I’ve just got back from 9 days trekking around the Cordilleria Huayhuash (WhyWash) where apart from a few understandably brief al fresco sessions in glacial rivers it’s safe to say that personal hygiene standards took a bit of a dive. Fortunately my trekking mates were all the same so when we were sitting together no one really noticed.

Each of the 9 days was unique but in the interest of time and typing skills (or lack) I’m going to focus on days 5 and 7, my favourites. All of the days followed the same routine, up at 6.30 to pack up gear, breakfast at 7, then on the road at 7.45. The days goal generally being to ascend a high pass between 4600m and 5000m and descend into a valley to camp, all over the course of 5-8 hours. On Day 5 we initially descended approx 200m into a valley beside 6000m snow covered mountains, with the sun beating down through the thin air. The rest of the morning was spent slowly ascending a glacial valley passing lakes of varying shades of blue/green, witnessing avalanches and generally (once again) feeling the serenity. As the day wore on the cloud accumulated and by the time we ascended the pass at 4800m it was distinctly grey, and as if on cue after lunch at the top it promptly decided to snow – being an Aucklander snow will always be a novelty so I loved it of course. The rest of the day was spent descending in the sunshine (once the snow storm had passed) and chilling at camp.

By Day 7, the trekking group had dwindled to 2 (from 5), as a French couple had to head back to Lima and an American girl who wasn’t enjoying the altitude. The remaining 2 of us, ‘Cream Crackers’ (as the Peruvian guides had named me – Craig doesn’t translate well into Spanish combined with them being the snack of choice) and ‘John Rambo’ – an English fella named John…..it could have been worse as they took great pleasure in pointing out that the milk powder came from ‘Nueva Zealandia’ (sp)…..clearly we all had a lot of time to kill while walking. As Day 7 was to be 2 days combined into 1, we left at 6.45 from our camp at 4400m walking over snow covered fields – it was below freezing every night – and ascended slowly through increasingly deep drifts of snow up towards the pass at 5000m. By this time we were well acclimatized and combined with the smaller group made for an effective ascent with lots of laughs. After the pass we descended down into a fertile valley with alpaca’s (llama type animal – the wool makes the warmest gloves and socks - from experience) running around, steep ridges on both sides with the icy 6000m peaks back near the pass as a backdrop. The rest of day was spent descending further down the valley with the vegetation becoming more and more prevalent as well as signs of human habitation, at one stage climbing slowly down a 100m waterfall which was pretty spectacular if not safe. By the time we had reached the camp at 3500m we had ascended 600m, descended 1500m and in total covered 22+ km. It’s safe to say I was just about all in by the time we stopped…still, the feeling of achievement was palpable.

Overall the scenery over 9 days was absolutely out of this world, and though physically demanding at times (130+kms and 7 passes over 4600m) I have to say it was a brilliant experience, words don’t really do any of it justice but pics to follow eventually. The whole thing was definitely heightened by the guides who we had lots of fun with in the nightly candlelit Spanglish language sessions.

Some facts….Mt Cook 3700m, Mont Blanc 4800m, Ben Nevis, 900m, Kilimanjaro 5895m, Everest 8800m.

Tonight I’m heading down the coast to Pisco to try the local Pisco Sour….apparantly egg whites are involved……

Huaraz 7.5/10
Cordilleria Huaywash 9.75/10

Current Mood: Itchy Feet
Music on My Mind: Every Woman in the World – Air Supply (I put it down to lack of oxygen at high altitude)