Kjetil - Jul 10, 2004 3:55 pm - Hasn't voted
That picture drove me insane...In 2002, a friend and I had planned an expedition, which was going to be our first real ascent of a big mountain. Allthough we were fairly experienced with the sometimes harsh conditions of Norwegian mountains, some formal mountaineering courses, and my friend had a some good ascents in the Alps, we had no altitude experience, and we were only two. So, we planned an expedition-style ascent of Ausangate. With 140 kg of equipment and food for 24 days, we had decided that we would crawl our way to the summit if need be. As long as the altitude sickness didn't get us, nothing would stop us.
We didn't get to the basecamp...
It started snowing early. Soon, trekkers turned around, and we were alone on the mountain. This picture shows a very, very dry mountain, right? Well, it is, Ausangate itself gets a lot of snow, but this picture shows a mountain side that's shielded behind the giant. It gets about nothing. Besides, Cusco gets on average 6 mm in July...
The furthest we got was the lakes near that mountain. When looking for a campsite, I saw this hillside, and I remembered it well from the picture I had seen here before we started. This hillside was then covered in a meter of snow.
How could that be? And why us?
Our website is at http://www.ausangate.kjernsmo.net/
bicoin - Feb 5, 2006 11:05 am - Hasn't voted
Re: That picture drove me insane...Depending on the time of the year you went there, temperatures can vary highly... We went in mid-august of 2005 and we did encounter very dry temperatures. However, everyday around 4PM, it would start to snow or hail and winds would pick up. Now, I know that mid-august is considered to be near the end of the dry season. Temperatures in septembre can get very wet... When did you go?
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