A few days after my birthday I decided to go on a solo trek - just to have some time for myself and do something cool.
I decided to hike up to a lake that I've been wanting to see for a while, and so I left some nice monday morning.
I took a colectivo to Caraz from where I thought other buses/combis/colectivos/whatsoever were leaving to the village of Paron. But as I had to find out those only leave at weird hours, so I either had to wait or take an expensive taxi. I decided to wait, when my luck turned around a little bit and I found a colectivo taxi that was going until the village underneath Paron. The driver told me it would only be an hour or so to walk so I'd still be there earlier than if I'd take the bus.
It took me a little more than an hour and was exhausting but after a while I made it to the entrance of the national park and felt good going off on a little adventure.
There was a dirt road until the lake, but as I was walking I could cut through the curves on little trails. That was exhausting and I kinda got lost twice, but it was still better than walking on a road all the time.
After some (a lot) hours of walking I finally made it to the lake. I felt like I had no energy anymore and it was already getting a little late, so I abandoned my plan to hike further to another, smaller lake and camped right at the shore of one of the biggest lakes in the Cordillera Blanca, and at the foot of the Piramid glacier.
It was cold, but beautiful, and I was so tired that passed out shortly after I ate dinner. I did see the sun going down though, the orange-lit clouds behind the white mountains and the full moon rising next to it. (The sun goes down here around 6.30 pm so sleeping time on a trek is pretty early ;))
On the next day I didn't have a long hike in front of me and I was planning on spending it a little more relaxed. I ate breakfast, got my stuff together and started the walk along the lake side to the other end. That looked shorter than it was, but at least I asn't just going up. After I reached the other side I followed a small trail through a plain of grassy rocks until I got to the other lake. There I had planned to sit down, write, read and enjoy, but unfortunately the weather didn't like that idea too much and it got pretty cold. So I started my way back earlier, and set up camp again at the shore of lake Paron.
The altitude, a some stomach problem and the little amount of food I'd had with me were making my body weak though, and I felt like I had no energy. So I took a nap in the afternoon and went to sleep early again, ready for another cold night.
On the third day I got up super early, and so I could enjoy the sun rising behind the mountains. When I started my way back through the valley, everything was filled with a golden light.Walking down was definitely easier than walking up and I soon reached the park entrance. But again the bus time tricked me and I had to keep going until another village, which was even further down than the one where I started. Since it took me a while the heat was killing me too, and I was happy when I finally found a car.
I got back to Marian some time in the afternoon, and was happy to find the house empty so I had a little more time for myself and could think about the trek.
I liked it, but with myself I didn't really get where I wanted.
Antacocha
Just two days after I got back from my trek, I already left the house again. I was with some friends and our plan was to go to Antacocha for a few days. That's also a lake, Cordillera Negra though, but the main subject is not hiking there but climbing.
So we took a taxi to the campsite, and after a lunch break we started right away.
I started climbing again in Huaraz, and, slowly but surley, my arms were getting stronger and I fell in love with the sport again.
Antacocha has some short routes, but also a whole bunch of them with several pitches. That was completely new to me, so the first day my friend gave me some classes in "what to do in the middle of the wall and how to secure oneself and your partner". Or something like that.
It felt great to learn something new and the next day we started for my first "multi pitch", which consisted of four pitches and was about 200m high. The route was quite easy (even for my level of climbing), but it was a great experience. The feeling of just climbing and then the feeling of reaching the top and being regarded with an amazing view of Corlillera Blanca was just great.
To get back down we chose to walk, and spent the rest of the day relaxing and eating.
The day after that was a completely lazy day - we didn't do anything all day long, but just being there and enjoying nature.
On our last day we wanted to go climbing again, but after a little warm up and the first pitch, I had to give up because my slackline knee injury started hurting again, and I didn't want to over-do it. It sucked, but I'm still hoping to go back to Antacocha soon, so we can finish the out we've started.
Vallunaraju
After Antacocha I spent some days at the house, went climbing and met some friends that were in town at that time.
But at the weekend it was time again to get out to the mountains, and this time it should be a real mountain. With snow and crampons and ice picks and all that stuff.
We left Saturday afternoon and went in taxi to the trailhead for the moraine camp. That was a steep and rocky hike up with a lot of weight because we had to carry all the material. And since two of our companions were slighlty hung over it took us a little longer than usually and we got to the camp quite late. Late, because we had to get up at 2.30am to go for the summit.
It felt weird crawling out of the tent in the middle of the night and getting everything ready. When we started to hike to the glacier, one of us stayed behind because he already had troubles with the altitude and wasn't gonna go for the summit.
So we were four, and only one of us really had experience with mountains. And stuff.
But it was supposed to be "easy" and not too technical, so it was fine. At the beginning of the glacier we put on our crampons and harnesses and were all connected by a rope. Ice pick in one hand and walking stick in the other, we started off for the summit of Vallunaraju.
The sun was rising behind the Cordillera Blanca and we were surrounded by snow and I was happy. And after a while pretty exhausted. Good thing, I wasn't the only one and the two guys behind me were doing worse. At one point they were about to turn around and go back but we managed to motivate them again. Close to the end it was me who needed motivation to keep going, but after a short climbing part we were pretty much there. At the summit. At 5680m.
Personally, I hadn't expected to reach the summit, and even though it was hell to get up there I was surprised I did it. That we did it. It felt incredibly awesome. Arriving up there was just a feeling I can't describe, and it was definitely one of the best and most amazing experiences I've made in my travels so far. It was just unbelievable.
The way back down was a lot more fun, all of us were delighted and: we didn't have to go up anymore. I enjoyed the snow, slid down some parts, and made a snow angel. Of course I felt tired, but it didn't matter.
Back at the camp we ate, and after a little (needed!) rest we packed our things and started our way back down. The steep and rocky trail was even worse going down than up and I think all of us fell at least once. I was so glad when we finally reached the road, because it was starting to get kind of dangerous and everybody was super tired.
At the road we had to wait for our taxi a little bit, and on the ride back I completely passed out. And woke up when we were already at the house.
My body felt dead, but I was just happy.
I climbed a really high mountain! And I want more! ;)
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| expedition "un minuto y medio" |
Inkawakanka
The mountain was so intense that I, again, needed some days rest. That means being at the paradise house and go climbing. And organise the next trip, which was Inkawakana.
That's a big, but relatively new climbing place, which means there are not many people and still not many routes. We were quite a big group though, and the guys wanted to build some new routes.
We rented a mini van that got us, and all our stuff, there and, just as we got there we were rewarded with the best of Inkawakanka: it's sunset. It's like you are in the mountains but see the sun going down over the ocean. Pretty awesome, I would say.
We set up camp, and then sat together making our pre-cooked camping dinner.
The next 5 days (except one day rest for me and my hands) we spent climbing, walking, eating, talking, laughing and drinking. Some other friends came for 2-3 days and everything was just good. We stayed until we ran out of food and had to go back to Huaraz. That time we had to hitch hike, each person with a backpack and one or two crash pads. But we got lucky and a big bus stopped, and took us all.
Back in Huaraz I had to make a decision - if I would stay here a little longer or continue my travels. I was stressed out for a day and just wished being back at Inkawakanka or some other awesome place where I didn't have to think about stuff like that. And then I decided to continue the first aid project I had started in December (or something like that) and stay for another month or so.
So I'm still in Marian/Huaraz, and I can't wait to get out of bed and into the mountains again!
