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Chockstone Forum - Trip Reports

Tells Us About Your Latest Trip!

Author
High Altitude: Cordillera Blanca of Peru

JBM
3-Jul-2004
7:10:09 PM
Hi All:

Below is an attempt to chronicle a recent mountaineering trip I took the the Peruvian Andes, known as the Cordillera Blanca. The trip took place over a time period of a little over 4 weeks in what was technically the early season for the range (late May/June).

I was jolted from my senseless state as the wheels of our jet rumbled into the tarmac of the Lima International Airport of Peru. A state of mild nauseaousness violated my brain as my sandpaper tongue unstuck itself from the roof of my mouth only to encounter what felt to be fur growing on the back of my teeth. God I hate these long international flights.

As our plane taxied into the terminal I was grateful in knowing that the majority of my journey was over that it would only be another day before I was once again in the foothills of the Andes. Over the last 24 hours I had boarded and endured a series of flights which took me on somewhat circuitous path fraught with extended layovers to my ultimate destination of Peru. Now I had only to wait for the rest of my teammates to arrive in Lima and then endure an 8 hour bus ride which would take us from the coastal city of Lima to the small mountain town of Huaraz which would serve as our base of operations/supply for a series of mountaineering trips over the next 4 weeks.

As I finally stumble out of customs with 60kilos of baggage at 2330hrs, I begin the search for my ride to the hotel... My buddies had advised me that there would be a ride waiting for me and that all I had to do was find the guy holding the sign with my name on it. After stumbling around with my kit for about an hour, a particular gentleman caught my eye. He was holding a sign with a name on it which contained a signficant number of consonants similar to my own name.....after much gesticulation and exchage of rudimentary Spanish, we were able to establish that he was indeed there to pick me up from the aiport. Although, how he ever got "Brando Mirelas" from "Brad Miller" is a mystery.

Welcome to South America.

The next day, the rest of our 7 man expedition arrived with another 1000kg of gear in tow. The group was to represent a possible team which was to be fielded for an Everest attempt next year from the Chinese side. We were here in Peru to both train for this possible attempt on Everest in 2005 as well as to see whether or not we were compatible as a team....

Let the epic begin..... Lesson 1: Don't choose your mountaineering partners with the same casual attitude you might use in picking a rock partner for the day.

The following morning we managed to get everyone and our armada of expedition duffels onto the bus and eventually to Huaraz. All in all it was a fairly uneventful ride with the exception of 2 or 3 near misses with head-on collisions...luckily, I was in such a state of jet lag that I hardly stirred to the blairing of horns, screams of my fellow passengers or even the screeching of tires. I did wake up once feeling like I was suffocating when the bus crossed over the top of a 5,000m pass but then fell back to sleep as we dropped back down the back side.

8 hours of bus travel then deposited us on the door steps of our hostal, Familia Mesa in the busy little town of Huaraz at 3051m. Here we were to stay for the next 3 days while we gathered supplies, hired a cook, arranged for donkeys and let our bodies adjust to the altitude. Here I was able to catch up with some friends/locals I met during my trip to this region in 2001 as well as to take the opportunity to start getting to know my fellow teammates. Not much has changed in little Huaraz in the last couple of years.

Our first objective was to complete a 5 day trek in the Santa Cruz valley. This extremely beautiful (and immensely popular) trek is a brilliant way to help the body to further acclimate.This particular trek takes you up the Santa Cruz valley where, over a series of days, you slowly gain altitude from 3800m to a trip high of 4800m when you cross over the Punta Union pass. Additionally, you are able to sleep 2 nights at about an altitude of 4400m as well as hike right pass the famous mountains of Alpamayao, Quitaraju and Talliaraju.

Lesson 2: If they can't walk at altitude, they probably ain't going to be able to climb at altitude....

During the trek I could not help notice that some of my teammates appeared to be struggling with the altitude. Given the fact that we were essentially hiking only with water and some light clothing in our packs (the donkeys carried everything else), I was was growing concerned as to the overall fitness and preparadeness of the group. Oh well, people react differently to altitude, I was sure their bodies would adjust...

At the end of the trek we hiked into base camp for Mount Pisco. We slept in
a cave at about 4900m just outside of the moraine while it snowed and hailed outside. We stayed amazinigly dry..IThe next day we got up at 2AM, ate some
porridge and started the two hour approach through the moraine (piles of
glacial debris about 50m high in some spots) by headtorch. On each side of
us were drops of about 2oom into moraine lakes below and the trail was only
about .5m wide in some spots!

At about 5000m the sun hit us on the col and litup all of these amazing peaks towering above us in a stunning alpine glow.

At about 100m below the summit we hit some conditions I was not comfortable
with which included a heavily corniced ridge that had holes poking through to the valley floor. At that point I decided to turn back because we needed technical tools and ice ice screws to safely climb and protect the route. The other guys decided to try and climb a 65degree ice face with only an ice axe and no protection and just made it to the top but ended up taking huge risks....not my cup of tea. I then had to solo my
way off the mountain and through the glacier back to camp. We had a team
chat afterwards and we all agreed that we made the wrong decision and that
there was a better way to do the route had we explored our options as a
team. It was actually a terrific learning experience for me..exactly the
kind of stuff I wanted to be faced with while down there.

Following the climb we are rested and restocked on food with the idea of heading into
the hills again to hopefully climb three more peaks (Tocallaraju, Ranrapalca
and Ishinca). One route will be a normal route while the others will require
technical tools, ice screws and some rock climbing.

