The beginning

Ian is a friend, teacher and guide. It is from him that I've learned how to ice climb. Several years ago, he asked me about my climbing experience. I had done some easy mountaineering and easy rock climbing (scrambling really), and that's about it. At one point, he asked me if I had ever considered climbing in another country/continent.



I had just learned to ice climb and was thrilled with the whole experience. I couldn't imagine expending a lot of time and money on a mountaineering trip that didn't have some element of ice climbing in it.



Now, several years later, several ice seasons and one trip up the Coe Glacier on Mt. Hood later, Ian contacted me about a trip up Alpamayo and Quitaraju in Peru. Both summits are over 19,000 feet. Both require multiple pitches of grade IV ice climbing. Ian is pretty confident I'm up to the task, but it's gonna require training. Some of the days are gonna be long. And, I've never climbed at that sort of altitude.



This is gonna be an exciting ride.

Alpamayo

I should have done this a few months ago. Back when Ian contacted me about a possible ice climbing/mountaineering trip to Peru. At the time, back in October 07, I didn't even think about it. I spent my time thinking about the trip, discussing it with my wife (who immediately said, "You've gotta do this!") and wondering if I could do this.

But, now, at the start of April 08, I'm finally getting this blog together. I have about 90% of my gear together. I'm currently in the middle of training for the trip and am recovering from pulling some sort of butt muscle at the climbing gym last week.

All in all, things are progressing and still I wonder if I can do it.

I'll add the back information to the trip in future blogs, cuz otherwise this will run on forever.