Peru

What did Forest Gump say again? “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get!”

Well, when I left for Peru at the end of July I certainly didn’t know what I was getting myself into. A blessing in disguise I believe. If I knew what was waiting, I might have gone up another mountain.

My idea was to go to Peru, climb two mountains and come back home to resume working on finding that elusive sponsorship. I wanted to get back onto the ice. I wanted to see if I can still do it. I looked at it as training for Vinson (Antarctica). I didn’t give the expedition much thought, I only went through the motions of sorting out logistics and packing. I trained, but not nearly as hard as for any of the other mountains – I had other things on my mind.

In May, I booked and paid for my flights. Two days before my departure, things started to go a bit haywire, to put it mildly. Varig, the South American airline I was supposed to fly from Sao Paulo to Lima with, went bankrupt. My flight back, from Lima to Sao Paulo, were cancelled.

My travel agent in George managed to get me on another flight at no extra cost and I gave a sigh of relief. (On my return they told me this ticket counts for nothing and I had to buy another ticket, the price: US$820.)

The next morning the agent phoned again, telling me that they now have cancelled my flight from Sao Paulo to Lima. This time it would cost me R6000 to get a seat on another flight. I had no option, pay now and claim later.

Interesting how things stayed stable for three months, but two days before my departure the paw-paw hits the fan!

Friday the 28th of July I finally stepped onto the plane that was due to take me from George to Joburg. There I would have two hours to make the connection to Sao Paulo.

We buckled up and waited, and waited, and waited…

“Sorry ladies and gentlemen, one of our engines won’t start, we spoke with Johannesburg Engineering and we are waiting for their reply. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

WHAT!!!! THIS CAN NOT BE HAPPENING!

Suddenly I realised how important this expedition had become to me. It was not part of the 7 Summits, but I didn’t care – I needed to go, there were no two ways about it. I could not miss my connecting flight. I had to be in Lima by that Sunday at the latest!

The aeroplane was going no where, we had to get off. I was not going to make my Sao Paulo flight in time. After freaking out for a couple of minutes I went to the SAA desk. God sent me an angel and after about an hour of phoning around I had a seat on the Joburg-Sao Paulo flight for the next day! A few minutes later I also had a seat on the Sao Paulo-Lima connection, courtesy of my travel agents!!! I would arrive in Lima close to midnight on the Saturday! It was a miracle!

I met the team in Lima the next morning. My first thoughts were: “This is a great bunch of people – I don’t know any of them, but they all seem down to earth with plenty of experience!”

At noon on the Sunday we got onto the bus for an 8-9 hour joy-ride to Huaraz (pronounce Wha-raz) at 3090m. In a few hours we went from sea level to 4000m, the top of the pass. (The trick was to drink litres of water. That’s what we did – luckily there was a toilet on board!) Before we could reach the top of this Andean pass we almost went off the road. The driver was giving way to an oncoming truck – he slightly forgot about the fact that we were on a narrow road in the Andes!

It was then that I started to wonder: “If getting to these mountains is such a ‘bumpy ride’, what then is waiting for me up at 6000 metres?”

Monday morning when I looked through the bathroom window I could for the first time see the snow capped mountains and it was all worth it!

From Huaraz we did an acclimatisation hike to the base of Churup Oeste and had a chilly picnic at Laguna Churup.

Tuesday we left for our Pisco Base Camp. It meant another two hours of driving, but it quickly past. In the rain we pitched our tents and settled in.

The following day we hiked up to another glacier lake, I started to feel the altitude and I had to pace myself. This to me is quite a challenge.

Blue is my favourite colour, so when I first saw this lake I was mesmerized. It puts you under its spell, this beautiful colour in the middle of the harsh moraine.

On the 3rd of August it was time to move up the “hill”. We hiked up to our Intermediate camp. This was not only our first blue-sky-day of the trip, but also my birthday. I felt blessed to be able to spend it surrounded by great people and snow capped mountains.

