Last Tuesday, my Chilean friends and I packed up our gear and food and headed out to Hatun Machay.  Hatun Machay, meaning "Big Cave" in the Quechua language, is a magnificent forest of rocks located in the Cordillera Negra at 4,200 meters above sea level.  After taking a bus and then a taxi, we arrived midday to the refuge run by the Andean Kingdom, an adventure tour company based in Huaraz.  Our first order of business was to climb, and with 300+ sport routes and counting there was no lack of options.

Climbing happened to be just about all we did there everyday, besides eating good food and meeting nice people, so we were content to say the least.  The rock quality itself was fantastic: large, 30 meter volcanic plaques, caves, and slabs.  All of the sport climbing is set around the perimeter, but with in the rock forest there is a seemingly endless amount of boulders and rocks in every shape and form imaginable.  We climbed until our forearms were pumped, our shoulders dead tired, and our fingers were bleeding (the rock is pretty sharp).

As the sun set, we would walk back to the refuge in majestic hues of red, orange, and yellow that were produced.  We would enter the welcomingly warm refuge, cook dinner, and converse with the other visitors.  I met all sorts of people from all around the world:  The USA, Europe, South America, Asia, and others.  Most were climbers and some were there just to enjoy the area.  All of them seemed to be great people with good energy, adding to the good vibes of the place.  After eating, relaxing, and playing a bit of music, we would retire to our tents and cozy up (it was a bit cold up there).

On our day of rest, we went to explore Hatun Machay.  At the top, there are two big caves that are archaeological sights; homes of ancient humans that lived there thousands of years before.  Inside the caves, there were many petroglyphs and pictographs.  In one of the caves, there were rock carvings that seemed to be some sort of calendar detailing the lunar cycle and constellations.  In another there were carvings of faces, an impression of a hand, and paintings.  Afterwards, we took time to walk through the forest of rocks and observe all the amazing formations.  Hatun Machay is a truly spiritual place with a powerful energy, and required a moment of meditation from myself to take it all in.

After several solid days of climbing, the Chileans unfortunately had to return to San Pedro de Atacama to resume their work.  I myself wanted to stay in Hatun a bit longer, so I said my goodbyes and told them that we would meet again soon in San Pedro.  That night, the boss of Andean Kingdom, Andreas,  led a group of us to the middle of the rocks to spend the night out there.  We came to a view point up high where you can see all the way down into the Pacific Ocean, and we watched one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen.  Then, as the light began to fade, the stars started to appear one by one until the entire night sky was filled with millions upon millions of lights.  Once again, I must say it was one of the most beautiful and most complete of night skies I have ever witnessed.  The darkness also brought a new feeling from there rocks, as if their dark forms were guardians in the night.

That night, I and 3 new acquaintances of mine, Nesto, Mati, and Alejandro, found a nice shelter in the rocks, unrolled our sleeping bags and spent the night under the stars.  It was honestly difficult to fall asleep, not due to the cold but because of the brilliance of the night sky.  I stared up at it for hours, as the stars slowly progressed, until the Milky Way was swallowed by the sea.  The night was also alight with shooting stars, one of which seemed to streak across nearly the entire sky.  Sleep finally did come, but not long afterwards the sun began to rise anew.  The sunrise was nearly as beautiful as the sunset.  With day break, life awoke within the rock forest and took flight.  I witnessed all types of beautiful take to the air and heard their sweet calls.  Finally, when the sun reached our sleeping spot, it came time to return to the refuge.  I took the rest of the day to rest and reflect.

Sunday evening, Andreas was kind enough to give me a lift back to Huaraz where he was going, as I had run out of supplies to eat.  When I returned that night, I was surprised and rejoiced to find that my Chileans friends had not left, and in fact had prepared a wonderful feast of multi-colored tortillas and about 12 different toppings.  We were all glad to see each other once again, and I had a chance to say goodbye again before they left at 11 P.M. that night.

It is nice to be back and relaxing in civilization, but I still feel Hatun Machay calling my name, and I believe that I will return there tomorrow to do some more climbing and living in that magical place.  Until then, I'm going to get a nice bite to eat.

Chao!  

La Esfinge

These past 5 days have been quite amazing and physically challenging.  Early Wednesday morning, we got our gear together and took a bus from Huaraz to Caraz, then all the way up a valley to Laguna Paron.  It was a long, curvy bus ride but the destination we arrived at was spectacular.  The Laguna itself sits at 4,170 meters in elevation, has a sky blue tint, and is surrounded on all sides by snow-capped mountains. 

