Awesome Cordillera Blanca trek

We got back from our 10 day trek in the mountains. So many impressions, so much to say about this time. Alas, for now here are some pics to peak your interest. Must pack up tonight as we are taking the bus tomorrow morning (eight hours) to head back to Lima for one night before flying to La Paz to meet up with Esther and Miguel! I cannot believe that we will get to hang out together where the lovely Esther grew up. Pretty special.

First campsite (Huishcash) at
4,320 metres. Slept well in the grandeur
of the mountains after a 1,200 metre
ascent.

One of the many glacial waterfalls we
would see over our 160 k trek. Each one
was spectacular.



Lagunas in a variety of awesome
colours dotted the landscape and
provided many moments of
quiet contemplation.



Sunsets are cool

Being in the mountains makes for awesome sunsets. These shots are all taken within 10 minutes or so. Better be ready to shoot when the show is on.

Sunset over the Cordillera Negra as seen from 3,700 m
in the Cordillera Blanca.

The colours are shifting quickly.

Perched on our most lovely dinner spot with a view. 

This is pretty happy stuff :)

Shooting the local flora and fauna ...

While we were at The Way Inn the other day, we got to see all kinds of things. (As usual, click to enlarge :)

Jan with one of the Way Inn dogs
who came with us on a lovely walk
into the Cojup Valley.

The most delicate andean flowers in
 bloom. I want to call them alpine, but
really, that would be euro-centric.

Spot the insect. Yup, there
is one! Looks just like a blade
of grass, but the biggest
part here is not grass.

Jan and the dogs all tuckered out
after our walk. Moments after this
idyllic shot it started to hail with
a vengeance.

And this one just because ... pine trees are cool.

Laguna Churup -- Abounding in Superlatives



The colours and patterns created by
the algae in Laguna Churup are inspirational.



Inga close to topping out on the waterfall
climb up to Laguna Churup.

Ready, Set, Trek!

We have booked our next mountain adventure with Skyline Adventure School. We met with Jenn last night to go over the details of our trek. We will be leaving at 6:15 am to head to Hualcayan where we will meet the arrieros (donkey drivers) to load up our fine four legged friends with what we will need for a 10-day circuit that will take us over nine or so passes in Los Cedros (Alpamayo). Splendid. You can be sure that there will more details later!

Laguna Churup

On Monday we went up to Laguna Churup from The Way Inn. We gained about 750 m elevation making it awesome for acclimatization. We both have been doing very well on that count all week.
It was a beautiful hike with not a soul in sight. I mean, really we were the only people up there all day! Here are some pics from my camera. The thing to get used to here is the way in which we get directions: "when the dirt road starts zig zagging turn up the herd path, there is an unfinished house there. Just follow it till you get to the road then follow the road to the right to the guard house." Amazingly it gets us there!

Jan on one of the scrambling sections
on way to Laguna Churup

Jan navigating the cable section on way down



Jan overlooking Laguna Churup with Nevado Churup towering
 another  1,000 m above.



The Way Inn and Hail

We spent the last 3 days at this cool mountain lodge, called The Way Inn. We went up to further acclimatize by camping there and hiking. The lodge sits at 3,712 m (12,180 feet) and offers up some awesome day hiking up to 4,450 m (14,600 feet). Amazingly, the lodge has hot water 24/7 and if you are not roughing it the amenities are lovely.

Our tent getting pelted and staying dry.

One thing we learned is that it does not rain so much as it hails ice pellets in the mid afternoon at this altitude. The first couple of days it started about 2 pm. On the third day, we were out on a long hike and were lucky it only started at 3:30 pm, so we only got to test out our rain gear for the last 45 minutes or so.

The most exciting part was probably that, unlike on prior days, the thunder was accompanied by lightening. This made for quite a show and a rather speedy descent to the comforts of the main lodge.

Something I Never Wanted to Blog About

I cannot withhold this piece of travel info -- I have already experienced a dreaded "gastro." Yup, three days into our adventure, I found myself moaning in pain (but still smiling -- how could I not -- it is all part of the action). Do not worry, I will not go into any nasty details. Suffice it to say that my body rallied and the worst day of the three was filled with weather drama so I did not miss anything as I slept (and slept and slept) in our tent that Inga kindly put up on her own.

I now have more "food for thought" about what I need to be mindful about. The good side of the story is that you end up having "gastro" conversations with complete strangers -- it is quite the conversation starter : )

Laguna de Llaca - part 2

A few more pics from yesterday. (Click to enlarge)


Jan scrambling up the moraine with laguna
and glacier inbackground.
See the ice climbers at the top right?



The big cloud mid-mountain is the avalanche coming to rest.



A wide view of Laguna de Llaca and the mountains.



View across the Cordillera Negra with
Huaraz in the valley

Laguna de Llaca

We had an awesome day in the Cordillera Blanca today. Part of acclimatization means we go to high places, do some hiking and then come back down. Today,we got a drive along the local backcountry roads all the way into Parque Nacional de Huascaran with Theo, a lovely, knowledgeable driver. The distance is barely 30 km, but it is uphill for most of it and the roads are adventurous (rutted, narrow, rock covered, you get the drift), so it took about 2 hours to get there.

Inga looking kind of small in this
great landscape

What we found when we arrived were amazing vistas of two glacial lagunas and two of the high mountains, called Ranrapalca (6,162 m) and Ocshapalca (5,838 m). Much of the flora, fauna as well as mountains get their names from Quechua, which is the language of the Inca Empire of Peru.

Ocshapalca to the left and Ranrapalca
to the right. It served up the avalanche.

We hiked just over 2 hours up to 4,470 m (14,665 feet) (really, most of that was done by car), and enjoyed an amazingly active glacier, got treated to an avalanche high up on the mountain and watched a few ice climbers practice their skills on the glacier wall. All in all, we saw 9 other people while hiking at the Laguna.

Tomorrow we go camping. We will be at about 3,700 m and have access to high valleys, beautiful lagunas and amazing mountain views (oh, and no car assistance).
(Click on images to view them larger.)