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Welcome to Peru 2006
Thursday, June 1, 2006

This is the 8th year we have operated expeditions to the amazing mountains of Peru. This year I am here with John Abbott and nine students from the University of Vermont. We will be studying expedition planning and mountain travel skills development during our 16 day, 3 credit program. Our hope is to share the various cultural, environmental, and technical learning from this high altitude mountaineering experience with you, the reader.

John and I arrived at the Lima International Airport around 10pm last night, the 31st of May. Several students were due to arrive a short time after us, others had arrived on the preceding day. While two had been waylaid by weather and diverted to Ecuador, everyone arrived safely and all were in bed by 2pm.

Today at 5pm we arrived in Huaraz after 8 hours on a Cruz del Sur bus. We were greeted by our friends at Galaxia Tours and whisked away to our hotel. After unloading mountains of gear we gathered for tea and our evening briefing on travel safety, wellness check-in, and the following morning's agenda.

Each of the days we have access to an internet connection we will be posting an expedition dispatch. We hope you will enjoy keeping track of the expedition and its participants and we invite you to send comments and questions. The support of family and friends for our team members is welcome and our goal is to help "bring the adventure home". Please stay tuned. - Austin

Acclimatizing to Altitude
Friday, June 2, 2006

This is our second day in Huaraz and what a beautiful day it has turned out to be. Today, after a quick group breakfast, the students headed out to purchase personal lunches for the duration of the expedition. We have found it easiest to let individuals buy the types of lunch foods they like best, recognizing that most lunches will be “on the run”. Lunch foods need to be packed in pockets and eaten regularly throughout the day instead of taking long breaks.

At noon we loaded in a small bus and transported to Punta Callan, a location in the Cordillera Negra. A cordillera is a chain or range of mountains. In Peru, the Andes mountains are broken into localized chains for easy identification. The Cordillera Negra is composed of snowless peaks up to 15,000’. This foray was one of our first opportunities to gain elevation and to allow our bodies to acclimatize to the elevation.

We hiked to about 13,000' and played soccer to test ourselves. After a very brief game where we were able to identify the symptoms of altitude on the human body, we discussed the physiology of those symptoms and the need to keep careful track of our health and that of our teammates. In order to take the emotion out of decision-making at altitude we introduced a high altitude medical assessment form where we can document daily the key variables for tracking the changes to our bodies at altitude. It was a very instructive time for all.

During our hike we were treated to amazing views of the Cordillera Blanca, the main high elevation peaks in the Andes of Peru. These peaks, soaring up to nearly 23,000’ are our objective in the weeks to come. We were also awed by the amazing agriculture and hard work required to farm and live in these environs.

In the morning, we will be visiting a high altitude lake called Churup at nearly 15,000’ for further acclimatization. Please stay tuned for additional photographs. - Austin

Off to the Mountains
Saturday, June 3, 2006

Written by Kyle Rohne, UVM student

Here we are in Huaraz at the end of day 4 resting after a gorgeous hike and an equally as good chicken dinner. Excitement amongst the group is starting to increase from its already high mark as we leave for Pastoruri Glacier in the morning. That’s not to say that today wasn’t exciting either. We started the day out early with a breakfast here at Hotel Galaxia, loaded up in a collectivo, and headed up into the Cordillera Blanca just west of Huaraz. After a very rough and rugged hour and a half ride, we reached the park entrance and the trail that would be taking us up to glacial Lake Churup at 14,300 feet. First we had to climb, though, from our starting elevation of 13,000 feet through some beautiful but sometimes treacherous terrain. After the first twenty steps up the trail, everyone was feeling the effects of the altitude except for the local Peruvians passing us like we were standing still. We all combated with the altitude and made it to Lake Churup in approximately two hours which, according to Austin and John, was one of the faster trips up to the lake of which they have been a part.

The scenery leading up to and at the lake was absolutely gorgeous. The lake sits below large cliffs and 17,000 foot peaks which it reflects off of its cold blue water. Being students from UVM and having been hardened by the fierce Vermont winters, three brave souls jumped into the lake which had to be around 40 degrees. They didn’t last very long in the water and shortly after they exited the water, we packed up our lunches and gear and headed back down the mountain. The hike down was quite sketchy but very rewarding as we hiked down along a waterfall leading from the lake to the valley below. Once we completed the hour and twenty minute hike back down to the park entrance, it was time to hop back into the cramped collectivo and head back down the treacherous Peruvian mountain roads.

Now we are packing up our bags for the next part of our expedition, Pastoruri. Tomorrow we will be heading up and establishing a base camp which we will call home for a few days as we learn various climbing techniques, glacier travel, mountain weather, and various other topics.

