Tribewanted: Vorovoro

So there I was, alone and clipped to an ice steak half way up a near vertical ice face on Yannapacha. The early morning sun had given way to cloud and the wind brought temperatures close to freezing. As I stared face first into the ice, I thought to myself how the hell did I ever end up here?

It was a million miles away from where the mountaineering seed had initially been sown. The previous October I had been enjoying a break in Sardinia. It was whilst sitting on the beach in the sun reading Joe Simpson’s “Touching the Void” that I first thought, let’s climb a mountain. It probably shouldn’t inspire you to climb, in fact it should do the exact opposite but nonetheless the seed was now sown. I promptly finished the book, went for a swim and forgot all about the mountains. Well until I got home anyway and I found an email waiting for me from Tribewanted entitled “Which is better, beach or mountains?” As I had just decided I wanted to climb a mountain whilst sitting on a beach I thought this warrants further investigation so I emailed Giles. He soon eased my concerns due to lack of experience, fitness etc… and so I signed up.

I landed in Lima after a 13 hour direct flight from Amsterdam and, following Giles’ advice, found a green taxi which took me to the hostel in the Miraflores area of Lima. There I met the first member of the group I would be climbing with, Chris – a very friendly, yet opinionated Canadian.

The following day Chris and I did a bit of exploring in Lima, stumbling across some ancient ruins stuck in the middle of all the high rise buildings. We then went for lunch and as neither of us spoke Spanish we ordered blindly off the set menu. Out came 3 fairly edible courses. Feeling quite proud of ourselves I though ha, who needs Giles and his fluent Spanish!

We met Giles later that night and the other 2 members of our party, brothers from near Birmingham – Pete and Matt, the following morning. It was a good mix of people and personalities, so far so good.

The next day Giles took us on a spot of sight seeing in old Lima and we went for several jugs of beer that evening. I knew this would be the last chance for me to have a good drink before the hard work started, so didn’t mind the headache the next morning – especially as we would just be spending several hours on a bus up to Huaraz. Giles had done us proud with a luxury bus and the upstairs front seats to admire the views. The bus trip hugged the coast for the first few hours with the Pacific on one side and vast sand dunes on the other. We then cut inland and started to head up into the mountains, clearing the mist which engulfs Lima this time of year to reveal stunning blue skies. These awesome blue skies were to become a constant feature of the next few weeks, especially when coupled with snow topped mountains. In fact it was when we went around a corner in the bus and saw our first white mountains that I felt the trip had really started. We then thought s&t, we’ve got to climb those big icy b£$^&*s!

After walking from the coach to the hotel with our bags, we were all out of breath upon reaching the hotel, despite it only being about a 3 minute walk. Welcome to altitude!

After checking in we all met up on the roof of the hotel and Giles appeared with a large beer for everyone. There we stood watching the sun go down behind the mountains surrounding Huaraz, discussing what the coming weeks would bring and trying to work out where we would actually be climbing.

After an acclimatisation day, we were keen to get out on the rock and blow away some cobwebs, so the day of rock climbing was the perfect intro into mountain life. Here we met Damien and some of the guides who would be accompanying us up the mountains. Everyone was very friendly and we had a great laugh attempting to climb the rock face. Pete was particularly amusing after somehow getting his body into a physically impossible position that even Spider-man would be proud of, although us laughing was not really helping him in his increasing frustration with the rock face.

Next up was the trek up to lake Churup. This was a one day trek but was our first real test at altitude. Pete and Chris sat this one out following the previous day’s exertions so it was left to me, Matt and Giles. Giles had warned us we might be a bit out of breath at first – well that was a bit of an understatement as for the first 20-30 minutes it felt like my heart and lungs were about to simultaneously explode. Giles kept saying, annoyingly, you’ll get through it, just find your rhythm! Which in the end became one of his catchphrases, amongst others. Well, he was right, you do eventually catch your breath and “find your rhythm” and we powered up to the lake in no time. It was hard work but the views and sense of achievement definitely made it worthwhile. The green glacial lake with snow capped mount Churup behind was an awesome sight.

Next, after a rest day was the Santa Cruz trek. This was a good introduction to trekking, camping and mountain life in general. It took us through all types of terrain, from lush glacial valleys up into the baron higher ground, whilst all along being surrounded by stunning mountain ranges. Unfortunately I think I went up to the highest point on the second day far too quickly because I was a bit ill that night. The next morning Isadoro, the guide and chef, brewed me up a local remedy and after a couple of hours trudging up and down valleys feeling sorry for myself I was back on form and enjoying it again. I have to say that Isadoro was a complete legend. He’s been doing this for 30 years yet his enthusiasm and pride in his work is unbelievable. Some of the meals he conjured up from a couple of pans and a 2 ring burner were out of this world. He makes the best soup I’ve ever tasted and it’s even better after a days trekking.

That was it, the Santa Cruz had well and truly whet my appetite for the big climb. We had a well earned rest the next day, spending most of it drinking Chai tea playing an Ecuadorian version of Monopoly in café Andina, a bit of an institution for climbers in Huaraz. Here Giles showed his more ruthless side but monopoly always end in arguments doesn’t it!

We had to get kitted out at Damien’s house for our climbing gear and then pack our bags. On the Santa Cruz we had had Donkeys carrying our big bags but no such luck for the summit attempts. We’d be carrying the lot.

We were straight into a fairly steep scramble and the extra weight and shift in balance took some getting used to. The amount the locals carried put us to shame though and they just hopped up there as if on a Sunday stroll. We eventually reached base camp and enjoyed the usual cups of tea and snacks whilst taking in the lovely sunset with both summits, Yannapacha and Pisco, bearing down on us. We went to bed tired but looking forward to the next days ice and snow skills training. That didn’t quite go to plan though since once I opened the tent door the next day, a load of white stuff fell onto me. It had snowed constantly over night and I barely recognised the place now it had a white blanket covering it. This unfortunately hindered our day’s plans as the fresh snow and poor visibility made it too dangerous to go up onto the ice. So cards it was then.

That night we didn’t know whether we’d be attempting the summit or not. Damien just said we’ll wake you up if it’s on. And that he did, at about 2am! The sky had cleared and the millions of stars were back out in force. It was back on. I won’t go into too much detail as I don’t want to spoil it but a short walk up the rocks led us to the ice where we got our gear on and roped up. We then climbed through the night until the sun came up and illuminated the mountains around us. After the negotiating some crevasses, some detours due to the ever changing ice field and the ice climb we all summitted Yannapacha. I’d definitely say that all the effort was worth it and i really enjoyed the challenge of this first peak.

Pisco was next with a couple of camps and a glacial lake on the way. Well for those of us with the energy to reach the lake anyway!

A midnight summit attempt on Pisco followed, again hard work but definitely worth it. Have a look at the photos of it, or better still do it for yourself!

I would definitely recommend this trip, even if you are a complete novice like I was. Giles will look after you along with the guides. Living so closely with the Peru guides really gives you an insight into their culture which the average tourist probably wouldn’t experience. We had such a laugh with them.

If you are thinking of doing this, stop thinking and just do it! You’ll find the money, it’s a good incentive to get fit and you’ll have the trip of a life time. You could also tie it in with a trip down to Macchu Pichu if you’ve got time like I did.

want to come on Andina 2010?
for more info see www.tribewanted.com/blog/andina