The Travelling Life of Silvan Colani
July 2008 - Peru
There are a few destinations that have been on my ‘to do’ list for a long time and a visit to Peru – especially for a climbing trip – has been one of them. I’ve never been to South America before and with a continent of such vast proportions Peru seemed as good as any place to start with. With no pre-conceived ideas in my head and not really knowing what to expect, Mei and I embarked on this journey half way around the globe.
Getting there – in economy class – is a real pain and involves an entire day of your life squeezed into numerous aircraft, most of which provide little else then a safety instruction video in terms of in-flight entertainment. Having covered thirteen time zones we arrived in Lima on the eve of a three day strike which forced us to take a seven-hour van ride straight through the night to Huaraz in order to avoid getting stuck in the capital. Together with our fellow climbers Dean and Jerome from New Zealand we thus arrived in Huaraz, 3091m above sea level, some 72 hours after having set out from Hong Kong – bruised, battered, jet-lagged and oxygen-deprived!
Huaraz, a town of 100,000 people, is the gateway to the Peruvian Andes. It sits in a valley between the Cordillera Negra (no snow) to the west and the Cordillera Blanca (lots of snow) to the east. The latter is a national park about 180kms in length and 20kms across and containing over 50 mountains of 5700m or higher, including Huascaran, at 6768m Peru’s highest peak. By comparison, the highest peak in the European Alps - Mt. Blanc - tops out at a mere 4810 meters!
Unlike its magnificent surroundings, Huaraz itself is not a particularly attractive town. In fact, every single building looks like it is unfinished or under construction. Maybe it’s because the town sits on an earthquake-prone fault line that leads its inhabitants to take only a temporary view of their habitats. The town draws plenty of tourists, climbers and trekkers and presumably is a must-stop destination on any pan-American backpacker itinerary. As such it features plenty of coffee shops, pizza parlors, Internet cafes and other amenities catering to Western tastes. I can particularly recommend Café Andino for breakfast and hanging out on its terrace, El Horno for excellent steaks and virtually any place in town for jugs of Pisco Sour, an authentic Peruvian cocktail made from a Grappa-like grape Wine mixed with lemon juice and egg white. Works wonders against jet lag! And to cope with the altitude you’re supposed to drink lots of Coca Tea, made obviously and completely legally from coca leaves – the main ingredient for cocaine.
We spent several days in Huaraz acclimatizing to the altitude through day hikes into the hills and up to the picturesque Laguna Churup – mostly easy stuff for us mountaineers but grueling work for our trekking girl, Mei, who did admiringly well despite blisters, aching muscles and constant complaints of “what kind of holiday is this??”
After a rest day soaking up the sun and lazing around town we moved onto the ice, spending a day ice climbing on a nearby glacier in preparation of our climbs to come. Despite not having touched an ice axe in five years, the ice climbing went quite well for me, but struggling back over loose moraine rock took its toll on Mei’s unaccustomed legs and she ended up with very sore knees. We thus decided that she would sit out the next two days of the program, which involved a steep climb to a 5000m moraine camp and an attempt to climb Valluna Raju (5686m).
Thus next morning our small crew of expedition guide Dean of Adventure Consultants (a.k.a. “El Dino”), fellow Kiwi climber Jerome (a.k.a. “Geronimo”), myself (a.k.a. “Silvano”) and our local guide Hisao (who runs the excellent Peruvian Andes Adventure trekking and climbing company) set out in a rickety van together with two porters (Maximo and Clever) and a cook (Esteban). At the end of the road up the valley we strapped on our fully loaded rucksacks and started staggering up a steep hillside – “too steep for donkies”!
We reached our base camp just in time for lunch which to our collective surprise consisted of trout (!) that Esteban had prepared for us. It was very tasty but neither we nor the trout would have expected that we meet at just under 5000m! Two hours later it was time for popcorn and tea and shortly thereafter followed a three-course dinner of soup, chicken with rice and canned fruit. Such are the rigors of mountaineering!
Meanwhile the clouds had closed in and it started to snow, initially quite lightly and then more and more. We slipped into our tents and went to bed for an early start.
“Hola seniors!” Wake-up call at 1.45am, fifteen minutes earlier than scheduled, but what the heck – it won’t make much of a difference at this time of day! After a breakfast of coffee and lots of peanut butter we set out at 3am, scrambling up moraine rocks in complete darkness. After about thirty minutes we reached the glacier, strapped on our crampons and roped up – me and Hisao on one rope, Dean and Jerome on the other.
From there it was a long, hard trudge up generally good snow. You only see as far as your headlamp, which is probably for the best because your mind won’t register the enormity of the task ahead. It was a cloudless morning and the sky was an endless canopy of stars. Far down below were only the lights of Huaraz and those of the village further down the valley.
We made good progress, with Hisao setting a steady, but by no means casual, pace. Every time we stopped for a breather, I experienced what I’ve termed “la discotheca” – the “boom boom” sound you hear coming from a downstairs disco in a cheap hotel. Only I heard it in my ears from the beat of my heart! Despite feeling quite fit and strong, it was hard to ignore that we were now at a serious altitude way above the highest peaks of Switzerland!
The sun rose just as we hit the saddle to the summit ridge, presenting before us a freshly illuminated mountain panorama that was just reward for the hard work of getting here. Hisao and I plodded on and reached the summit at 7am sharp, some four hours after having set out from camp. The view was spectacular and the feeling of achievement equally satisfying. We hung around for half an hour before descending to meet our Kiwi friends at the bottom of the summit ridge. They had taken it slower as Geronimo struggled a bit with the slog and the altitude but thanks to plenty of power gels and carbo boosters they summited shortly after.
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