July 14, 2013: Huaraz to Cuartelhuain to Carhuacocha via Cacanan Punta and Carhuac Pass
This was an epic day. It began 5:30 am at Olaza's Guest House, which had graciously put out some breakfast for us, including hot water for coffee, because we were leaving before breakfast was normally served. As we were eating in the pre-dawn light, we heard the doorbell ring four floors below. The van for the trek had arrived 15 minutes early. We crammed final bites of food into our mouths and ran downstairs to silence the doorbell that hopefully not yet woken all of the other guests. We hauled our gear up the street to the waiting van, because the street in front of Olaza's was under construction. Our driver; Gilf, the owner of the trekking company; and Raoul, the cook for our trek, were waiting. Our guide, Lidia, arrived a few minutes later and we were off. We dropped Gilf off and immediately picked up our driver's girlfriend. The van itself was incredibly nice, a new Toyota Hiace with "Corazon de Jesus" stickered on the back and "Te Amo, Peru!" dangling from the rearview mirror. Our driver made rapid progress to the south towards the Cordillera Huayhuash, delayed only by a tollbooth/checkpoint where the officer demanded to see the contents of the van. After seeing that it was indeed full of trekking equipment, we were on our way. An hour or so out of Huaraz, we arrived at the top of a hill and were greeted to our first views of the Huayhuash, which was unfortunately on the other side of a canyon that appeared to be about 4,000 feet deep.
The road at this point was still paved, and our driver took full advantage, casually rallying tight switchbacks while flirting with his girlfriend. After about a half hour of this, we reached the town of Chiquian and stopped for breakfast. We ate a real Peruvian restaurant (i.e. one patronized by locals, not tourists, not that there's any tourists in Chiquian) and I had a bowl of chicken soup with a drumstick of the toughest meat I have ever attempted to eat. That plus a cup of tea ran the tab up to 6 soles (about $2.50). Katie smartly had just tea. We were soon on our way again, and were sad to find that the pavement had ended. When we reached the bottom of the canyon, we began to climb the other side and then turned off into a side canyon, continuing to climb. We passed through several different landscapes each with their own vegetation. Cacti and scrubby bushes gave way to small trees and denser greenery, which in turn gave way to tall grass. We passed through the town of Llamac, which would be the end of our trek, as well as the town of Pocpa, which was our guide's hometown. Each town charged us a fee to pass through. Beyond Pocpa, the land is controlled by a mining company and so we passed though yet another gate, but only after much haggling with the guard as well as showing our passports. We arrived at Cuartelhuain (labeled on some maps as Matacancha, elevation 4,170 m / 13,680 ft) around 10:30 am. Our arriero Catalino and his team of donkeys were waiting. It turned out Catalino was also our guide's father. We set off as the donkeys were still being loaded and ascended steeply to Cacanan Punta (elevation 4,685 m / 15,370 ft). As we reached our first pass, spirits were high. All of our nervous energy about the trek had been transformed into the joy of finally being there and doing it combined the full knowledge that we would get to do this for 7 more days. It was like the first bite of a delicious meal. Speaking of which, we had lunch on that narrow slice of ridgeline and put on jackets to keep the wind at bay. Although it had been clear skies in Huaraz, the day overall was cool and cloudy.
We descended from the pass towards Mitucocha Lake (the suffix -cocha means "lake" in Quechua, so Mitucocha Lake is kind of redundant, but anyway...) and saw Jirishinca in the distance, our first 6,000 meter peak of the trek, peaking out from the clouds. From Mitucocha Lake (elevation 4,200 m / 13,780 ft), we began to climb again and also began to regret that we had agreed to do so much distance on our first day. We dragged ourselves to the top of Carhuac Pass (elevation 4,650 m / 15,255 ft). This was one of those spots where the destination was clearly visible, but after trudging towards it for a half hour or so, you would look up and not feel any closer. In addition, moving at this elevation was starting to become painful and I rapidly developed a pounding headache. I should note that the donkeys, the arriero and the cook had passed us on the descent to Mitucocha and left us in the dust on the way up the pass. We stopped at the pass and attempted to figure out what peaks were what, despite the clouds. On our way down, we encountered some chinchillas. We also encountered several flocks of sheep, which were tended by locals and their aggressively territorial dogs. The locals lived in stone huts without running water or electricity (although we did see one with a solar panel). As the sun set, we finally and mercifully arrived at our campsite at Carhuacocha Lake where hot tea and a snack were waiting. We should have had views of Yerupaja and Siula Grande (the first is the tallest peak in the range at 6,617 m / 21,710 ft and the second is the next tallest as well as the peak made famous by the film Touching The Void), but alas, it was cloudy. Dinner was potato soup, poached trout, head and tail included, and potatoes. Dessert was canned peaches. Now well fed, my headache dissipated. There were two other small groups at our campsite as well as several stray dogs. One small one had figured out how to crawl into the vestibule of a tent, and into the tent itself, if given the chance. I can't really blame him for this tactic, as it got damn cold when the sun went down. He also whined horribly when given the boot, which I was forced to do twice. We went to sleep immediately after dinner, which was probably about 8 pm.
