For the next portion of the show, we loaded up the four of us, a camp cook, gear, food and supplies for 5-6 days into a Toyota diesel mini van. Toyota dominates the motor vehicle population in Huaraz and these diesel vans perform great with heavy loads in the mountains. Why don’t they sell them here in the U.S.??
After about a 1.5 hour drive up the usual bumpy and scenic dirt roads, we arrived at the trail head which was bustling with loading and unloading activity.
The Ishinca valley is perhaps the most popular high peak destination in the Cordillera Blanca for several reasons; relatively easy logistics, 5 major peaks to climb and beautiful views! We loaded up 7 burros with all of our stuff.
Our cook, Joel, along with two “arieros” or burro drivers began the 9 mile hike with us to Ishinca base camp. The hike in was fairly mellow with about 2500’ feet of gain over the 9 miles of beautiful scenery. As we got further up the valley we were treated to our first views of the high peaks in the valley – a pretty awesome sight! The burros worked hard and we were very thankful for their help – it’s really a treat to hike up to camp at 14,300’ with only day packs.
Once we arrived in the valley, the burro drivers and our cook quickly chose a camp area on the right margin of the valley. There were several other parties camped in the valley as well as a “refugio” or mountain hut. The views were great, the weather good and before we knew it we were enjoying beautiful late day light on the peaks as well as our first excellent meal cooked by Joel.
Joel works as a chef in a nice restaurant in Huaraz and also serves as an expedition cook. We were very impressed and surprised as he brought out several courses of food over the course of 45 minutes or so to our little table in the dedicated mess tent; appetizers, soup, chicken and rice and some flan for desert. We found it amazing what he could whip up in the cook tent with a two burner propane stove, a collection of well used pots along with the food purchased at the local market the day before. We all agreed that it was a great treat to have a dedicated cook for our 5 days in the valley. A most excellent choice! At a bargain price too...
Since we were on a pretty tight timeline in general for the trip, we decided to get up early in the morning and climb our first peak, Ishinca. At 5530 meters or 18,143’ this was a relatively low peak for the Cordillera Blanca, but it seemed to be a reasonable first target as we were all in pretty good shape.
I was moderately sick with my cold, but I went to bed hoping for the best in the morning – I hoped to be able to climb the peak and not be a burden to the rest of the team. We arranged for breakfast at 5:00am with Joel, then headed to our tents to sleep. It was our first night sleeping this high, so breathing and sleeping well was a bit of a challenge…
For the next portion of the show, we loaded up the four of us, a camp cook, gear, food and supplies for 5-6 days into a Toyota diesel mini van. Toyota dominates the motor vehicle population in Huaraz and these diesel vans perform great with heavy loads in the mountains. Why don’t they sell them here in the U.S.?? 
After about a 1.5 hour drive up the usual bumpy and scenic dirt roads, we arrived at the trail head which was bustling with loading and unloading activity.
The Ishinca valley is perhaps the most popular high peak destination in the Cordillera Blanca for several reasons; relatively easy logistics, 5 major peaks to climb and beautiful views! We loaded up 7 burros with all of our stuff. 
Our cook, Joel, along with two “arieros” or burro drivers began the 9 mile hike with us to Ishinca base camp. The hike in was fairly mellow with about 2500’ feet of gain over the 9 miles of beautiful scenery. As we got further up the valley we were treated to our first views of the high peaks in the valley – a pretty awesome sight! The burros worked hard and we were very thankful for their help – it’s really a treat to hike up to camp at 14,300’ with only day packs.
Once we arrived in the valley, the burro drivers and our cook quickly chose a camp area on the right margin of the valley. There were several other parties camped in the valley as well as a “refugio” or mountain hut. The views were great, the weather good and before we knew it we were enjoying beautiful late day light on the peaks as well as our first excellent meal cooked by Joel. 
Joel works as a chef in a nice restaurant in Huaraz and also serves as an expedition cook. We were very impressed and surprised as he brought out several courses of food over the course of 45 minutes or so to our little table in the dedicated mess tent; appetizers, soup, chicken and rice and some flan for desert. We found it amazing what he could whip up in the cook tent with a two burner propane stove, a collection of well used pots along with the food purchased at the local market the day before. We all agreed that it was a great treat to have a dedicated cook for our 5 days in the valley. A most excellent choice! At a bargain price too...
Since we were on a pretty tight timeline in general for the trip, we decided to get up early in the morning and climb our first peak, Ishinca. At 5530 meters or 18,143’ this was a relatively low peak for the Cordillera Blanca, but it seemed to be a reasonable first target as we were all in pretty good shape. 
I was moderately sick with my cold, but I went to bed hoping for the best in the morning – I hoped to be able to climb the peak and not be a burden to the rest of the team. We arranged for breakfast at 5:00am with Joel, then headed to our tents to sleep. It was our first night sleeping this high, so breathing and sleeping well was a bit of a challenge…
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