Ice is done for 08-09

It was an awesome year. Cody was unbelieveable. The weather was perfect and the ice amazing. Ouray was life changing. I went Leashless in Ouray and I'm never going back.

Even more amazing: The freezer's ice maker decided to start working again!

Now pictures.
Cody:





And Ouray

Ok, I got plans

Ice this year will be 3 days in Cody, WY, followed by 3 days in Ouray and then 2 weekend trips to the 'daks. Nice.

What to do.

Well, Doesn't look like Peru is in the picture for next year. I don't know what I'm gonna do. I want to get some ice climbing in this winter, but nothing is firming up. Training is going along, the hamstring is working itself out, the hand is working well but I just can't get anything together. Not sure what I'm gonna do. I gotta get something together.

Continuing training

Well, on Sept 12, I had carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand. I had the right done a year and a half ago, and just before the trip, the left was acting up. I had it injected prior to the trip. That did very well through the trip and into August, but by the end of August, my wrist was acting up again. As of today, it's about 90% and I've been climbing on it for a little over a week.

Currently, I'm trying to figure out plans for an ice trip this winter out to Ouray. Gonna try to get a trip to the 'daks figured out too.

The markets have crashed this week, but thankfully, it doesn't affect my day to day life. I feel very badly for those who are severely affected by this.

Marmot Layering

Heh, this link was shot at col camp. Adrian is demonstrating the Marmot gear he uses.Marmot link

What's what

Well, after testing myself and seeing what all I'm able of doing, it's clear to me that I've improved strength and endurance of hiking at the expense of speed. My hamstrings are still a little weak and still need rehab. I'm working at getting back to the speed/endurance of running I used to be at (10K at a 7:30 min/mile pace) while improving flexibility and strength of my hamstrings

What's next?

That's right. What is the next challenge? Suggestions? I'm thinking of returning to Peru to do Artesonraju and possibly go back to finish Quitaraju. I'm thinking next summer. Looking for suggestions on training and possible problems with the plan.

One week after returning

For the first 3 days after returning, I slept like the dead. Unfortunately, I'd wake up in the morning as tired as when I went to bed. I suspect I had been running on sleep deprivation for a week or so. By Thursday, I woke up and finally felt like myself.

Additionally, I found that I had pulled my right quadriceps at some point. It showed up when I tried to run and within a half dozen strides, I was completely lame. At a week out, I'm just now able to jog without pain. I figure it'll be another week or so before I'll be able to actually run. Climbed today. Felt good.

Travel in Peru.

So, driving the roads between Lima, Huaraz and Cashapampa runs the gamut. The main road out of Lima headed to Huaraz is a normal, well paved high speed highway. However, once you turn inland from the coast towards Huaraz, the road becomes a two lane road, like most backroads in the US. After a few miles- however, the road begins to deteriorate. By the time you reach the switchbacks that start to climb the Andes, the pavement has numerous potholes devolving into broken pavement and eventually becoming a mixtgure of broken pavement, patches of gravel/dirt road and widened dirt sboulders to allow traffic to rnun in both directons. The following clip is a two minute clip from the actual ride back to Lima. I was moved to take the video after missing a chance to take a picture of a unique road warning indicating a problem ahead: a hornrd cow skull propped up against some rocks in the middle of the road. Be forewarned, Dramamine may be needed for this clip.

Road from Huaraz to Lima


Of course this is a one-minute clip which approximates about 3 hours of the trip. It wouldn’t be a big deal if it weren’t the only viable route to Lima from Huaraz—a new road to the coast from Huaraz is currently under construction.

The road from Huaraz to cashapampa is generally in slightly better condition, but has tighter switchbacks and narrower lanes, Oh, and much of it is dirt road. Overall, if you don’t get carsick, and you trust your driver, the drive is highly entertaining. La carretta esta estmulenta.

Josh

The big man at Llamacorral

Josh is about the same age as Adrian. He's a big, tall guy. Amazingly strong and he has tremendous endurance. Plus, he's a wild man on a mountain bike. While at first blush, one might think Josh is really a 21 year old, it becomes pretty clear pretty quickly that he has an uncanny ability to make good decisions. Unlike me, Josh looks for the most fun option first and then decides if that's the right option, or should he go for something more toned down. It's good to have someone around who pulls me out of the "safe" decision mode.

What's more important is his high level of positive energy. When it gets to be "go time", he's fully firing and ready to jump in both feet first. On virtually every difficult part of this trip, Josh has carried more than his fair share of the load--which helped me continue on.

What was a surprise to me was how good Josh's Spanish is. He was able to fit right in. Does Josh have an Achilles heel? Si. Please see the section post on "Travel in Peru". Nothing more to be said.

I suspect he's going to have a long and very rewarding mountaineering career.

