6/6
Dacre, Kim, Elisha, and I took the bus from Huaraz to Vaqueria. The bus rides goes over a pretty wild and crazy dirt pass that has tons of switchbacks and goes up above 15,000ft. As we approached the summit of the pass, the mountain views were stunning. We were surrounded on all sides by big glaciers and mountains. And down towards the valley where we had come from were two lakes like diamonds in the valley's hand. Hats off to whoever of you got that lyrical reference from an awesome Idaho singer-song writer.
We arrived in Vaqueria (3700m/12,135ft( which is a tiny Andean town along the road. From here we donned our packs and began the trek. After a bit of walking we passed through the village of Huaripampa which was full of andean color with all it's fields, brightly dressed women, and different species of corn drying on the rooves. This town had a place called "centro de producción de cuyes" (center for guinea pig production). We had imagined some big place where they are making guinea pigs reproduce, but instead, it was actually just some tiny little cages adjacent to a house. From Huaripampa, we continued on passed some nice valley scenery to our Paria (3870m/12,694ft). This campsite had lots of curious cows that would come right up to us while we were cooking and even try to steal some food from us.
6/7
We got up before the sun was up to begin our hike up the pass of Punta Union. We started out in the mist and eventually it turned to rain. We seeked out shelter under some some huge glacial erratics where we cooked breakfast, but then had to continue up into the rain which soon turned to snow. When we reached the top of Punta Union (4750m/15,580 ft) it was snowing quite hard and we sadly had no views of the surrounding views of the mountains. We spent just a little bit of time in the snow storm on top of the pass before heading down. As we descended a bit, we could see a little turquoise lake sitting in a glacial cirque below. We were all feeling kind of bummed because the views from the pass were supposed to be amazing. Elisha, Dacre and I decided to not descend all the way to the next campsite and instead camp near the pass because our plan was that if it was clear in the morning, we would hike back up to the pass. Kim and a french guy (Nikoli) continued down to the campsite as it was lower down and they figured it would be warmer. We set up our tents around noon and we stayed inside them reading the rest of the day as it continued to rain and snow. The campsite would have been absolutely stunning as we set up our tents on a little bluff overlooking the glacial cirque, the valley, and where some big mountains would be. We camped likely around 4450m/14,596ft (a bit higher than the tallest mountain in Colorado).
6/8 In the morning it was still snowing, so we hiked down to Taullipampa (4250m/13,940 to pick up Kim where she was camping. It was blowing and raining pretty hard, so we found a pretty sweet cave where we cooked up breakfast and hung out and till the weather calmed down a bit. We then hiked up to the Alpamayo base camp at 4330m/14,202ft). Alpamayo (the May mountain) is listed by some as the prettiest mountain in the world. It is also the mountain that the mountain from Paramount pictures is copied after. The "paramount" view is actually from the other side of the mountain than we were on. At the base camp, we did get a few fleeting glimpses of some big, steep, and pointed glaciated peaks. After setting up our camp in a beautiful campsite, we hiked up to Arhuaycocha lake at 4400m/14,432. It was a pretty little turqoise lake at the foot of Alpamayo and had a glacier running right into it. In the late evening as we were cooking dinner and fending off burros and cows from our food, the peaks cleared up pretty good, which was very cool!
6/9
Snowing again in the morning (nothing like those tropical snowstorms...the Cordillera Blanca is the highest mountain range within the Tropics), but as we walked out, we did get a clearing view of Alpamayo. We also got a sweet view of this amazingly towering peak! But still snowing up the valley from where we had come down the pass, so we couldn't see any mountains up there. With some rain blowing at our backs, we descended into a valley that was filled with debris from a mudslide. We continued walking and passed the pretty emerald lake of Jatuncocha. We arrived at a campsite called llamacorral where we had lunch. At this point, we were far enough away from the storm on the high peaks that we could relax in some sunshine and play with a friendly burro who even let us ride him especially after we let him eat some peanut butter sandwiches (but he had to steal them from our lips in a sort of burro kiss). From Llamacorral, the 4 of us continued down an impressive canyon to Cashapampa (2900m/9,512ft) where we took a taxi to Caraz and then a collectivo back to Huaraz.
Kim was still feeling sick, so just Elisha, Dacre, and I went out on the town. Since it was Dacre's last night in South America (well he would be sleeping in the Lima airport the next night), we enjoyed some traditional peruvian specialties with our meal: Cuy (guinea pig) and Pisco sour (a drink made from pisco (a hard alcohol made from grapes), sour mix, and egg whites).
We have to admit that we felt quite a bit bummed about the weather that we had on the trip. May starts the dry season and by June it is supposed to mostly be sunny days. Definitely not 4 days of rain and snow. The Santa Cruz trek is supposed to be completely gorgeous too. It was sad to say goodbye to Dacre (I can't remember if I mentioned that Dacre is Elisha and my friend from Antarctica and that he lives in Boulder now and works for University Bikes), and he said he would be back so that he could re-do this trek and also to the 10 day Huayhuash trek. Believe it or not, after I do the huayhuash trek, I think I have enough time to re-do the Santa Cruz trek, so I think I will. Pray that I have good weather on the Huayhuash and the Santa Cruz Redux treks!!