Well, that got out of hand. How about some pictures?
Leaving Huaraz before sunrise.
First views of the Cordillera Huayhuash
Loading up at Cuartelhuain
Ascending, at this I was unsure exactly where the pass was, as it all looked pretty steep.
Still ascending. The path is now clear.
Atop the pass at Cacanan Punta
The valley. It's way down there.
Views on the other side of the pass.
Still in high spirits. Jirishinca in the background.
July 15, 2013: Carhuacocha to Huayhuash via Siula Pass
We awoke at 6 am, in preparation for tea at 6:30 am and breakfast at 7:00 am, with the goal of a 7:30 am start. This would be our routine for the rest of the hike. As the day dawned, we were teased by slivers of blue sky that gave us hope that the clouds would burn off. It was not to be. As we ate breakfast (omelettes and bread), the clouds regrouped. Shortly after we began hiking, it began to drizzle and then rain outright. We walked around Carhuacocha Lake and passed three more small, glacial lakes of stunning green and then began to ascend in earnest up to Siula Pass. We stopped halfway up to have snack and admire the view of the three lakes with the mountains providing a spectacular backdrop, despite the clouds. As we gained elevation, the rain turned to snow. We gained the pass (elevation 4,800 m / 15,750 ft.) in a snow squall, only to find a young man in galoshes and poncho, along with two dogs and a bucket of drinks. He joined us for a while, chatting with our guide Lidia. While we ate lunch in a sheltered spot below the pass, he played music on his cellphone, presumably to impress Lidia. As we descended, the clouds lowered, the temperature dropped, the winds picked up and the rain continued. The terrain was appeared to be marshy or boggy with large green clumps of moss providing dry spots on which we could hop. Just before reaching camp, it began to rain heavily and sideways. Our spirits, which were already low, sank even lower. We arrived at the Huayhuash campsite (4,345 m / 14,255 ft) to find camp fully set up and hot tea waiting in the mess tent. We drank several cups of tea and munched on tequenos (wontons, folded up stuffed with cheese and fried), hoping that the rain would stop. It never did. Dinner was soup (always soup), plus turkey and rice. Dessert was papaya with condensed milk poured over it. Fortunately, our tent (provided by the trekking company) was a full-on, four-season expedition tent so it had plenty of pockets to stash gear or hang it to dry out. We both went to bed cold, despite our down sleeping bags (and long underwear and down jackets and hats). In the night, the rain turned to snow.
Sunrise at Carhuacocha with just a hint of blue.
This is fun, I swear.
Green glacial lakes and stunning mountains.
A momentary reprieve from the rain.
Ascending Siula Pass in the snow.
