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Mountaineering and Ruin Explorations in Peru
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In June and July of 2008, I met up with friends to climb a few peaks in the Cordillera Blanca, the highest range in the Peruvian Andes. After climbing, I spent a few weeks trekking around southern Peru to explore several Inca ruins.
- 2008-06-14 - Flying to Lima (1 photo)
- 2008-06-15 - From Lima to Huaraz (0 photos)
- 2008-06-16 - Arriving in Huaraz (1 photo)
- 2008-06-18 - Acclimatizing and first climbs (5 photos)
- 2008-07-01 - Climbing Pirámide de Garcilaso (5 photos)
- 2008-07-08 - Return to Huaraz (1 photo)
- 2008-07-12 - On to Cusco and the abodes of the Incas (1 photo)
- 2008-07-13 - Pisac and the Sacred Valley (3 photos)
Flying to Lima (1 photo)
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After the usual days and weeks of packing and planning, we are ready to go. Step one: fly from Colorado to Lima, the capital of Peru.
From Lima to Huaraz (0 photos)
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Nearly all international flights into Lima arrive in the middle of the night. We booked a room in one of the hostals in downtown Lima with a pre-arranged taxi pickup from the airport. After a nice half-night of sleep, we hit the ground running to exchange money, buy a few food items and book a bus ride to Huaraz.
Arriving in Huaraz (1 photo)
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Additional Information
The bus ride from Lima to Huaraz takes about 8 hours. The last half of the trip provide some spectacular mountain scenery, so it is worth it to try to get a daytime reservation. Huaraz is the jumping-off city for all of the climbing and trekking in the Cordillera Blanca. It has lots of great restaurants and hostals/guesthouses/hotels, along with lots of gear shops, guide agencies, etc.
Acclimatizing and first climbs (5 photos)
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For the next several days, we did some acclimatization and exploration trips into various areas of the Blanca, looking at access and route conditions and deciding on objectives. We then spent a week in the Quebrada Quilcayhuanca, where we planned on climbing Nevado San Juan and Maparaju. Unfortunately, we had extremely poor weather for most of the week. We reached the summit ridge of San Juan, but were turned back by dangerous and difficult cornices along the ridge. (See the photos!) Maparaju, on the other hand, was an easy and enjoyable climb.
Photo Album for Acclimatizing and first climbs
Climbing Pirámide de Garcilaso (5 photos)
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After returning from the Quilcayhuanca and getting rid of the nasty kidney infection I had picked up, we set our sights on the North Face of Pirámide de Garcilaso, a beautiful fluted pyramid at the head of the Quebrada Parón. It was a stunning climb, on an intricate and technically challenging route.
Photo Album for Climbing Pirámide de Garcilaso
Return to Huaraz (1 photo)
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After completing our climb, we returned to Huaraz to recuperate and catch up on the calorie deficit. The whole country was suffering from some political unrest and strikes, with all of the major roads scheduled to be closed for a few days. My buddies left early for Lima, so that they would not miss their flights home, while I waited out the strike in Huaraz, before flying on to Cusco.
The situation was tense, but not too bad... For two days, there were pickets and parades, with a lot of army personnel watching nervously as guys with clubs marched around, burned piles of tires in the street, and made speeches from scratchy megaphones. Thankfully, there was no violence.
On to Cusco and the abodes of the Incas (1 photo)
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After the roads reopened, I bussed back to Lima, took a taxi to the airport, and flew on to Cusco. After the very nice low-key vibes in Huaraz, I found Cusco to be waaay too touristy, so I quickly bailed out and hailed a ride to the small town of Pisac.
Pisac and the Sacred Valley (3 photos)
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Additional Information
Pisac is a cool little town. It has a very popular locals market that draws a lot of tourist traffic, but the market is definitely worth checking out. The best part of Pisac would be the amazing ruins above town. Rather than taking a taxi to the ruins, I chose to hike up the hillside from town in the pre-dawn hours. I had the whole ruins to myself at sunrise. The ruins are maybe 2000' above town, which gives a beautiful view of the valley of the Rio Urubamba, aka the "Sacred Valley."
I used Pisac as my home base for the next week, using the local bus service to explore villages and ruins in the area.
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