The road chose me

The Cordillera Huayhuash Hiking Circuit, second in the world only to the Annapurna loop in Nepal, boasts some very formidable statistics:
140km, 9 mountain passes for a total climb of just under 10km, always between 4000 – 5000 meters and all in only 10 days.

I have to give this a try!

The hike is commonly organized in a group of about ten people, with a guide, cook, donkey train and enough gear and food to supply a small army. During the day hikers only wear a small day pack, all meals are cooked and tents are even setup by the guides.
As you might have guessed, this is not my style at all. For me, the only way is with everything on my own back, completely solo.

After a few days resting and gearing up in Huaraz, I wind along bumpy mountainous roads to the tiny town of Llamac, both the start and end point of the hike. I park the Jeep in a secure lot and camp on the town soccer field for the night, organizing and re-organizing my gear, barely able to contain my excitement.

——-

Here I record the notes I scrawled at the end of each day before crawling into my sleeping bag…

Day 1 – 1000 meter ascent / 250 meter decent / xx km / 6.5 hrs
On trail at 8.30am. 1000m climb to Pampa Llamac Pass with heaviest pack of life. Food for 10 days. Very hot, dry canyon with sunburn and cacti. Camp at beautiful lake (Laguna Yahuacocha). Get good info from couple just finishing. Discover hole in Thermarest in the night, wake 5 times to blow it up.
Damn cacti.

The Llamac valley

View from the Pampa Llamac Pass (4300m)

Campsite at Laguna Yahuacocha

Laguna Yahuacocha at sunrise

Reflections on Laguna Yahuacocha

Day 2 – 700 meter ascent / 550 meter decent / xx km / 7 hrs
Thick ice on tent at 6am, walking at 7. 700m climb first thing, above a glacial lake (Laguna Solteracocha). Very hard and slow going. Legs and back very sore. Punta Rondoy (4750m) beautiful. Very slow down. LONG walk down valley after lunch, small concern when km markers on road don’t match, 10 mins later at Matacancha campsite (2pm). Lots of time left in day. No energy.
Big group of Israelis arrive with all the gear, who will be shadowing me from now on.

View from Punta Rondoy (4750m)

Glacial views

Infront of Ninashanca (5607m)

Matacancha campsite, day 2

-Dan

Related posts:

1. Laguna 69
2. Laguna Parón
3. The Quilotoa Loop
4. High in the Peruvian Andes
5. Around Baños

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 21st, 2010 at 7:57 am and is filed under BlogSherpa, Camping, Hiking, Peru, Road-tripping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.