Saturday, November 6, 2010

Los Cedros stats

I know, I know: statistics are only so interesting.

So let´s start with the highest mountains in Canada. Yes, there are very tall mountains, but hardly anyone will ever see them, because they are in the Saint Elias Range in the Yukon. The highest is Mt Logan at 5,956 m. Impressive. This range has 5 mountains over 5,000 m and all but one of Canada´s over 4,000 m high mountains are in this range; the exception is Mount Waddington in BC which comes in at 4,019 m.

So, what´s the highest mountain some Canadians might actually travel to, let´s say in the Canadian Rockies? If you guessed Mount Robson you win! It´s 3,959 m.

Similarly, the highest mountain in the Alps that many might see from Chamonix is Mont Blanc which comes in at 4,808 m.

Now that we have some context established, here are our stats for the Los Cedros Trek. In brackets is the day´s ascent and descent rounded - you´ll note a lot of up and down. Anyone looking to do this trek or similar ones in the Cordillera Blanca might find some inspiration here.

Camp 1 Huishcash - 4,320 m (asc 1,200 m des 75 m)
Camp 2 Osoruri - 4,600 m (asc 700 m des 500 m)
Camp 3 Jancarurish - 4,250 m (asc 600 m des 900 m)
Day 4 - "rest" day at Jancarurish (asc/des 550 m)
Camp 4 Huillca - 4,100 m (asc 1,000 m des 1,200 m)
Camp 5 Janca Pampa - 3,600 m (asc 800 m des 1,300 m)
Camp 6 Huecrococha - 4,050 m (asc 1,100 m des 650 m)
Camp 7 below Taulliraju glacier toward Punta Union pass 4,500 m (asc 1,000m des 550 m)
Camp 8 30 min above of Llamacoral - 3,950 m (asc 600 m des 1,100 m)
Hike out (asc 50 m des 950 m)

The passes are higher than our camps. The highest was the very first one at 4,850 m. That was followed the next day by a pass at 4,750 m. After our rest day, we tackled two passes: the next big one 4,830 m followed by a much lower one at 4,460 m. Rounding the estern end of the Cordillera we passed over 4,600 m and 4,400 m passes. The last pass (Punta Union) got us back up to 4,750 m before heading downhill over 2 days and 1,800 m in elevation.

See, stats aren´t so bad :)

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the statistics; yes it put things in perspective. Do you need special equipment to stay and live that long time in high altitude. How do you train for this? Is training "only" adaptation with time and walking slowly? Tea with coca and get high !!
    Have a great journey. Is there a map on this site where i can follow you.
    Have fun !! Guy

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