| Vallunaraju, Cordillera Blanca. Peru. Trip Report |
Geography Parents  Loading... Trip Reports
| Vallunaraju, Cordillera Blanca. Peru.   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: Ancash, Peru, South America Date Climbed/Hiked: Aug 17, 2006 Activities: Mountaineering Season: Summer | Page By: HIGH EXPEDITIONS Created/Edited: Apr 28, 2008 / Jul 30, 2008 Object ID: 399367 Hits: 560 Loading... Page Score: 86.19% - 3 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Preparatives:It's a friday afternoon and I'm standing by the door watching how the day's last sunrays warm up the surrounding eastern mountains of my hometown, Quito 2,820 m (9,252 ft).
People are walking up and down the streets of La Mariscal, Quito's touristic area. Bars, pubs and discoteques are opened now, and I'm ready to close the office's door and head out.
Suddently Cristian shows up from the crowd. He smiles as always even though he just got dump out of a trip planned weeks ago to Peru's Cordillera Blanca.
He tells me about it and how he still would like to go to Cordillera Blanca to climb a couple of peaks there.
Two hours later we make a deal and we agree to depart from Ecuador next weekend for a week-trip to Peru. It sounds like the adventure; to go climbing to another country with Cristian (also known as Chikidracula), a guy I barely know and met a week ago but with a courage and enthusiasm that could convince anybody; So, this is how our trip started.The Trip We left Quito on a midnight bus to the ecuadorian-peruvian border. We were holding our backpacks and gear tightly like if they were our biggest treasures. Crossed the border and got on the next bus to Chimbote, a city located in the Pacific Coast of Peru and 420 km north of Lima, the capital City. From there we switched to another bus to Huaraz (via Casma).
Another 8 hour ride through and amazing scenary and by the dessertic dusty roads of La Cordillera Negra.
Once the bus topped out the pass of Cordillera Negra, the view became even more amazing. We could see the coastal plains below the early mist to the west, and the endless chain of white mountains to the east, La Cordillera Blanca. HuarazGot to Huaraz around 6 am and an hour later we had a place where to stay at. The owners of the accomodation, Marial and her sister welcomed us very nicely and even took us for a city tour and to a temporal amusement park. We spend a couple of days in Huaraz hoping for the weather to change. It rainned every single day since we got there.
Huaraz and Cordillera Blanca. |
It wasn't until thursday when we got good weather, so we took advantage of it. After searching for information along the local travel agencies, we decided to climb Vallunaraju, which is one of the closest 5,000 m peaks to Huaraz and with a high rate of success. The climb  Vallunaraju 5,686 m (18,963 ft)
DAY 1:
We took a colectivo (shared taxi with 4-5 people) and rode up for 30 minutes to the village of Marian where our hike started. It took us 5 hours to get to the refuge (4,700 m) above Laguna Llaca. Set up our tent far below Ranarapalca/Oschapalca's glacier...and hung out until sunset. What an awesome view from up there! .
DAY 2:
We left our tent at 3 am and gainned altitude by climbing a steep hill located just below Vallunaraju's glacier. So we stood on the glacier an hour later. Kept climbing up for 3 more hours, crossed a few creavasses, a couple of them deep and continued walking on compacted snow.
It felt great when we got to the saddle between the two summits. We chose to climb the highest one which was very corniced. Climbed up 20 more minutes and we got it! What an amazing feeling, Cristian and I on top of this beautiful mountain 5,686 m (18,963 ft), with all those tall steep mountains around us. Well, we climbed them all with our sight! Took a few pictures and got down to our camping site.ReturnAs soon as we got back to Huaraz, we booked two seats on the next bus to Ecuador the next day. It was a long way home for both of us.. but we celebrated our succesful short trip to Cordillera Blanca right at the ecuadorian border with a couple of beers and good music.
It was a great experience which have kept me going back-and-fort to that wonderful place in the Peruvian Andes through the years. Can't wait to visit it again. Some Information- Altitude: 5,686 m (18,963 ft)
- Difficulty: Basic snow/ice climb
- Best months for climbing: June, July, August, Sepetember
- Convenient Center: Huaraz
- Nearest Airport: Lima Images
|
|