Two of the guys that were trekking with us (not part of the climbing team) had to turn back on the second day from altitude sickness...we actually had to strap one of them
onto the back of a donkey to get him down! Talk about going down in style...The rest of the guys are were up reasonably well, however, I think we will probably lose two of the remaining 5 (two dropped out after Pisco) to a lesser route by the end of the trip. I think they were at their limits this past week as it relates to the altitude. This next foray will tell the true tale as two of the mountains are towering above 6000m.

Lesson 3: You don't get stronger at altitude, you only get leaner. Show up fit or pay the consequences.

After returning to Huaraz to resupply after our climb on Pisco, we then hiked into the Ishinca Valley to try our luck on two peaks there -Tocallaraju and Ishinca (w
JohnK
6-Jul-2004
5:44:55 PM
Awsome Brad,
Nice read and great pics.

Robb
8-Jul-2004
6:07:07 PM
Interesting read. just returned from climbing Denali. i experienced similar partner problems. he didnt think he needed to train for the trip. i think he went for the odd run and that was it. he hit the wall numerous times and didnt acclimatise very well at all. i ended up climbing the west buttress solo on summit day instead of the upper west rib - which i would have preferred, but that would have required 2 fit climbers.mmmm. good trip and all. buried and ripped tents and some fun storms. big crevasses with scary soft snow bridges. we rode our sleds down the mountain from 11000' to 78000'. Hoonig past some unsuspecting japanese party. quite good fun.

phil box
9-Jul-2004
7:39:59 AM
Never realised you could go down from 11,000' to 78,000', my what a big mountain, lemme see that would make it over twice as high as Everest.

Hey beefy, ya gotta write up the trip report on your trip mate. Sounds like a near epic eh.

Robb
9-Jul-2004
6:23:48 PM
yeah ill write it up when i get a chance- sorry about the extra zero. i meant 7800'.
ant
28-Jul-2004
6:46:16 AM
Hey Brad, Thanks for the info - it has come in handy. Conditions are still very average, and loads of snow is present on south facing routes, especially above 6000m.

We have just got back from Laguna Parron, where we climbed the NW face on Piramide and the RH couloir on Caraz II. We are keen to get back into the hills - Huaraz is crazy with gringos.

vwills
28-Jul-2004
10:08:35 PM
Ant,
Read a trip report of Caraz II from Matt. Congrats to you both on making the top,sounds like you guys had an epic. Care to post a trip report?

JBM
29-Jul-2004
9:07:49 AM
Ant- read your trip report...nice work!!!!! Caraz II sounded fantastic! What's next on the agenda?

ant
31-Jul-2004
8:48:25 AM
Hey Brad,

The EASY route on Tocllaraju and then the north face of Ranrapalca.

JBM
3-Aug-2004
5:36:33 PM
Nice. Bring screws, may be necessary to aid past the bergschrund on Toc.

gfdonc
3-Aug-2004
9:21:16 PM
Ant, all this high-altitude Peruvian posin' may be nice, DUDE, but -- really just an EXCUSE to stay off the green roof lead problem at Vic Ranges .. it's still waitin' fur yer.
- Steve (no relation to HEX)

ant
5-Aug-2004
10:27:06 AM
On 3/08/2004 gfdonc wrote:
>Ant, all this high-altitude Peruvian posin' may be nice, DUDE, but -- really
>just an EXCUSE to stay off the green roof lead problem at Vic Ranges ..
>it's still waitin' fur yer.

Choice. Hopefully it is still there in September - my tender slightly "frostnipped" fingers should be good again by then.

P.S. Ranrapalca was out of condition, Tocllaraju was as busy as Thredbo after a dump, and my farts were looking something like gravy. We are back in town stocking up on food before heading off for a "fat white" Peruvian line (i.e. Ocshapalca). Ciao!
gfdonc
5-Aug-2004
1:06:15 PM
Ewww .. too much information there I think.
Redpointed the green last night after staying off it for a couple of weeks. I'm a happy man. They're not planning to reset it anytime soon apparently.
Got the 2nd roll of Buller pics back, will post some updates when I get a few minutes with the scanner.
Good luck with the peaks.
- Steve

JBM
5-Aug-2004
3:01:54 PM
Have a look at Vallanaraju while at Oschapalca. There's some fun D+ mixed lines. Also, the glacier looked like a bitch on Oshapalca when I was there, however if you go left a bit, there is a subsidiary peak (baby Osha) that is a bit easier to get to and it is the same style climbing (high mountain "sport lines").

Re: farts and gravy - Get some antibiotics man, it only get's worse.

ant
6-Aug-2004
9:57:10 AM
Got generic sulpur drugs racing around me at the moment - feeling much better.

Going to try a new ice line on the N face of Ocshapalca. Its just before Ishinca BC. Some germans put it up in the last few days - 350 metres and up to 90 degrees waterfall ice, something like TD-. And we have a camp/lake all to ourselves.
gfdonc
7-Aug-2004
9:53:05 PM
Hehe. Just found this. Read it and weep (or giggle), Alpine Climbers.
http://www.tradgirl.com/climbing_faq/ice_climbing.htm
(Pedro's post, bad spelling and all).


shmalec
9-Aug-2004
12:42:39 PM
Just descovered this thread. Nice one Brad. Brings back memories...might have to go back for more.

Do you know the name of the young guide that died? Not Samuel Roca?



JBM
9-Aug-2004
1:38:02 PM
Samuel Roca rings a bell with me, but I don't think he was the guide who perished on Tocallaraju. Let me find out and I'll let you know.

ange
18-Aug-2004
4:37:26 PM
Hi Brad,

Wow sounds like an amazing experience and the photo's are fantastic,
you must have very strong arms, do you work out ????

There are 19 messages in this topic.

 

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