July 16, 2013: Huayhuash to Viconga via Portachuelo de Huayhuash
We awoke to find our tent had warmed considerably overnight. This was because it was now insulated by a layer of snow. and emerged to find an inch or two of heavy, wet snow along with low clouds. The snow had stopped but the air was damp and cold and nasty. Breakfast was a single fried egg and a roll. We got a late start because the donkeys had wandered off during the night and the horse was being uncooperative. As we left the campsite, one the local dogs with wolf-like yellow eyes joined us for a bit. We hiked with long underwear on under our pants and down jackets under our gore-tex shells. The climb to Portachuelo de Huayhuash (4,750 m / 15,580 ft) was gradual and short. As we hiked, the clouds began to dissipate and Nevado Trapecio (a measly 5,644 m / 18,520 ft) came into view, the first peak we had seen in more than two days. We reached the pass with little fanfare and began to descend to Viconga Lake just as gradually. The way down was rutted and muddy, made worse by the melting snow. As we descended, the air warmed (slightly) and the wind picked up, sweeping out the last remnants of the storm. We passed below Viconga Lake, which is manmade, and reached the Viconga campsite (4,365 m / 14,320 ft) in time for a late lunch. Lunch was potato soup and dish of potatoes, cheese sauce and hard boiled egg. After lunch, we took advantage of the campsite's best feature, hot springs. There were two pools as well as a little spot to bathe. We soothed our tired bodies and cleaned ourselves with ample dose of Dr. Bronner's, carried all this way for exactly this purpose. We also finally met the other trek that had been paralleling our own journey for last three days. It turned out to have only one member, a mustachioed and loud voiced Dutchman. His wife was supposed to be on the trek as well but she had developed a thrombosis on the flight, so he was solo. Although the sun was out, the day remained cold and windy and so we spent the remainder of the afternoon in our tent, reading and relaxing (i.e. napping). Much to Katie's delight, our afternoon snack was popcorn. Dinner was soup with a main course of very salty fried chicken and rice. Dessert was canned pineapple. Both our stomachs were upset from several days of salty, greasy food but pepto-bismol and immodium came to the rescue.
This pretty much sums it up.
Looking back at Huayhuash.
Blue skies and Nevado Trapecio. It was now warm enough to take off my hat.
Trapecio as seen from the Portachuelo.
Beginning the descent to Viconga.
I wasn't wearing the hat like that on purpose, it was actually that windy.
Warm enough to remove our jackets! (We soon put them back on.)
Descending to the campsite.
Katie resting. Also, donkeys resting.
July 17, 2013: Viconga to Guanacpatay via Punta Cuyoc
The wind intensified overnight and so we awoke at 5:30 am to the loud flapping of our vestibule pulled free from the stakes. Breakfast was pancakes. We departed the Viconga campsite, which had been the nicest and cleanest so far, and fought a brutal wind as we ascended to Punta Cuyoc. As we gained elevation, Cerro Cuyoc and the Nevados Puscanturpas came into full view. (My understanding is that cerro means hill or mountain, and nevado means snowcapped mountain., although Cerro Cuyoc was most certainly snowcapped.) We were told that Punta Cuyoc was at 5,000 m but my map puts it just below at 4,950 m / 16,240 ft so we would have to wait another day to crack 5,000 m. With clear skies, Punta Cuyoc offered stunning panoramic views in all directions, easily the best of the trip so far. We looked down into the Guanacpatay valley and saw our campsite not too far away. We didn't stay long on the pass because the wind was still whipping. We had tried to have a snack huddled behind a rock, but soon gave up. We reached camp (4,450 m / 14,600 ft, highest of the trip) around noon for yet another hot lunch, more soup and potatoes and hard-boiled eggs served in a slightly different fashion from the previous day. The campsite itself was dominated by the steep backside of Cerro Cuyoc. We spent the afternoon wandering around taking pictures, reading and using the flush toilets in the bathrooms. There were no toilet seats on these, but it was still a step up from the hole in the floor at the previous campsites. Afternoon snack was pepperoni, cheese and corn nuts. Dinner was vegetable soup and a main course of beef in a spicy tomato sauce with rice. Dessert was chocolate pudding. We went to bed under the clearest skies of the trip so far and the moonlight illuminating our tent. This gave us high hopes for clear skies on the epic San Antonio pass the next day.
Ascending to Punta Cuyoc, Cerro Cuyoc on the left and the Nevados Puscanturpas on the left.
Views from Punta Cuyoc, looking back toward Viconga.
Descending into Guanacpatay.
Still descending. I think this is a different view of Trapecio, which we saw the day before.
Guanacpatay valley.
Purifying water. If we were extra thirsty, we would purify our own but generally there was enough boiled water to keep us hydrated.
Eating mystery fruit. We decided later that it was a passionfruit.
Moonrise over Cerro Cuyoc.
No comments:
Post a Comment