Climbing and Photography in Peru: In Search of Adventure

Laguna Paron just after Dawn

Wanting to explore further north a little, I decided on a night at Laguna Paron in the hope that I’d get a view of the beautiful Artensonraju (6025m). It is rumoured that this iconic pyramidal mountain was the inspiration behind the mountain logo of Paramount pictures. The bus journey there was predictably jolting, though we did break up the ride with a 9.30 ice cream stop. Not one to look a sugary gift horse in the mouth and not wanting to offend, I obliged and sat in the early morning hustle and bustle of bus tours in the town of Carhuaz eating my three scoops of ice cream and wondering why there were so many people with bad teeth. Back in the bus and the bone juddering journey up the mountain towards the lake began. Failing door seals and open windows made for a very dusty bus and I was only too happy to get out and breathe in some of the fresh lake air when we arrived. Being one of Peru’s most famous Lagunas, it is a tourist hotspot so I decided to get some well earned napping done in the refuge until the crowds had left for the day. This was a refuge in the loosest of terms but it was no less enjoyable for it. The family running the place were very friendly and accommodating. It had been cloudy when I went for my siesta and when I emerged from my cocoon, it had deteriorated. Realising that the walk up to the mirador would be pretty pointless, I cooked some food and decided to use the day/night as an acclimatisation/rest day.

After a long and restful night, I woke at around 4.30 and headed up to the Mirador with the hope of catching the famous view of Artesonraju at sunrise. Alas, there was still too much cloud around to view the summit, there was some nice light though courtesy of the clouds and the Laguna was a resplendent azure looking-glass. Not the weather I had hoped for but I left with an image I was happy with and am keen to go back another time in the hope of better weather, better views and possibly some climbing.

Back in Huaraz and some friends were heading to a sport climbing area a couple of hours outside of Huaraz for some acclimatisation days before heading into the mountains with me so I decided to join them. Nestled on a hillside at around 4200m, Huatunmachay is a wonderous jumble of glacier and wind shaped granite towers. As beautiful to feast your eyes upon as they are excruciatingly coarse to climb on. Never has 6b felt so hard as a granite overhang at 4200m. After a day of skin trashing fun we had a night in the refuge playing card and dice games, eating chocolate and drinking tea. A cold morning waiting for the sun to hit the tents and thaw the frost gave way to breakfast in the sun and a few more hours eeking out what little skin we had left. Another taxi and a collectivo later and we were back in Huaraz hunting for pizza.

Over dinner we steered the conversation back to the mountains and what we’d like to do. The girls wanted another acclimatisation trip as they hadn’t yet been up high since their bout of food poisoning. We settled on a local day hit mountain called Huarapasca (5412m) situated a 2 hr taxi ride away. We spent the next day eating a leisurely breakfast, shopping and packing in preparation for a 1.30 am taxi pick up.

Approaching the summit of Huarapasca

Heading South we tried to grab some more sleep in the car. Alas, the heating was broken so we were pummelled with cold air for the next 2.5 hours and found ourselves shivering, trying to find any warmth we could whilst simultaneously bracing for the plentiful potholes on the road to the trailhead. A little more than 2.5 hours later and we were eagerly exiting the taxi and jumping around trying to get the circulation working in the frigid air. A leisurely wander had us at the snowline for sunrise. All feeling warm by now and not feeling any ill effects from the altitude we soloed the 60° névé romp and found ourselves on the shoulder under the brief summit climb. Conditions were good so we ditched our kit to save weight and time and then headed for the summit in the warmth of the early morning sun. Our first experience of the famed Peruvian penitentes (elongated fingers of frozen snow pointed towards the sun) was, thankfully, little more than 50m of higher stepping than usual. It was cool to see such alien formations and wonder at how it must be to navigate them when they are metres rather than centimetres tall.

Feeling good, we stayed on the summit for a few minutes taking photos and marvelling at the beautiful view towards the Cordillera Huayhuash and the scene of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates’ ‘Touching the Void’ adventure. We headed down, feeling justly satisfied with our early start and speed. A couple of abseils later and another pitch of down climbing and we were back at our trainer stash and sliding our way down the scree path and on to the waiting taxi back to Huaraz.

Basking in the heat of the afternoon Sun in Huaraz, we had decisions to make. Where to head next. My vote was to try Chopicalqui as it had been one of the main drives for my visit to the area. The girls were conscious of time as they had a bus to Lima to catch in a few days which wouldn’t allow any contingency for a bigger more remote mountain such as Chopi. We settled on Vallunaraju. It would be a second time for me, so I felt confident with the route and timings. I also thought it would be a good opportunity for a flight from the summit as well as some subjects for photography. It was settled then. We celebrated our fun day with beers and a curry at the highly recommended restaurant., Chilli Heaven (trip advisor reviews).

