trip and with all the warm clothes, tents, 4 liters of water, food, crampons, harnesses, plastic boots, ice ax, skis, etc, I would guess my pack weighed about 70 pounds. There were two other people in the group: a japanese guy and an israeli. Leo and I arrived up to Moraine High Camp (4960m/16,269ft) about an hour before the other 2. The japanese guy, who was going to try and snowboard, had to have one of the guides go back down and carry his pack up. The view from our camp was stunning with that same peak. In fact, from my tent, all I had to do was unzip the door and the mountain was right in front of me! We had a filling dinner in the rocks of the camp and then watched the sunset glow on the peak. As it was a full moon, at night you could still see the peak illuminated beautifully by the full moon.
6-24.
Leo and I got up at 2:30 and left at 3:30am for the summit bid. Our guide had wanted to wake up at 1:30am, but I convinced him that Leo and I would reach the summit far before sunrise if that was the case. The other 2 with their guide did leave early as planned. It was a 30 minute scramble over rocks to reach the glacier where we donned our crampons, mountaineering boots, and harnesses. The japanese guy had already turned back having only gone about 200 meters up the glacier and the cook was there to take him back down to camp.
We didn't need to use headlamps because the full moon was so bright. You could have read the paper with the moon way up at that altitude in the clear air. And of course the glacial snow increased the luminescence. In fact, as I told Leo, I thought I would need by sunglasses! But it was just gorgeous how it lit up the glacier and surrounding mountains! It was only our group of 4 that was attempting the mountain this night, so that was cool.
After what we thought was a fairly easy climb (we were well acclimated--I think we could easily scale at 6500m peak in our current state-- and we didn't even huff and puff or really need to rest), Leo and reached the summit of Nevado Vallunaraju (5686m/18,650 feet) at 5:45am, still well before sunrise. Leo and I stayed up on the summit for over an hour enjoying the incredible views and waiting for the sunrise that we knew would light up the peaks. The Israeli guy made it up around 6:30am.
On the way back down, after descending the tricky summit ridge and initial crevasse field, I skied down on my old skies. I skied conservatively and tentatively because I didn't know about how the bindings would hold up, but it was quite fun! The guides got a huge kick out of it and both wanted to video and take pictures of me. They thought it was so cool.
I spent the afternoon doing some internetting and also sitting on the rooftop terrace of my hostel reading and journalling where I had a very nice view of the peak I had just climbed and skied down. It is crazy to see this huge mountain way up there that I had just been on top of earlier that morning
In the evening Leo and I met up for celebratory Pisco Sours and then our favorite street hamburger joint which serves a burger with an egg with hot dog mixed into it and french fries in the burger for about 85 cents. And it is truly amazing how this guy is able to get so many fries, so many hot dog pieces and the burger and egg into between the buns. He has about 7 condiments to choose from (from mustard to mayo to catsup to chili sauce to spicy sauce to plus sauce) and you have to choose one I think or he won't be able to glue it all together.
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