By John Penny – March 2005

In the Summer of 2004 I decided to take a trip to Peru with `High Places` for
three weeks of mountaineering in the Cordillera Blanca followed by a week’s
extension to do the Inca Trail and a visit to Machu Picchu. The targets were 5
5,000+ metre peaks.

After the long and tiring flight via Amsterdam and Bonaire in the Dutch Antilles
we reached Lima 18 hours after leaving Heathrow. The initial scramble at the
airport was not as bad as I had been led to believe; and Nesta, the local guide,
and his team met us efficiently. Initial impressions were difficult in the
dark but the usual teeming urban sprawl of large South American cities was much
in evidence.

After a surprisingly good night’s sleep we were away early the following
morning. The vaguely threatening aura in Lima of the previous night had
changed to early morning bustle. I can’t say Lima looked like a place I’d like
to spend much time in. The drive to Huaraz in the Cordillera Blanca took about
8 hours. At first following the coast north and then turning inland for a
spectacular 4,000 metre climb with many zig-zags over the Cordillera Negra and
then down to Huaraz at 3,050m in the valley between the Cordilleras Negra and
Blanca. The altitude clearly had kicked in by this stage; our hotel, the
Alpino (Swiss run) was excellent, but was out of the centre, so the re-ascent
after visiting the centre was quite taxing the first couple of times.

After a couple of acclimatisation walks to lakes we established our first base
camp in the floor of Quebrada (valley) Quilcayhuanca. The first target, after
further acclimatisation was Huapi (5420m). The itinerary suggested this was a
straightforward ridge. However, this turned out not quite to be the case! By
the time we reached the glacier edge, most of the party were feeling the
altitude quite badly. Three of the clients (including myself) decided we would
carry on. The snow conditions turned out to be very bad – thigh deep soft snow
that made the going very slow for the Peruvian guides who were leading. The
original route was completely out of the question so we had to take a much
longer route traversing round the mountain and over the main ridge to continue
up on the other side. After one rather exposed ice bridge over an enormous
crevasse, I sensed unease creeping in as it was getting very late. Eventually
Giles, on my rope, succumbed to the altitude and (not feeling brilliant myself)
we wisely aborted about 150m from the summit. Garry (the English leader) and
Alex made it just about to the summit, which was not quite achievable due to
another large crevasse. We eventually returned to camp just over 12 hours
after starting out.

The following day we walked round into another Quebrada (the main one bifurcates
at the head) to establish camp for an attempt on Maparaju (5326m). After the
usual early morning departure at 4.00 a.m. we made good time after a certain
amount of thrashing around in the undergrowth having lost the path. We had all
just reached the glacier and were resting prior to putting on harnesses,
crampons etc., when I happened to look up. It was a brilliantly clear morning
but this large white cloud appeared to be moving quite quickly, only when Garry
yelled for everyone to run, did I realise that a large serac way above us was
collapsing! I think even Linford Christie would have had trouble keeping up
with me in the high altitude 100m sprint. Fortunately we were close to a large
rock band and no one was hurt seriously except for a cut hand on the rocks.
The spray from the ice debris hissed over us but that was all. Later when the
guides went back to fetch the rucksacks and gear, they said everything was
covered in small shards of ice and that a couple of larger blocks had clearly
gone past where we had been. The main fall had occurred about 100 yards away.
Inevitably most people were pretty shaken up at this. It was very odd that I
felt quite serene after the initial panic was over. I was still up for
climbing Maparaju as the route did not need to go near these seracs and looked
relatively straightforward. In fact a party of Germans who were ahead of us
carried on as if nothing had happened. I was, however, very much in the
minority and in the end we aborted and descended.

The following day we returned down the valley and eventually to Huaraz. I was
feeling slightly disappointed at this stage not to have summitted either of the
first two peaks and was determined, after a rest day, to give the last three my
best shot.

After quite a long drive we headed off up the Ishinca valley – much more wooded
than the previous one. At the head of the valley there is an alpine style hut,
one of only three in Peru. Further huts have been banned due to their effects
on the local porters and muleteers economy. A good thing I feel to support the
local way of life. The following morning we headed up Urus Este. This turned
out to be a long steep climb up moraine, with a smallish snowfield near the
summit, followed by a clamber up the summit rocks. The views were sensational
of Huascaran, Hualcan and Tocllaraju. All but one of the party made the summit
on a glorious day. The descent was absolutely knee-jarring all the way down
but a feeling of satisfaction was clearly present.

At this point it was becoming clear that all the mountains were suffering from
the glaciers receding, due to decreased snow falling in the wet season. This
was making mountains often harder than previously. Also another thing that had
become clear was that Pyramid Adventures (the local Peruvian company High Places
were using, run by the five Morales brothers) had been the company used in the
making of Joe Simpson’s film of Touching the Void. This meant that all the
camp equipment was pretty new. We even had seats in the mess tent that had backs
to lean on – a real luxury!