In the Cordillera Blanca you go up to altitude pretty quickly, that is one reason why Brad Johnson in his book (“Classic Climbs of the Cordillera Blanca Peru”) writes that “The Cordillera Blanca is not a place to learn how to climb.”

The 4th we went up to our High Camp on the moraine just below the glacier. The 5th was summit day.

It was an alpine start. We were still about one hours’ climb from the glacier, but to save time, we decided to start out in our Plastic Double Boots. In my mind I was complaining all of 60 minutes. I felt like a drunken person, walking on rock in my Plastics. Out loud I did not say a word!

We got to the ice, put on harnesses and crampons, tied into the rope and off we went. The higher we climbed the stronger the wind became. I was constantly thinking of protecting my face. 2001 on McKinley I developed first degree frostbite on my cheek. I didn’t want that to happen again.

Although the wind and horizontal snow made it difficult to take deep breaths, we climbed at a steady pace and arrived at the summit to a spectacular view.

I fell in love with the Cordillera Blanca right there and then! Mountains all around, magnificent mountains everywhere you look. Mountains, mountains, mountains, whoo-hooo!!! And as I turned around I saw the mountain we were about to climb; Chopicalqui. I shuddered; “How come it looks a whole lot bigger from this vantage point?”

24 Hours later we were well on our way to Chopicalqui Base Camp. On arrival we pitched our tents. Shortly thereafter we were basking in the sun, reading, eating and drinking delicious Peruvian coffee. A rest day in the Blanca sure beats a rest day in any other mountain range.

Back to work. The 7th we hiked up to our moraine camp. It is a desolate place with a beautiful view as well as its own unique stereo system: the sound of rock falls and the not so odd avalanche echoes against the overhanging rock wall above camp. The glacier is constantly on the move, creaking and chatting to whoever is listening.

On the 8th we were back on the ice – in T-shirts and with rolled up pants. It was so very hot and the reflection of the sun off the snow made it feel like the inside of an oven. I don’t like wind much, but that morning I was praying for a breeze.

From the start we had to dodge the most impressive crevasses. You want to just stand there and stare at the gaping wound below you, but you have to move, you’re on dangerous terrain.

Lunch time we were in our sleeping bags, just in time, because the wind was picking up. It started to snow and we were thinking that summit day might be delayed by a day or two. We were not too worried because our itinerary allowed for a weather day.

When we went to sleep it was still snowing but the alarm was set for 1am, you never know, it might be a perfect day.

And it was. Perfect. No wind, no clouds, only a starry sky. It took us a while to get going. I was particularly disorganised and I was struggling to get one of my crampons to fit. There were no excuses really. We had a good start on Pisco, but for some reason it took us forever to get going that morning.

It was tough going. Because of the snowfall and the fact that we were the only climbers on the route, we had to break trail. This was mainly Tyler’s job and he did tremendously! Bob was the second person on the rope, he did just as great. I was third in line and still sunk in up to my mid-thigh.

Never the less, we carried on. Again we had to skirt around or over crevasses. Sometimes you would find yourself on a ridge with a crevasse right next to you. Concentration was critical. If you accidentally step on the rope or get your crampon tangled up, you’re in trouble. And you are never alone, you are part of the rope team, you have become one with two other people. So, you hope they are concentrating just as hard.

Often we had to stop while Tyler probes the snow ahead for crevasses. It was freezing. I was shivering and decided to put my down jacket on. I’ve never climbed with my down jacket before. Usually I would only wear it when we stop for 5 minutes.

Before we knew it the sun was rising. At that very moment, the full moon was right above Huascaran Norte (neighbouring mountain of Chopicalqui).

We felt blessed, on our right-hand side we had the beautiful colours of an Andean sunrise and on our left-hand side we had the full moon guiding us towards the summit.

I was unaware that my Nemesis was right in front of me. If I knew about it beforehand I might have chosen another mountain. This is my honest opinion. I was blissfully unaware of what was waiting for me. Ignorance is bliss indeed. When I realised what I had to do it was too late. There was only one way out of this: going UP!