Adrian

Adrian with "Peruvian Mountain Dog"
Adrian’s an interesting guy. 32`years old with a definite grunge style to his appearance. Tall and skinny, he doesn’t look like the typical outdoorsy professional guide—More like a former bass player from a Seattle grunge band. Very easy going about most things but clearly has a basic plan for how, where and when things should be happening. When things are falling behind a bit or need adjusting, he seems to have connections thoughout Huaraz and the cordillera blanca that seamlessly get things straightened out with no sense of scrambling. For instance, once we returned from Cashapampa, we quickly cleaned up and headed to Siam los de andes for best Thai food ever. Around 9 pm, Alfredo arrives to let us know that our transport to Lima for the next morning cannot drive because some special permit is needed. The 8 hour trip is critical to getting Josh and I home. Somehow, between 10 pm and 8 am the next morning, Adrian has arranged a new private transport with an emergency backup of professional bus tickets just in case the private transport doesn’t work out somehow—all the while stopping off to say goodbye to friends in Huaraz and drinking pisco sours with Josh and I in celebration until well after midnight.

He’s been active in the Huaraz scene for so long that every restaurant we go to, he’s greeted like family that hasn’t back to visit in a long time. The kids of the owners treat him like a favorite uncle. Our plans for after returning to base camp change when our arriero invites us to his home for cuy after we ride horses back to Cashapampa. Once there Tony and his wife asked Adrian to be their daughter’s godfather. It was an unbelievably positive and intimate experience, and I feel honored to have been invited into it.

The funny thing is, despite his laid back, unperturbed exterior, when things begin to go pearshaped, he quickly and subtly switches into a serious driven professional guide mode. Suddenly you realize he’s taking control of the situation, making decisions, setting up constituency plans and evaluating his resources. On the day that he and Josh summited Quitaraju, a Peruvian guide for the German team took a 60 meter fall when the anchor he was rappelling from failed. Despite being tired and almost back to col camp, he helped assess the situation since the Peruvian team didn’t have a radio to contact their Austrian IFMGA`certified guide. Upon returning to camp, Adrian told us, it was unclear when we’d be descending, but cautiously continue breaking down camp. He also informed me that I may be pressed into service as a physician and asked if I would be able to do so if needed. In the meantaime, he conferred with the Austrian guide and obtained phone numbers and contacts for emergency helicopter transport if needed. Once he saw the injured guide descending on his own, he was willing to start our descent to basecamp. Definitely not just a bass player from the Seattle grunge scene.

A whole lotta catching up

Back to basecamp. The trip up to moraine camp was hard, but doable. Going from moraine to col camp was probably the hardest physical work I've ever done. 50 lb pack, over glacier terraine and 2 pitches of ice climbing. We decided to wait one day to allow the massive German team to clear out before trying our summit bid. The weather turned kinda bad and we waited until 11 am when there was a little clearing to make our bid.

Alpamayo



As has been the case, Josh was massively strong again today. I was sucking wind by the time we got to the first pitch--not even sure if I could climb. Thankfully, I was able to ice climb more efficiently than I travel on glaciers. Spindrifts, horizontal snow and bad visibility were the general tenor, but we summitted around 5:30 pm.

Rappeling down, we had to deal the darkness for the last two pitches. To add to the fun, the trail was completely covered so we did a bit of exploring for our route home. Finally got back to camp at 10 pm.

Quitaraju


I knew I was out for Quitaraju. It would be in 2 days and after the summit, we'd have to pack 50 lb packs back to basecamp. I knew I couldn't do it. Josh and Adrian left around 1 am. I saw them almost back to camp at 12:30 pm, but then they turned around. Turns out a Peruvian guide had fallen 60 M when an anchor pulled out. Adrian returned to the base of the mountain to see what he could do from there. They finally rolled in around 2:30 pm and looked beat.

Team Alpenglow on the return


Twas great to get back to basecamp, easy breathing and real food.

The food is amazing. Alfredo has been feeding us 3 hots a day plus afternoon cappuccino. Breakfasts have included omletes with sausage, eggs with potatoes, and pancakes. Each day there’s coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice. Lunch always consists of a soup (today was cream of pumpkin), rice and a main dish of traditional Peruvian food. Today was beef with potatoes, yams, and some other squash. Dessert is usually canned fruit, although last night was pudding. Dinners are similar to lunch, just with larger portions. Tomorrow, Alfredo will be bringing up dinner to moraine camp.

Getting naranjas ready for Jugo de naranja


Today was a rest day. We spent many hours on basic systems, how we’re going to climb together and rescue systems. I called Janene which was awesome. It might be the last call for a few days.

Today was a load haul to moraine camp, 4860 M (about 16200 ft). it took a couple hours to reach the site which is only about 1.5 miles away, but 2000 feet up. Uneventful hike, however, I`m now occasionally called El hombre antiguo de Alpamayo. On the pulse ox, I came in with strong numbers 83 O2 and 83 pulse. At base camp last night after dinner, my numbers were surprising, 92 O2 and pulse of 78, marked improvement over the numbers earlier in the day. When Adrian asked what we thought our numbers would be, I had joked “92”, he said, if your O2 is in the 90’s I’ll carry your pack. Pretty funny. Josh continues to be very strong. Lots of great stories being told. Rest day tomorrow, then the big push.