I can’t believe I’ve only been here for 4 days. I’ve experienced and seen so many new things in such a short amount of time. I don’t think it’s truly hit me yet that I am in Peru attempting to climb 18,000 foot peaks my first time traveling outside of the United States. It’s truly an amazing experience; I’d be content with not making a summit during this trip, although it would be a very nice perk. We have a very strong and well-connected group that, in my opinion, could tackle any one of these peaks down here.

Well, that’s the update from Huaraz for now. Here’s to us all returning in good health and a couple of summits under our belts 8 days from now.

We will be out of contact until the 11th of June, so please stay tuned for an update then and more photos to come. Thanks for your interest in our adventure. - Kyle

Nevado Pastoruri, Peru
Sunday-Monday, June 4-5, 2006

Our group has arrived at basecamp below Nevado Pastoruri after being transported by private bus. Our goal is to spend two nights at an elevation of over 13,000’ to allow our bodies to further acclimatize before continuing to a higher camp in the Ishinca Valley, our primary climbing destination. While we are here we will take advantage of the accessible glacier for technical skills development.

Our first day, the 4th, went well. After securing our basecamp for the anticipated strong katabatic winds (dense, strong, cold air that flows down mountain slopes in the evening), our group went for a short hike to test the lungs and view the unique flora of the area.

Pastoruri is one of the few homes to the Puya Raymondi, a century plant that looks as if it sprouts from a cactus. Its appearance is like an upside down tree, with a bushy base and a flowering stem pointing toward the sky. This area of elevation (3700m-4200m) and latitude is one of the few places in the world it lives. This flowering giant (up to 10 meters high – yes, that’s 30 feet) has a life span of 40 years and is actually a relative of the pineapple; note the circular nature of growth and hard husk exterior in the enclosed picture of John Abbott. The Raymondi is capable of producing more than 8000 flowers each and six million seeds. We just missed the prime flowering time in May, but were content with the remains of these amazing plants.

Also in evidence here is the strong pre-Incan influence of the Chauvin culture, 200-900AD. Petroglyphs found in this area testify to the resilience of this valley for habitation, farming, and natural grazing that still exists (though limited) today.

On the 5th, we hiked up to the snout of the glacier. Once we had a commanding view of our surroundings, Henry, one of our team, gave an excellent presentation on glacial geologic features. He focused on glacial snow-pack formation, effects of advance and retreat on surrounding terrain, and crevasse development. With following discussion additional terms such as seracs (ice towers that calve-off from steep sections of the glacier), moats (rivers of water that carve slippery banks of ice over the glacier surface), and moulins (drain holes for the glacier where moat water drains vertically into the bottom of the glacier) were also described as topography and potential hazards.

After familiarizing ourselves with expected hazards of the glacier, we geared up and practiced several technical skills. Our goal was to develop a well, rounded, team of individually competent/confident members. Crampon work was first. For many of our student team this was the first experience walking on ice, snow, and rock with steel daggers attached to mountaineering boots. With practice everyone demonstrated reasonable technique. Next we needed to practice the somewhat tedious, yet essential skill of traveling as a roped team. With differing paces in the mountains, our members found keeping the necessary tension in the rope between members challenging.

This practice session ended higher on the glacier where we found new snow to practice our final and, arguably, most essential skill of mountaineering, self-arrest with an ice axe. Using our axes to stop upside down and backward slides down the glacier was the highlight of the day and provided a level of confidence to our entire team.

Exhausted, but high on the fun factor we returned to basecamp for our final evening. We looked forward to breaking camp in the morning and transporting to our primary climbing destination in the Ishinca Valley. The great meal of spaghetti, music, and companionship of the evening was soon to be interrupted by one of high mountain travels greatest challenges – illness. Please stay tuned for additional dispatches and photos. - John

Stormy Weather, Stormy Stomach
Friday, June 9, 2006

Here I sit in Lima, Peru somewhat dejected, looking out over at the cloud cover and being reminded that I'm not in the mountains -- in fact, not even in Huaraz. It’s not, however, the poor weather which has kept me and Kyle, one of our team members, in town. It's poor health. Kyle, ever the trooper, came on this expedition having been previously hospitalized just days before with an unknown virus that created stomach distention and pain, as well as fever.

It all began on the 6th. After acclimatizing well over the first several days up to an elevation of 15,000', Kyle began to vomit with great regularity throughout the night. During the evening his symptoms presented as mild to moderate altitude sickness despite our careful acclimatization plan. In the morning we were scheduled to transport from Nevado Pastoruri to the trailhead for the Ishinca Valley, our next climbing destination. As we began packing up our basecamp, I also began to feel sick and experienced several bouts of vomiting. None of the others appeared affected, ruling out a food-related ailment. Though I generally acclimatize well after more than 40 expeditions over 18,000' it appeared I was not exempt from altitude sickness.