After stretching our legs for a bit, we started off our 3-hour hike to the base camp of La Esfinge.  This is when things started to become difficult for me.  First off, base camp was at nearly 4,700 meters (15,420 ft.), which is higher than the tallest peaks in the USA.  Secondly, carrying 40 kilograms (88 lbs.) up 500 vertical meters was no easy task.  I will definitely pack less next time, for example: Dry fruits and nets instead of fresh foods, fewer changes of clothes, an to bring my water containers empty when I know there will be a fresh source at base camp.  Now, about that altitude, I had never been that high above sea level before and certainly was not acclimatized by then.  Every step seemed to take twice as much effort, and each lungful was only half as satisfying.  Also, the elevation did strange things to my head an stomach, but luckily those pains subsided after a couple days.

We reached base camp a couple hours before night fall, set up our tents, and got to cooking dinner.  Duncan, Sang, and Checho got their gear prepared for their 3-person ascent of the classic, 750-meter, 20-pitch route up the face of La Esfinge.  Their single-day ascent began the following day at 5:30 A.M., and they returned that night around 10 P.M.  There’s truly nothing like looking up at the massive skyscraper of a wall and searching it for small dots that are your friends making their way up.  Their climb was truly inspiring and something I’d love to accomplish, but I don’t deem myself physically ready nor do I have enough experience with such monumental rock faces.

Even though I didn’t make it to the top, just living at base camp was spectacular in itself.  From where we slept, we had a prime view of Huandoy (6,360 m), the second-tallest peak in the Cordilleras Blancas.  You really get the feeling that the mountains here are alive, with their tall, steep peaks slicing through the sky and forming clouds, or the consistent avalanches occurring several times a day.  The weather is very subject to change up in the mountains as well:  It can go from blistering hot sun in the day to cloudy with snow in a matter of minutes, and the nights are indeed very cold.

On Friday, two other members of our group, Mau and Diego, decided to climb La Esfinge as well, except this time they would try it in two days and sleep half way up the face on a ledge.  Taking that extra time means extra weight, and also a very cold nights sleep, however the two climbers made it half way the first day and endured the night up high on the terrace.  The following day, they had trouble finding the route, and decided to rappel down instead of staying up and testing their chances.  Sometimes you have to make hard decisions like that when you wish to accomplish such a great feat.

Sunday morning, we packed up camp and headed back down the mountain.  The hike that took me 4 hours to get up only took about 2 hours back down.  Getting back down to 4,000 meters also felt great on my lungs and body.  We waited around for a taxi for a bit, and also walked around the Laguna.  We finally found a small bus that we could cram into, had it take us down, and then we stopped off at a little restaurant for some good food and beer. 

The adventure was great, and I’ll have to return one day, but for now I plan on resting.  Tomorrow, I head to Hatun Machay for some of Peru’s best sport climbing at 4,200 meters.  I’ll let you all know how that went at the end of the week.

Chao!

P.S.

For those of you that are friends with me on Facebook, check out my page for new pictures that I posted of this past week!

Yesterday was an insane day filled with fun and excitement:

After a slight delay due to me mistakenly believing I had left my passport at the family’s house. (it was in my money belt like it should have been) I took the 10:30 bus on Monday night to get me to Huaraz at 6 this morning.  Though I had to purchase a second ticket, missing my Sunday bus had the added secret benefit of being able to better coordinate my mother’s arrival.  I am happy to say that she will get here on the 26^th of September and stay for almost two weeks.  In the meantime, I have some climbing to do.

After arriving in Huaraz, I made my way to Hostal El Tambo, a cheap, accommodating place that is frequented by other climbers and has a good vibe to it.  Duncan recommended it to me and told me that many of his climber friends from Valparaiso, Chilé, would be staying there as well.  Since I had arrived so early I had to occupy myself with something, so I headed to Café California, a local restaurant the hostel owner told me was good.  After a nice breakfast and a bit of walking around, I went back to the hostel to move into my room.  By this time, things were starting to pick up.  I quickly recognized a group of might-be climbers, and asked them if they were friends of Duncan.  They said they were and invited me to come climbing with them that afternoon.

We walked over to a local craig, Los Olivos, about 15 minutes away from the hostel.  There were many single and double pitch sport routes condensed in a small area.  It served as a good warm up/training sector.  I hopped on 3 routes, the third of which was a 35 meter 5.11b, and was dead tired afterwards (especially considering I only got 6 bad hours of bus sleep that night).  I took a well-deserved nap on a crash pad while my newly acquainted friends finished up their routes.  We went back to the hostel, chilled a bit, and then Duncan and Vai arrived a little while later.

Today, we woke up early to head to the base camp of La Esfinge, a 750-meter vertical wall that tops out at 5325 meters above sea level.  We plan on spending 4 nights there and getting in as many send groups as our window of time allows us, considering our group of 11 people is quite large.  We went to the market yesterday to pick up all the food we’ll need for the next five days, packed up all our gear and clothes, and now are getting rested bus rides, a taxi ride, and 2 hours of walking up to base camp.  I’ll get back to you all Sunday once I return from this grand adventure!

Huaraz is a truly beautiful place.  What it lacks for in aesthetic architecture, it makes up for in raw, natural beauty, and a highly adventurous spirit. 

