Panamerican Peaks Project

On Huascaran Summit June 7, 2010

After a 3-day acclimatization climb (unguided) on Nevado Pisco (5760m) I embarked on a 7-day guided expedition to Huascaran Sur: At 6768m this is the highest peak in Peru, the highest mountain in the tropics worldwide and the third highest of the Panamerican Peaks.

Note: Check also the Picasa Huascaran photo library and the dedicated Huascaran Peak Page.

Huascaran seen from summit of Nevado Pisco - Sur next to my ice axe, Norte to the right

I had joined a twin expedition on Huascaran. We had two small groups, one consisting of two Spaniards and guide Darwin, the other group just me and guide Christian, plus two cooks and four porters. This team as well as drivers from/to Huaraz and mules for transport to base camp was all expertly arranged by Enrique Expeditions in Huaraz.

Huascaran as seen from near Yungay - main summit Sur on the right, Norte on the left

We reached the summit of Huascaran Sur on Day 5 after 2 days and 2 nights at the high camp at 5810m. As we were early in the climbing season and Huascaran hadn’t been climbed yet this season, our guides decided to explore the route – which changes every year due to ice fall and crevasses – and break trail to make it easier for us clients. This cost us an extra “waiting” day up high, but this strategy worked 100%.

Camp 2 just below the Col between Huascaran Norte and Sur

Conditions on summit day started out very good, but deteriorated up high due to strong and very cold winds as well as cloud cover on the summit after sunrise. Due to less than perfect rental equipment I struggled a lot with the cold, reinforced due to the wind and high altitude. The last hour up to the summit was one of the toughest mountain pitches of my entire project. It was the only one of my summits shrouded in clouds (!) and the one where I stayed the shortest time (less than 10min due to the cold).

Sunrise over Huascaran Norte with Cordillera Blanca peaks behind - note the three climbers in the other group below.

Huascaran is a difficult and dangerous mountain. I’d say it ranks third in overall difficulty after Mt. Logan (Canada) and Mt. McKinley (Alaska) – and that only due to the remoteness and size of those two – and it ranks first in overall danger and risk: Huascaran has nontrivial terrain (granite slabs with friction hiking) to get up to the glacier. It has a huge glacier (due to the massive precipitation here in the tropics) with crevasses as big or bigger than those even on Mt. Logan and Mt. McKinley. The glacier ascent has a objectively pretty dangerous part in the normal route between Camp 1 and 2: in the Canaleta you have to climb a distance of about 300m vertical with huge seracs hanging high up above and an avalanche cone with massive debris fields a constant reminder that if something breaks lose above, it’s going to come down your way. The same is true for parts of the following traverse to Camp 2 near the Col between North and South summits. The other two clients and I agreed that in the end it’s a bit like a lottery – you just hope your number isn’t up that day. And on summit day you have to not only climb almost 1000m vertical at high altitude, but it’s also far steeper after the Col than I expected. Especially on the descent you have to be very careful as the route often traverses diagonally above huge crevasses – a fall there would send you right down one of those monsters.

Descent in the dangerous Canaleta

I am glad that Huascaran is behind me. Of all the peaks in this project, this is the only one I would not consider repeating – once is sure enough for Huascaran! Now there is only one of the 15 peaks remaining: Chimborazo in Ecuador. I’ll tackle this last one later in June together with my wife Jill as the Grand Finale of my Panamerican Peaks Project.

(See also Sajama photo album and Sajama peaks page.)

It’s Monday, May 17. I’m sitting in La Paz, back after a 3 day expedition to Nevado Sajama. We did not summit, and one of the main reasons was the horrible weather. In the dry weather of the Bolivian altiplano I had come to assume that the weather is pretty much the same every day and thus didn’t even bother to look at the weather forecast. Plus I wanted to join another small expedition to share in the cost (transportation, food, guides, etc.) and that had determined the timeline. So I neglected the most basic preparation, a look at the weather forecast. My only concern about the weather were the fiery red morning stratus clouds Friday morning when leaving La Paz, a classic bad weather sign. In hindsight, we could hardly have picked a worse period of weather over the last couple of weeks:

Sajama Weather for the week ending in our attempt

We picked the only three days with precip (snow), the coldest and windiest days. If you wanted to mess in zero-visibility, high-wind, cold and snowy conditions, that would have been the perfect time to go. We only saw the summit during our approach drive from Patacamaya, the rest of the time the upper reaches of the mountain were constantly in clouds.

Nevado Sajama from the South-East during approach to Sajama village

I had joined a small expedition put together by French climber Anne who works for Terra Andina in La Paz, one of the major outfitters in the region. This consisted of driver, mules (to basecamp), two guides, cook, and a few porters (to high camp). Organization was good, albeit not cheap by Bolivian standards. I also had rented various mountain gear at a shop in La Paz, including boots, crampons, ice axe, mountain pants, and a large backpack.

Nevado Sajama - approach to base camp

Friday the weather was still ok; we hiked from the trail head (4300m) 2 hours to base camp (4600m) and set up our tents. This is a very nice landscape here, with still plenty of vegetation and lots of vicunas. I had read somewhere that here is the highest forest in the world, with trees growing at altitudes up to 5200m! The mountain and dark clouds loomed ominously overhead. Saturday we hiked up to high camp (5500m). I felt really strong and was hardly slowed down by the altitude. At the upper parts there is a steeper rock gully which is also exposed to some rock fall; here we wore helmets for protection.

Steep rock gully to reach the ridge and high camp

As we set up our tents and spent a leisure afternoon it became clear that the weather wasn’t going to improve as we had hoped.

High camp (5500m) on Nevado Sajama

Then I must have eaten something bad for dinner – some soup and a freeze-dried ham puree – because I felt increasingly bad in the stomach in the late evening hours in my tent. The night was miserable. Not only was there no sleep due to the relentless howling and flapping of the tent in the strong wind. But also did I have to throw up twice in the middle of the night. And without pee bottle getting up to pee is always a major operation. At 3am Anne and her guide Sergio got up to prepare for their summit bid; they left at 4am. I felt too drained for a summit push – I actually felt so weak that even getting up in the morning and out of the tent required quite a lot of will power. At home in a similar state I would have just moved between my bed and the bath room…

Guide Lucio on the descent - note the fresh snow all around

Weak and disappointed I got up and started the descent at 8am with my guide Lucio. The first part required quite a bit of attention as it had snowed and so there was a rock / snow / ice mix, tricky to negotiate with my trail shoes. Further down it was still blowing cold wind and a bit of snow, but no problem to hike anymore.

We reached base camp after some 2.5 hrs and took a 1/2 hr rest. But sitting still it was uncomfortably cold, so we decided to continue our descent all the way down to the trail head and on to the village of Sajama. This took a total of 5 hrs and we reached Sajama by about 1pm. We were out of the wind and I took a 2 hr nap in the warmth and comfort of my sleeping bag.

Anne and Sergio had made a strong attempt at the summit, but were eventually turned back around 9am by very strong winds and extreme cold. We were reunited at the Hostal Oasis in Sajama, and started our long drive back to La Paz – perhaps the most dangerous part of the entire expedition.

(Good bye in Sajama)

I am obviously disappointed, both in the bad weather and in my bad stomach on summit day. After Ojos de Salada (Chile) this is now my second failure to summit in a row. Let’s hope that I will have better luck for the remaining two climbs of this project: Huascaran (Peru) and Chimborazo (Ecuador).