A clear night at moraine camp

A slow morning and lengthy breakfast gave way to another two hour taxi ride. This time back to the refuge at Laguna Llaca. Once there, we donned our sacks and began the steep ascent to Vallunaraju Moraine Camp. Feeling the after effects of the beers from the night before, we were all a little less spritely than we would have perhaps liked. By mid afternoon though we were safely ensconced in our tents, napping and boiling as much water as we could. Card games, food and some star gazing over Ranrapalca preceded an early night in anticipation of yet another all too alpine start. Leaving the tent at around 2am we began the plod up the moraine to the snout of the Glacier. Finding a better way onto the snow than my previous visit, we managed to join the route higher up. About 20 mins into the long snow plod I began to feel like something wasn’t right. I was struggling to keep a steady pace which wasn’t particularly fast and from here on in I had one of the harder physical battles I have had on a mountain. Feeling like I had completely emptied the tank from about an hour and a half in wasn’t a good place to be. The jellies I had were adding to my nausea and the energy bars were taking way too much chewing. I decided that I was comfortable enough to untie and head back down as I knew the way, there was a good track and the snow bridges and crevasses were all easy enough to navigate. Not happy with leaving me to descend, they wanted to descend with me. I wasn’t happy about thwarting their attempt so we rested a while and I took up the lead again. It was a slow pace but one I could manage and eventually we found ourselves on the summit ridge in the glorious dawn light.

Vallunaraju summit as the Sun hits Copa

The summit ridge of Vallunaraju at Dawn

I was grateful for Nadege and Katja’s company that day as without them, I wouldn’t have been there, let alone managed to get two shots that I am really happy with and pretty much sum up what time in the mountains means to me. Namely secluded summits and beautiful sunrises. Any ideas I had of flying had long since evaporated as we reached the summit and although the stress of getting there was clearly etched on everyone’s face, it felt good to be up there as the sun rose again and to know that soon we would be warm and, as we descended, the air would be getting thicker. The descent was quick and the sun and the lower altitude began to work their magic. A quick nap back in the tent and I was beginning to feel a little more human. We broke camp and quickly descended the final steep 500m to the waiting taxi and onwards to Huaraz for ice-cream.

The girls packed and left Huaraz and Dani (my partner on my acclimatisation jaunt up Urus) got in touch to ask if I was still keen on Chopi.

Waking early, I walked to the collectivo meeting point to meet Dani  and settled in for the hectic 1.5 hour journey to Yungay. The morning commute in Peru is definitely something to behold. The cramped mini vans hurtle along with as many people as they can fit in them to maximise their earnings, stopping frequently as the seemingly incoherent yells from the ‘conductor’ are met with waves from waiting pedestrians at what look like random stopping points along the way. Arriving in Yungay we sourced a taxi for the onward journey but had to wait an hour for some more people willing to experience the unique Peruvian slant on air conditioning as the road to the trail head would be pretty dusty again. Whilst waiting we had a hearty breakfast of some sort of meat, rice and potatoes, a mug of coca tea and some chocolate – perhaps a career as a mountain dietician isn’t so far out of reach..

Looking up through the jumble of snow and ice that would lead us to the summit (in the whispy cloud)

The heavily crevassed ridge to the summit of Chopi by moonlight

Winding our way up the pass, we stopped again to show our entry permits for the Huascaran National park, eat some corn and chat to the rangers. On past the famous Lagunas de Llanganuco and a few more switchbacks and it was time to shoulder our bags and begin the long slow plod in to Base Camp. We were expecting it to take about 5 hours and so we set off, heavily laden at a slow pace in the mid-morning heat. We made our way up the moraine, across a small valley onto the next moraine and then up, gaining around 1000m. I felt good and upon reaching camp set to work setting up the tent whilst Dani went off to source water. We began a marathon eating and drinking session and were both in bed by 7pm. Waking the next day in no real hurry was in hindsight a mistake. As although the glacier was safe enough, soft snow and midday sun made the climb to high camp absolutely brutal. My legs felt heavy and my pace slowed considerably. Stopping to take a break, I had to confide in Dani that I wasn’t feeling it. He suggested we carry on to the high camp and delay our summit push by a day if I still felt crap that evening. We continued slowly, past the glacier camp and on up to the col camp at around 5550m.

Once we arrived and got the tent up I began to feel much better as I focussed on getting as much food and fluid back into me as possible. Aiming for a midnight wake up for the next day’s summit push, I was tucked into bed at 5pm. This is when I realised that sacrificing comfort for weight isn’t always the right choice. For the majority of the trip, I had been using two mats to sleep on, an inflatable Sea to Summit one and a z-fold closed cell Thermarest. I hadn’t had a cold night’s sleep til that night. I brought only the air mat to Chopi and all too quickly realised that this doesn’t insulate when placed on a groundsheet over snow. The next 7 and a bit hours were spent shivering and constantly readjusting my body position to let parts warm up as others rapidly cooled. My inner boots went under my hips and any clothing I wasn’t wearing was placed underneath me. It was the coldest night I’ve experienced in a tent. As the alarm went off, I was happy to get up and get moving if only to feel some warmth. With the kettle boiling and warm drinks and noodles inside me, I began to feel the life coming back into my body. I also felt surprisingly refreshed physically. By about 1.15am we were packed and ready to go and so we set off under the light of a full moon in a swirling mist. We would, for the next few hours, trudge slowly upwards with fleeting glances of the summits of Huascaran Norte and Sur behind us and the numerous false summits ahead of us.