The evening after the ascent of Urus Este it became clear that only Neil and I
were up for the ascent of Ishinca the following day and its usual 4.00 a.m.
departure. Nesta was, I think, relieved he could remain in camp and allow the
younger guides to take the two of us plus Garry up Ishinca. I’m really glad I
made the effort, despite having to push myself to keep going early on. The path
was nowhere near as brutal as on Urus Este, and the glacier ascent was easy.
Another great panorama awaited us on the summit although the lowering bulk of
Ranrapalca was quite close. We decided to traverse the mountain despite the
presence of crevasses on our descent route and this made the whole day extremely
satisfying with superb ice scenery on the descent. It was, from my point of
view, the most enjoyable of all the ascents.

From Ishinca valley we drove further up the main valley past Yungay where the
terrible tragedy of 1970 took place. This was where a small earthquake
triggered rockfall into a moraine lake on Huascaran. This in turn meant the
moraine gave way, releasing a tidal wave of water, rocks and mud onto the town
below. The cemetery, which is situated on a hill, was the only thing not
destroyed – it has now become a shrine to the thousands who died. Quite a
sobering thought on the power of nature.

We reached the head of the Llanganuco valley late in the day and the next day
walked up to the base camp. We know there was a party from Jagged Globe also
there, but at this stage didn’t make contact. The next day four of us ascended
with full packs to high camp on Pisco, through the jumbled chaos of the moraine.
I retreated to my tent but as the sun started to set decided to take some
pictures of Chopicalqui in the Alpen glow. To my surprise a voice boomed
across the camp site “Bloody hell! John Penny!” It turned out to be Nigel
Kettle, who I had met when in the Himalayas in 2000. More amazingly still my
tent companion on that trip, Duncan, was also with the Jagged Globe trip. To
cap it all Pete Krug emerged from a tent as well! You go all the way to Peru
and you meet a bloke from the IMC…………. After much banter it appeared
they were tackling Pisco the same day as us, as acclimatisation to greater
things – Huascaran.

Garry was determined to get away really early on Pisco and we were away from
camp just before 2.00 a.m. The initial ascent up to the col was
straightforward but it became very windy and cold and I began to regret taking a
layer off earlier on. After starting to ascent the main ridge we reached what,
in the dark, appeared to be an ice wall. I began to have serious doubts as to
the sense of carrying on. Three years ago Alex told me he had just walked up
this peak! After what seemed like ages the Peruvians ascended the ice and put
up ropes. Garry exhorted me to have a go, free climbing it next to me. It
seemed to go on for ages and my calf muscles were screaming for a lot of the
way, but I eventually made it up this steep section. The ascent from then was
not difficult but there were a lot of very large crevasses around and it seemed
as if the whole of the summit glacier was just falling apart. The weather was
cold but clear and we did not linger on the summit as we all felt vaguely
uneasy. I had made a meal of jumping a crevasse near the top and wanted to get
that over with as quickly as possible (as it turned out it was easy on the way
down). As we descended we met many others on the way up including the Jagged
Globe party who were going well. On the lower down the ice section Neil and I
made a bit of a meal of it and I managed to spike Neil with my crampon (Sorry
Neil – incompetence I’m afraid!). Looking back up what we had descended I
reckon that had I been able to see it before, I wouldn’t have attempted it.
Later Garry said he reckoned it was about 70 metres of Scottish Grade 3 winter
climb – (pace Pete who said Grade 1/2 – apparently there is no hard ice on Grade
1/2 and this was definitely hard ice!).

I was pretty chuffed I’d made it to the summit as I do not reckon myself to be a
technical climber, just a hill-walker who wants to push himself a bit. In the
end three out of five summits with one near miss was a pretty good tally.

The final section of the trip was relatively gentle. I was with a group of
Spanish lawyers (not very fit ones!) on the Inca trail, so I spent a good deal
of time on the side of the trail reading my book until they caught up. The
third day is particularly fascinating with all the various Inca sites, but by
this time I was getting fed up with so many people being around. We managed to
get to Machu Picchu very early the following morning before the crowds arrived.
Being there when the first rays of the warming sun struck from over the
surrounding mountains was quite special. You could really understand the
Incas’ veneration of the sun and its life-renewing powers. By 10 am, though,
the place was crawling with people and any magic had long gone.

After a somewhat surreal return journey to Cusco, the trip ended somewhat
unfortunately as the plane from Cusco to Lima was cancelled through high winds,
meaning missed flights back to Europe. After three extra, unplanned, days in
Cusco and Lima and a lot of money to get another flight, I was very glad to get
back to Blighty after a month away. I’m still trying to get the insurance
people to pay up.

If you fancy a challenging trip to Peru I can certainly recommend the High
Places trip, though I expect they will have to consider carefully the mountain
itinerary, given the changing state of the glaciers. It will be interesting to
see what appears in next year’s brochure.