But first we had to negotiate a section that traverses underneath overhanging seracs (big blocks of overhanging ice). We had to be quick; we were in the danger zone.

I was as slow as a snail. The harder I tried to get up a particularly tricky section, the worst it got. Shy came to my rescue. I was angry with myself and with my poor performance. I lost it for a moment, screaming out load: “This is too hard!”

Not my proudest moment I will admit, but I felt a whole lot better after saying those four words. I said it and then I carried on!

I looked up towards Bob above me, for the first time during summit day we had proper ice to climb on. And I enjoyed it – I actually enjoyed it and I felt stronger…for a while. The other rope team decided to turn around. Moira was becoming hypothermic. She had to get to warmer temperatures – quickly!

When they got to where the sun was shining they turned around and looked at us. Apparently it looked like we were not moving at all.

My Nemesis and I were formally introduced; a 70 degree snow slope, above 6000m. Because of the snowfall the previous night we had trouble moving higher.

I would try to find a placement for my ice axe, when I then felt secure; I would put my weight on the axe to move upwards. The axe would slide downhill and this is how we climbed. Two steps forward, three back.

Bob said it best; “It sounded like a Monica Seles tennis match up there.” What is seen as moaning and groaning at sea level is simply breathing at altitude.

On the summit ridge Tyler radioed down to Shy to tell him where we were – by this time we were surrounded by clouds and they couldn’t see us anymore. I wondered what the time was. I thought that it must be around 14:00. Shy said that it was not even 11:00 yet. It felt like we were climbing for days.

On the summit we snapped pictures, and immediately turned around. (The date was August 9th – Women’s day in South Africa.) There was no big celebration, the weather was deteriorating, and getting down safely now became a priority. We were exhausted, worn out, shattered, dead beat, pooped! It took immense effort to stay focused. The “path” that Tyler and Bob broke for us earlier in the day was gone. Tyler had to re-break trail. It was all fun and games, fun and games!

Back at the tents we were welcomed by the rest of the team, with hugs, hot chocolate, warm food and GU. I couldn’t get any food down but the GU worked like a charm.

As I’m writing this I can here the mountains calling. I can not wait to get back out there. I have made mistakes and I have learned from them. My eyes have been opened to a whole new world of possibilities, and I realised that I will never stop climbing, the 7Summits is only the launching pad!

 

OUR TEAM

Juan – a tremendous chef, I have never eaten this well on any expedition.

Our Porter Team with Nicholas at the helm – The strongest men I’ve ever come across, I can not say thank you enough. After we returned from Pisco’s summit we arrived at the bottom of the glacier thinking that we now have to tackle the last part over the moraine in our Plastics, like we did earlier that morning. Minutes later they appeared with our normal hiking boots in hand! They were heroes in my eyes!

Shayan(Shy) – Strength and maturity

Clair – Grace and compassion

Tyler – Hard working and determined

Allan – Cool, calm, collected

Bob – Enthusiasm with a never-give-up-attitude

Gloria – Mischievous and optimistic

Moira – Knowledge and wisdom

Rob – Push ups and crosswords

Thea – Not for me to say!

Thank you guys, you made this trip one hell of a memorable experience! I will never forget it!

 

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE CORDILLERA BLANCA

• The highest tropical mountain range
• 25 peaks above 6000m
• Another 35 peaks above 5 700m
• The main climbing season: May to September, this is the dry season.
• Easy accessibility to the peaks, still not as crowded as certain Himalayan peaks – we were alone on Chopicalqui on summit day.
• Warm temperatures during the day
• First class climbing infrastructure (guides, cooks, porter, burros) available
• Official language: Spanish
• Local language: Quechua, language of the Inca Empire
• Currency: Soles, but they except US$ everywhere.
• Capital of the Cordillera Blanca: Huaraz at an altitude of 3090m
  

Warning: If you go, you might fall in love with the place and stay forever!