It was bitterly cold and as we pushed closer to 6000m my toes and fingers had started to go fairly numb. I donned my big mitts and we carried on up the ridge, a dark abyss to our left which greeted us as the swirling mist occasionally parted. It was quite an experience to be so alone so high up. Dani began to throw up, his choice of breakfast came back to haunt him as half the curried noodles and a bottle of condensed milk curiously hadn’t sat well. We stopped again, drank and discussed what to do. Worried about Dani I asked if he needed to turn back but he said he’d be fine. On we pushed, both immersed in our own battles of will against the cold and gurgling guts respectively. A small ice step and a fairly hefty crevasse crossed, and we were onto the shoulder at 6100m. We plodded up the steep névé slope tethered by rope by each in our own worlds. Thunk thunk, kick kick, thunk thunk, kick kick, the metronimic rhythm of my ice axes and crampons biting into the solid névé helped me to drift away from the fire in my legs and my burning lungs. Cresting the shoulder, the first of the dawn’s light was hitting the Huascaran summits behind us to the West and illuminating Copa to the South. We stopped to take it all in as the mist had parted and the full moon stared back at us. By now Dani was struggling and the pace had slowed further still. We pressed on but it was becoming increasingly apparent that time would be against us. At 6250m with 100m still to go, I was concerned that we could put ourselves in a bad situation on the way down as the snow softened and Dani’s energy levels decreased further. We stopped again and much to my dismay I suggested we turn back as I didn’t think either of us was willing to risk an unnecessary epic. Dani hastily agreed and so my Peruvian summit chasing came to an end. My toes felt like ice blocks so in my heart I knew that this was the right thing to do, sad as it was.

Retracing our steps, digging out snow anchors to abseil as well as down climb to make our descent as quick as possible we made steady progress back to the tent.

I was keen to get packed up and get down the mountain and try to hail a taxi back to civilisation. We agreed on an hour’s nap and then to break camp. At 10am I was back out of bed and packing. Dani needed more time as he’d run himself quite low with his stomach issues so by 11.30 we were on our way down.

Walking out from Chopi looking towards the imposing Chacraraju

I led us back down the glacier and onto the moraine an hour later. Unroping, we agreed to make our own way down to the road so neither of us felt like we were pushing or hindering the other. By 4.30 I was back at the trail head, boiling some water and shovelling a handful of dried fruit into my mouth. By now my feet had been back in my trainers for four hours and they were feeling mostly ok. I took my shoes and socks off and massaged them whilst I rehydrated and waited for Dani and a Taxi. Dani came an hour later but sadly there was no taxi. It was 5pm and would be getting dark soon. We decided to walk down the road on the direction of Yungay in the hope of hailing a taxi as it came over the pass. If it didn’t come, we could stay at one of the campsites down the road, about 5km away. Reaching the last of the campsites just after 6pm with aching shoulders and tired legs I suggested we stop for the night. Dani declared he wasn’t prepared to spend another night in the tent and so we continued knowing we had another 32km of walking to get back to civilisation. Although I was tired I was feeling ok and so set off, agreeing that we would wait along the way for the other person. 15km and 3 hours later I reached the park gate. Waiting for Dani I looked at the remaining 17km of switch backs sprawling below us. I knew it would be a long night. Danni arrived 45 mins later and looked fairly beat so we decided to camp on the ranger’s lawn for the night. Setting up the tent, Dani was in and asleep before I’d even taken my shoes off. He didn’t move until 8am the next morning as the rangers said hello. I think we both had the best sleep we’d had in a long time that night. 700m of ascent to 6250m and then a descent to 3450m and over 42.5km of walking will do that to even the hardiest of armchair alpinists.

Another breakfast of a boiled egg and some corn and we were packed on our way down the road. 15 minutes later and we had our taxi to town. We did stop to fit another 5 people in the 5 person car we were in. We managed 2 people in the front, 4 on the back seat and 3 in the boot. Back in Yungay I treated myself to a can of coke and we waited for the collective back to Huaraz. I went and showered and then headed out for a big breakfast and all the good coffee I could manage at Cafe Andino

I had a just over 24 hrs left so I spent it shopping for gifts, drinking coffee and eating crepes. Apparently altitude is a fantastic weight loss tool so I waded, guilt free, through more than my fair share of highly calorific foods before finally getting on the bus back to Lima and then flying back to the UK.

It’s taken a while to finish this blog. I’ve sat down to it many times but found it hard to pen for one reason or another. I think as I sit and write it now after a good few months to reflect, I can see how I’ve grown in the last few years. There is a time when the idea of heading so far from home alone for 5 weeks would have been prohibitively daunting. This time, I relished the prospect of adventure, of breathing space and a chance to do something completely on my own terms with only myself to congratulate for my successes or blame for my failures. Looking back, it’s hard to see any failures though, I planned my trip and went out there to live it, which for the most part I did. I told myself I wanted an adventure and that’s what I got. I came back with memories of dawn summits alone, of a country of beautiful, warm people and a lightness in my heart that I haven’t felt for a long time. Yes, I think it would be fair to say that I returned feeling content, a feeling that until this point has been a fairly alien one in my life.