Back from Vallunaraju, off to Yanapaccha
We spent a few days rock climbing and attempting Vallunaraju with our new friends from New York State — Will, Shawn, Chris, and Monique. We gained some valuable experience, getting turned back less than 100 feet from the summit. With our lack of mountaineering experience, we just didn’t think that the corniced and crevassed ridge looked safe enough to climb — it was late in the day, the snow was getting soft, and we didn’t have a good way of protecting ourselves. Lots of crevasse crossings on the way to keep things exciting.
We descended again, staying roped the whole way, and staying just ahead of the snow that blew in for the next 24 hours. No regrets whatsoever. We’re glad to have gotten some more technical snow experience, and we’re really glad to be back in one piece.
The rock climbing in the valley was pretty good — a lot of granite slab climbing that was reminiscent of Yosemite valley. We had a failed attempt to set up a zip line from one end of the steep narrow valley to the other, but that’s another story.
One huge highlight was getting to meet some of the special forces from the Peruvian military. They were there on a training exercise for 20 candidates for their equivalent of the Navy SEALs. Get this: as part of the exercise, they climb Vallunaraju with their combat gear, and spend the night up there. That’s some serious toughness and suffering. We made friends with one of their officers, Oscar, who is their doctor, and an incredibly nice guy. He let us get a bunch of pictures in and around the huge trucks that they brought up there. They’re giant old Spanish bohemoths that are about 27 years old. I’ll post the pictures when I get back.
We had a blast hanging out with the New York folks. We had a big birthday bash for Chris when we got back to Huaraz, which included a bunch of dancing at the local discoteca, La Tomba. They all left Peru yesterday after 5 weeks here. I’m sure we’ll meet up for more adventures back in the states.
We’re off tomorrow morning for our last mountain excursion, Yanapaccha. This one’s a little more technical than the rest of them (which weren’t really technical at all). It’s also more off the beaten path, so hopefully we’ll get a little more opportunity for doing our own exploring and route finding. Up until now, we’ve had enough to deal with, learning about altitude, basic snow/crevasse travel, and logistics. Hopefully we can have a little fun on this one and throw in a little technical climbing too.
We should be back on the 2nd, which is our tenth wedding anniversary, in time for a night on the town to celebrate. Yahoo!