Quick Blog Post:

This week, Simon and I split paths this past Wednesday.  He went home, back to Bloomington, to get ready to go to Green Mountain College in Vermont, and I continue to stay here in Peru for a couple months more.  My plans are as follows:  Head to Huaraz tonight, get there in the morning, and then go to Hatun Machay to meet up with Duncan and Vai.  Hatun Machay is a prime rock climbing spot, a couple hours away from the adventure sports' Mecca that is Huaraz.  It should be an amazing time filled with adventure in a beautiful area.  I will be staying in Hatun Machay for about a month or so, rock climbing and whatnot until Duncan heads back to the States.  Then I will return to Lima.  Once there I will eventually make it back to Cusco one way or another where my mother will be joining me at the end of September!  I am very excited for her to come visit and can only imagine all the fun we will have.

Like I said, this post is very short, but I will make time to have another, more comprehensive one soon.

Chao!

Here are some videos that Simon put together from clips during our time in Cusco, Urubamba, and Ollantaytambo:

Enjoy!

After an amazing month in the Sacred Valley of Cusco, Simon and I made our way back to Lima.  However, first we had to retrieve all of Simon's gear that he left in the Cactus Slab Rock in the Puma Marka valley of Ollantaytambo.  We got an early start, hit the road at 9 A.M., and got back to the fabled rock.  After having lead the 2-pitch, 60 meter route twice already, the third time was a breeze.  In several hours it took us, we got back all 9 hexes and nuts left in various spots on the rock.  We then made a steep descent and said goodbye to our piece of rock that we had developed and worked on with such care.  We caught the bus back to Urubamba, packed up all our stuff at Llama Pack, and then went to Cusco to get the bus back to Lima, but not before saying goodbye to Coqui first.

We will miss all our of dear friends that we made in the Cusco region:  Coqui, the rad climber dude who owns a sweet hostel and a whole herd of llamas.  Elder, the chill guy who runs the camping in Ollantaytambo, and knows how to lead an awesome sweat lodge.  Last but not least, Jack, the goofy bro from Austin, Texas, who loves to laugh and have a good time.  I will miss all those friends and everyone else who made living in the Sacred Valley so special.  I hope to visit them all again the next time I return!

By the time we got to the Cusco Bus Station Monday night, all the buses back to Lima were full so we had to grab tickets for Tuesday morning.  In the meantime, we grabbed a cheap hostel, ate some dank Chifa food, and bought a bootlegged copy of World War Z to watch.  We awoke the next morning, packed up on snacks for the bus ride, then hit the road at 11 A.M.  The 22-hour bus ride was exhausting to say the least, especially weaving our way up and down the mountains and valleys, yet somehow we both survived the ordeal.  We made it into Lima at around 9 A.M. today, took a taxi to Surco, and then called up Luis to let us in the house.  We aren't exactly thrilled to be back in Lima, but it is nice to have somewhere familiar to stay.

I plan on spending the next few days here, chilling and getting all my business in order before heading to Huaraz where Duncan, Vai, and more mountains await!

Check in next time to hear of my adventures in the Cordilleras Blancas!  Chao!

Post birthday post....

Thank all of you who wished me a happy birthday yesterday or kept me in their thoughts.  It feels great knowing that there are so many dear friends and family members that care so deeply about me, and I'm very grateful.

Yesterday, Simon and I ended up waking up very early because we are sleeping in the tent again (all the rooms in the hostel got filled).  We hung out a bit, went to the market to pick up some fruit and snacks, then took a bus back to Curva del Diablo to finish up those routes.  It was my day to lead, so I started with a route to the right that was around a 5.10a.  About two thirds up the way, I came upon a slightly loose section of rock and a foot hold broke off, causing me to fall a couple of feet.  I came out of it completely intact, just a a little frustrated that I blew the on-sight.  The next route I led was a 5.11 slab with a couple run-out bolts.  Lastly I, on-sighted this amazing 30m 5.12a to finish up the birthday sends!

We caught a bus back to Llama Pack and got cleaned up to go to dinner.  In honor of it being my 19th year around the sun, I decided to treat us to a delicious meal at Kaia restaurant.  We ate some righteous food, drank mint-ginger lime-aid, and some of the best ice cream I've ever tasted.  We then went back home to rest and download our photos.

Lately, we've just been hanging out at Llama Pack, climbing new routes, and helping Coqui with the occasional task.  We've been clearing out trails with machetes for the past few days, which has been fun work.  Today we're going to help Coqui build a door for the llama refuge with the wood he cut down.  Tomorrow, we plan on heading back to the Cactus Slab to retrieve Simon's passive gear that we've been using for anchors.

This is our last weekend in the Sacred Valley together.  Monday, we head back to Lima from Cusco.  Perhaps Huaraz will be the next destination to meet up with Duncan and Vai and do some climbing in the Cordilleras Blancas y Negras.