Despite dropping more than 3000' in elevation on our way back to Huaraz, neither of us was feeling better and a greater concern than altitude sickness was becoming increasingly more apparent. Our team decided to spend an additional day in town, before heading back out into the mountains in hopes that one or both of us would recover. While my vomiting persisted, but leveled off, Kyle’s fever grew and he became weaker from dehydration. During the evening I called a doctor who is the uncle of a Peruvian friend. After coming to the hotel he gave Kyle a direct, needle feed I.V. of dextrose for dehydration mixed with medication for stomach cramping. A course of antibiotic for an unknown ailment topped off the cocktail.

The next day, the 7th, we waved good by to John Abbott and the students as they continued on with the modified agenda. They were accompanied by Julio, a certified Peruvian guide friend, hired from Casa de Guias. While it is not ideal for curricular reasons that one of the professors of this credit-bearing course be absent from the mountains, Julio makes a fine addition to the group. His English is strong and his familiarity with the mountains on our agenda is, perhaps, unmatched. Julio’s gregarious nature and local knowledge will add greatly to the student experience.

So it is with emotions as mixed as the weather, that Kyle (greatly recovered, but not out of the woods) and I (fully recovered) soaked up some of the last sights of Huaraz on the 8th before departing on the 8 hr. overnight bus back to Lima. What a grind!

Today, the 9th, Kyle caught a flight back to the United States in the morning and I am in Lima for the day. I will take the return bus back to Huaraz in the morning to catch up with the group as soon as I can. While the climbing on this trip is over for us, we have enjoyed each other's company in the rich culture and hospitality that surrounds us. It reminds us that international travel has so much perspective to offer us as our world becomes smaller. Thank you for peeking through this window into our experience and hope it has been informative. Please stay tuned for additional text and pictures from our summit team. - Austin

Snow at Base Camp
Thursday, June 8, 2006

Today we planned to wake up at 3am and climb Urus but when we woke up Julio and Neil said Feliz Navidad because the ground was covered by two inches of snow! The snow was unexpected but then again we ended up with snow almost every night. So we slept in and had a lazy morning complete with scrambled eggs and toast. After breakfast the sun came out and we managed to dry some of our cold wet clothes and we attempted to dry our tents by digging drainage ditches so the snow melt didn’t pool under our tents as was the case the night before. We then decided to hike up to the lake so we followed Julio up the trail until we came to the steep rocky moraine that really didn’t look like it had any sort of trail up it. Turns out, there was a trail and we went up the snowy switchbacks until we found the lake. We watched rocks fall into the water and create ripples for a while, then went back to base camp to do some crevasse rescue training. We climbed up on a big boulder right next to our camp and pretended Henry had fallen into a crevasse then we set up and tested a system to create mechanical advantage to pull Henry up. We also learned how to use our prussics. Rain clouds started moving in and we went under the rock to practice self-ascension so we can climb out of crevasses on our own. That was fun; we climbed all the way up the rope then down. Then we went to bed early so we could try to climb Ishinca the next day.

Summit Day!
Friday, June 9, 2006

It was three days after the world was supposed to end. And at three in the morning on our summit day it felt as though the prophecy was running late. It was my first big mountain experience and after days of bad weather and frozen tent flies our window appeared. As we fumbled in the dark trying to get some food in our stomachs butterflies were born.

Ishinca was the gem of our possible summit opportunities. Due to the weather we were unable to establish a high camp and our summit attempt was to come from base camp. The first hour of our hike was silence only broken by the gurgle of water and whisk of soft shell pants. As we approached the glacier we spotted another team on Ishinca; they appeared as a glowworm moving across the ridge. As we split into rope teams the sun was beginning to rise and the past hours on our approach hike melted away. There was a good solid boot pack from the previous team that we were able to utilize and make our going a bit easier.

After the first hour I realized how deceiving the mountain looked. What seemed so close was truly far away. Once the sun was shining, the mass of ice we were traveling on become more like an oven. Over our shoulders we could see the rest of the Cordillera Blanca range and the approaching weather mass sliding up the sides of distant peaks. On our approach the old boot pack came back to bite us when we took a wrong turn and saw that the footprints came to an end. After hours in the sun, the snow bridge had weakened and, my first time on a big mountain, I found myself punched through the snow and pinched over a crevasse. Our team jumped into action and our leader John handled the situation well and we were soon back on the right path heading towards the top.

The last pitch was accompanied by weather that lowered visibility to forty feet. We set up an anchor at the top and hip belayed people. Once on top we ran into another team and had to spend an hour and half at 18,000ft. The backside of the mountain got heavy snow and going down was a bit hairy with the threat of an avalanche. Since we decided to traverse the peak, our down climb was new terrain. Once off the glacier the moraine proved to be a lot more technical than we thought and after eight hours of hiking my feet were not too sure. After many false hopes of our base camp valley we rolled back to base camp with rain at our heels.

Four days after the movie Omen premiered I found myself not concerned with the fate of the world for I had reached a place not of the earth and returned to tell about it. -Nate