PA17: Huascaran

All of my cycling buddies told me to go to Huascaran National Park.

This was my first major stop on the way down to Argentina, and it had played a central part in my decision to set off from Quito at the time of year that I did, in order to get the best possible weather for hiking.

The city of Huaraz serves as a hub for all things outdoors in and around the National Park. It was a ‘gringoville’, packed with all kinds of backpacker types, along with plenty of businesses catering towards their tastebuds, and budgets.

I’d been recommended to spend a good few weeks, or even months in the area.

So I tucked the bike away in the hostel, rented a hiking rucksack, and dusted off the walking boots.

First up, Laguna Churup. A bit murky, but it cleared up a bit while I was on the way down.

I found a trekking pole lying on the ground at the trailside, apparently bent in half. It turned out that the previous owner had over-extended it, which had caused it to fold up. It was perfectly serviceable. I don’t understand why their immediate response was to just throw it aside, and litter the countryside, but now I had gotten myself a free stick!

Coca leaves in Huaraz. Most of the locals in the smaller villages seemed to prefer chewing coca to drinking coffee. This leaf has been the psychoactive drug of choice in this part of the world for thousands of years.

Heading up into the hills on my first multi-day hike. Our taxi ran out of water in his radiator, so I helped him out with my bottle. All the same, he absolutely took me for a ride when it was time to pay. Unfortunately this is the drawback of being in a touristy part of the country…

Heading up the Akilpa valley.

Unexpectedly beautiful trail through the woodland in the valley.

The climbing became more intense, so I decided to try out the local solution: a cheekful of coca leaves.

Laguna Akilpo.

Urus pass. Just a smidge over 5000m. It really humbled me. My climb up from the lake was so painstakingly slow, I think that a baby learning to walk at sea level would have beaten me.

Picking my way down the other side wasn’t much faster. Everything under foot wanted to break my ankles. Whatever could be called a path was intermittent, and vanished completely for long sections.

Camp at Ishinca refuge.

Working my way out of the park, down the Ishinca valley…

… For perhaps the best sandwich of my life back in Huaraz. Check out ‘Mamma Mia’, it’s always got a big crowd of gringos sitting at the tables outside. This was their club sandwich.

I had met a group of 4 Argentinan mountaineers on the last hike, and they invited me out for a day trip up Rima Rima (5248m). One of them had an enormous backpack on, and later revealed that he had packed a para glider.

After a couple of failed attempts, where he more or less wound up going down the mountain side on his face, he managed to get airbourne and glided gracefully away to the bottom.

We cracked on for a little bit more, but I really wasn’t feeling particularly enthused, especially considering that the last few hundred meters looked like this:

I’m as happy to go on an adventure as the next person, but I don’t fancy writing cheques that I don’t have the skills or experience to bank. That peak just to the right of centre in the picture above was our destination, and it appeared to involve swarming up a rocky incline / wall covered with ice. I begged to be excused, and so we set off back down the hill again.

Another day, heading up to Laguna 69.

One of the lessons that I took away from my Ishinca hike was that hauling a heavy backpack over a 5000m pass is awful, so I left my stove and the inner part of my tent behind to reduce my base weight a bit.

The result? Cold food. In the photo above I tried ‘cold-soaking’ instant noodles for 45 mins before eating. Turned out much better than I expected! I would give it a solid 3 out of 10 for enjoyment… In the picture below I mixed instant coffee with icy cold water for breakfast, and I reckon that it actually tasted better than hot, perhaps a generous 6 out of 10. You could probably flog it to someone at Starbucks for an obscene amount…

Laguna 69 hike.

There aren’t many places on earth where you can be in shorts and t shirt over 4000m!

Getting to the start of the multi-day Santa Cruz hike. I ended up getting invited to pitch my tent in this farmyard.

This first bit of the Santa Cruz hike was really nice. The small village, with its friendly people, was a nice throwback to the pleasant character of Perú that I had come to know over the last couple of months.

Campsite up amongst the clouds. There was a big pass ahead and I wanted to tackle it fresh the next day.

This time I felt good going uphill, and perhaps I gave it a bit too much gusto. I managed to get off the GPS track, and rather than dropping back to correct the error, I decided to press on and get over the pass at a different spot. Stupid call. I worked myself into a dead end, pinned up against a wall (picture above), and wasted a load of time working my way out of it and back onto the correct route (below). I’m convinced that my decision making was influenced by the altitude, since blazing a trail on an unfamiliar, icy hike on a mountain pass is a really bad idea.

Heading back down the valley and out of the national park…

These guys are the real mountaineers in this national park. You often see them jogging along across every kind of terrain, carrying equipment for those that don’t choose to hike out here with a big rucksack.

So that’s it for Huascaran. Really all of this was intended to build acclimatisation for the legendary 8 day Huayhuash hike. Coming soon!