Dacre, Kim, Elisha, and I took the bus from Huaraz to Vaqueria. The bus rides goes over a pretty wild and crazy dirt pass that has tons of switchbacks and goes up above 15,000ft. As we approached the summit of the pass, the mountain views were stunning. We were surrounded on all sides by big glaciers and mountains. And down towards the valley where we had come from were two lakes like diamonds in the valley's hand. Hats off to whoever of you got that lyrical reference from an awesome Idaho singer-song writer.
We arrived in Vaqueria (3700m/12,135ft( which is a tiny Andean town along the road. From here we donned our packs and began the trek. After a bit of walking we passed through the village of Huaripampa which was full of andean color with all it's fields, brightly dressed women, and different species of corn drying on the rooves. This town had a place called "centro de producción de cuyes" (center for guinea pig production). We had imagined some big place where they are making guinea pigs reproduce, but instead, it was actually just some tiny little cages adjacent to a house. From Huaripampa, we continued on passed some nice valley scenery to our Paria (3870m/12,694ft). This campsite had lots of curious cows that would come right up to us while we were cooking and even try to steal some food from us.
6/7
We got up before the sun was up to begin our hike up the pass of Punta Union. We started out in the mist and eventually it turned to rain. We seeked out shelter under some some huge glacial erratics where we cooked breakfast, but then had to continue up into the rain which soon turned to snow. When we reached the top of Punta Union (4750m/15,580 ft) it was snowing quite hard and we sadly had no views of the surrounding views of the mountains. We spent just a little bit of time in the snow storm on top of the pass before heading down. As we descended a bit, we could see a little turquoise lake sitting in a glacial cirque below. We were all feeling kind of bummed because the views from the pass were supposed to be amazing. Elisha, Dacre and I decided to not descend all the way to the next campsite and instead camp near the pass because our plan was that if it was clear in the morning, we would hike back up to the pass. Kim and a french guy (Nikoli) continued down to the campsite as it was lower down and they figured it would be warmer. We set up our tents around noon and we stayed inside them reading the rest of the day as it continued to rain and snow. The campsite would have been absolutely stunning as we set up our tents on a little bluff overlooking the glacial cirque, the valley, and where some big mountains would be. We camped likely around 4450m/14,596ft (a bit higher than the tallest mountain in Colorado).
6/8 In the morning it was still snowing, so we hiked down to Taullipampa (4250m/13,940 to pick up Kim where she was camping. It was blowing and raining pretty hard, so we found a pretty sweet cave where we cooked up breakfast and hung out and till the weather calmed down a bit. We then hiked up to the Alpamayo base camp at 4330m/14,202ft). Alpamayo (the May mountain) is listed by some as the prettiest mountain in the world. It is also the mountain that the mountain from Paramount pictures is copied after. The "paramount" view is actually from the other side of the mountain than we were on. At the base camp, we did get a few fleeting glimpses of some big, steep, and pointed glaciated peaks. After setting up our camp in a beautiful campsite, we hiked up to Arhuaycocha lake at 4400m/14,432. It was a pretty little turqoise lake at the foot of Alpamayo and had a glacier running right into it. In the late evening as we were cooking dinner and fending off burros and cows from our food, the peaks cleared up pretty good, which was very cool!
6/9
Snowing again in the morning (nothing like those tropical snowstorms...the Cordillera Blanca is the highest mountain range within the Tropics), but as we walked out, we did get a clearing view of Alpamayo. We also got a sweet view of this amazingly towering peak! But still snowing up the valley from where we had come down the pass, so we couldn't see any mountains up there. With some rain blowing at our backs, we descended into a valley that was filled with debris from a mudslide. We continued walking and passed the pretty emerald lake of Jatuncocha. We arrived at a campsite called llamacorral where we had lunch. At this point, we were far enough away from the storm on the high peaks that we could relax in some sunshine and play with a friendly burro who even let us ride him especially after we let him eat some peanut butter sandwiches (but he had to steal them from our lips in a sort of burro kiss). From Llamacorral, the 4 of us continued down an impressive canyon to Cashapampa (2900m/9,512ft) where we took a taxi to Caraz and then a collectivo back to Huaraz.
Kim was still feeling sick, so just Elisha, Dacre, and I went out on the town. Since it was Dacre's last night in South America (well he would be sleeping in the Lima airport the next night), we enjoyed some traditional peruvian specialties with our meal: Cuy (guinea pig) and Pisco sour (a drink made from pisco (a hard alcohol made from grapes), sour mix, and egg whites).
We have to admit that we felt quite a bit bummed about the weather that we had on the trip. May starts the dry season and by June it is supposed to mostly be sunny days. Definitely not 4 days of rain and snow. The Santa Cruz trek is supposed to be completely gorgeous too. It was sad to say goodbye to Dacre (I can't remember if I mentioned that Dacre is Elisha and my friend from Antarctica and that he lives in Boulder now and works for University Bikes), and he said he would be back so that he could re-do this trek and also to the 10 day Huayhuash trek. Believe it or not, after I do the huayhuash trek, I think I have enough time to re-do the Santa Cruz trek, so I think I will. Pray that I have good weather on the Huayhuash and the Santa Cruz Redux treks!!
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