We got up at 4:30am to frost covered tents and a starry night. Joel made us a quick and basic breakfast and we were off to climb Ishinca at about 5:30am. To climb Ishinca (5530 meters / 18,143’) we headed up a series of valleys until we reached the rope up point at the foot of the glacier. It took us a little over 2 hours to get to this point. We donned our crampons, ice axes, harnesses and roped up. Although the terrain ahead was not very technical, the slopes get up to 50 degrees of snow and ice – an unroped slip would be pretty ugly.
We traveled in two roped teams and watched carefully for crevasse danger along the route. By this time, my sickness had really invaded my lungs and I was a hurting unit. The climb was a struggle for me as my lung capacity was way down and my body taxed in general due to the illness. Add that to climbing an 18,143’ peak just 4 days after arriving in Huaraz and it is an understatement to say that I was working hard.
The rest of the gang was doing well and I was definitely the slowest member of the team this day. Regardless, we made steady progress up the route, taking in the fantastic views along the way. The weather was stable and the snow conditions were good, only getting a little sloppy the last 500’ or so of the route. We arrived at the small summit just before noon, had some calories and enjoyed the vista. Pretty amazing place!
We decided to descend the peak via the sister route down the other side of the mountain. Except for one tricky section near the summit, this route was easy and we made good progress on the descent across the glaciers, with the huge mass of Ranrapalca (20,217’) in front of us. We finally finished crossing the descent glacier, took off our crampons and ropes and continued the descent on scrappy scree and talus for quite a while until we picked up a good trail.
At that point, I was pretty wobbly from exertion at altitude with a cold, so I was the last to arrive in base camp, just about 4pm. It was a nice afternoon in camp despite my condition and Joel’s fine appetizers and meal put a smile on everybody’s face. I decided to self administer a run of antibiotics as my illness had definitely gotten deeper into my lungs. We all enjoyed our dinner and headed off for some good and much needed sleep after a long day.
The next day we rested and hung around base camp. We enjoyed plenty of calories, read, played cards and planned the next stage of the adventure. By afternoon it’s clear and disappointing that I was not going to be up for starting up another peak the next day, so the rest of the group started organizing gear for an ascent of Tocllaraju.
In the morning, we all had a good breakfast, then the rest of the gang packed up for a two day ascent of Tocllaraju (6,036 meters, 19,803’). Their plan was to camp at moraine camp that night, about 16,700’, then tp get up early the next day to climb to the summit and return to base camp. They took off and I remained in camp in an attempt to feel better.
I was very disappointed, but I took advantage of the views, wandered about taking pictures and reading a book that I’d been trying to finish for quite some time… Camp was quiet that night and I went to bed early hoping to feel better the next day.
The next day dawned with some funky clouds. I milled around camp for a while, then decided to take a slow sickly hike up towards the team’s high camp. I spent more time sitting and coughing than hiking, but I eventually reached a place with some nice views and ate some snacks for lunch. I looked up at the beautiful pyramid of Tocllaraju and wondered where the guys were – hopefully they were already on their way down.
I headed back to camp and the gang showed up about 3:30pm after a successful ascent of the peak! They were psyched and tired. An excellent job! I checked out their pictures and heard their tales. Good stuff. We then enjoyed another fine meal by Joel and headed for bed. In the morning, we broke camp and hiked back out of the valley to be picked up and transported back to Casa de Zarela in Huaraz.
We got up at 4:30am to frost covered tents and a starry night. Joel made us a quick and basic breakfast and we were off to climb Ishinca at about 5:30am. To climb Ishinca (5530 meters / 18,143’) we headed up a series of valleys until we reached the rope up point at the foot of the glacier. It took us a little over 2 hours to get to this point. We donned our crampons, ice axes, harnesses and roped up. Although the terrain ahead was not very technical, the slopes get up to 50 degrees of snow and ice – an unroped slip would be pretty ugly.
We traveled in two roped teams and watched carefully for crevasse danger along the route. By this time, my sickness had really invaded my lungs and I was a hurting unit. The climb was a struggle for me as my lung capacity was way down and my body taxed in general due to the illness. Add that to climbing an 18,143’ peak just 4 days after arriving in Huaraz and it is an understatement to say that I was working hard.
The rest of the gang was doing well and I was definitely the slowest member of the team this day. Regardless, we made steady progress up the route, taking in the fantastic views along the way. The weather was stable and the snow conditions were good, only getting a little sloppy the last 500’ or so of the route. We arrived at the small summit just before noon, had some calories and enjoyed the vista. Pretty amazing place!
We decided to descend the peak via the sister route down the other side of the mountain. Except for one tricky section near the summit, this route was easy and we made good progress on the descent across the glaciers, with the huge mass of Ranrapalca (20,217’) in front of us. We finally finished crossing the descent glacier, took off our crampons and ropes and continued the descent on scrappy scree and talus for quite a while until we picked up a good trail.
At that point, I was pretty wobbly from exertion at altitude with a cold, so I was the last to arrive in base camp, just about 4pm. It was a nice afternoon in camp despite my condition and Joel’s fine appetizers and meal put a smile on everybody’s face. I decided to self administer a run of antibiotics as my illness had definitely gotten deeper into my lungs. We all enjoyed our dinner and headed off for some good and much needed sleep after a long day.
The next day we rested and hung around base camp. We enjoyed plenty of calories, read, played cards and planned the next stage of the adventure. By afternoon it’s clear and disappointing that I was not going to be up for starting up another peak the next day, so the rest of the group started organizing gear for an ascent of Tocllaraju.
In the morning, we all had a good breakfast, then the rest of the gang packed up for a two day ascent of Tocllaraju (6,036 meters, 19,803’). Their plan was to camp at moraine camp that night, about 16,700’, then tp get up early the next day to climb to the summit and return to base camp. They took off and I remained in camp in an attempt to feel better.
I was very disappointed, but I took advantage of the views, wandered about taking pictures and reading a book that I’d been trying to finish for quite some time… Camp was quiet that night and I went to bed early hoping to feel better the next day.
The next day dawned with some funky clouds. I milled around camp for a while, then decided to take a slow sickly hike up towards the team’s high camp. I spent more time sitting and coughing than hiking, but I eventually reached a place with some nice views and ate some snacks for lunch. I looked up at the beautiful pyramid of Tocllaraju and wondered where the guys were – hopefully they were already on their way down.
I headed back to camp and the gang showed up about 3:30pm after a successful ascent of the peak! They were psyched and tired. An excellent job! I checked out their pictures and heard their tales. Good stuff. We then enjoyed another fine meal by Joel and headed for bed. In the morning, we broke camp and hiked back out of the valley to be picked up and transported back to Casa de Zarela in Huaraz.
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