2 base camp

Today was a leisure hike up from just past llamacorral at 12400 to basecamp at 14200. Felt great, better than yesterday`s hike. Breakfast was great and then we headed out. It was hysterical to be passed by our pack of burros- mine was in the lead again of course. I shall refer to him as burro el mas rapido . After hiking up the valley, we turned left and entered the hanging valley and a series of switchbacks . At the top, was another plain where a scattered mix of burros cows and horses meandered along the river beds. In the background, Quitaraju, Alpamayo and Artesanraju stand over the valley. At basecamp, Alfredo has made an awesome lunch. It`s tough roughing it. Tomorrow is a gear haul to moraine camp.

Burro scratching


Arriero's dog


Something else

...and the hiking begins

A three hour drive on bad dirt roads (well 2 hrs on them after 1 hr on broken pavement.) we made final adjustments to pack and duffels and headed up the trail. We would meet the pack burros in Llamacorral later. Starting off at 9100 feet, we hiked pretty leisurely to llamacorral at 12000 feet in 3.5 hrs. Josh and Adrian hike much faster than me, but I maintained my pace of 2.7 mph. 15 minutes after arriving, MY burro arrived first, trotting in ahead of all the others. J and A walk faster, are faster on mtn bikes, out-eat me but by god, my burro was fastest. Feel great at 12500 feet. Finally got a chance to call janene on the sat phone. Really good to hear her voice, if only for a couple minutes. Once the sun is down,it gets cold fast

Mountain biking

Today was the first full day in Huaraz. To help acclimatize, we did some mountain biking. We were hauled up to 13K feet on the Cordillera Negra and then headed back into town on dirt roads and some single track trails. It was pretty hard for me, but with some coaching from Julio, I improved significantly over the day. Definitely gives me new found respect for the mountain bikers. The vegetation shows huge and I mean HUGE aloe vera plants, like 6 feet high and 10 feet across. The mountain ranges are awe inspiring and the sky is virtually cloudless. It felt like 70F today with bright sun. My idea of winter.

Tonight, we ate at an amazing Thai restaurant here. The husband is from Thailand, via California and has been here 11 years. His wife is Colombian and met him here in Huaraz. They ahve a place in Colombia near the Darian Gap and split time between Huaraz, Colombia and traveling to Thailand for ingredients (among other things). Really great food.

I feel great. There's a slight dry cough but more likely secondary to a little reactive airway disease. Head is totally clear. Tomorrow we drive to the trail head and start out for Llamacorral, leaving from Cashapampa.

Lima to Huaraz

Landed in Lima an hour late. Not bad for Newark. Oddest thing was, in the 2 seats next to me were two riders who are very good friends with my son. They were headed to Lima and then over to Machu Picchu and its sister city. Completely bizarre to fly to Peru with two people you indirectly know but had no idea would be traveling at all. It made for a very pleasant flight.

In Lima, Adrian spotted me right off. We had to wait about 1/2 hour more for Josh to arrive. Josh has some pretty amazing climbing experience in his past. Nepal, Rainier, Several 14K footers in Colorado. He's a mountain biker and does ice climbing. Really impressive. And very pleasant to be around. This is gonna be a good trip.

We stayed at a really nice hotel, El Patio, and got to see a bit of Lima, but not much. We left early the next morning for the 8 hour trip to Huaraz.

The drive starts out with barren landscape as in NO plants whatsoever. After a couple hours of the this (headed North up the coast), we start to climb a bit and start to see some native vegetation and some crops==sugarcane and corn mostly. We finally turned inland and started climbing up a series of switchbacks, all the time seeing more varied crops and farm animals. As the corn or peppers are harvasted, they're laid out on the ground in irregular swatches to dry. It makes for a patchwork of red, black and yellow over the farmland.

The ponies are very attactive and appear quite well cared for and well bred. I'm hoping the ponies we ride out are like these fellows. The look like great fun!

In Huaraz, we're staying at Olaza's. It is fantastic and close to everything we need to get to. Everywhere we stop, restaurants, shops, hotels, the owners greet Adrian like he's old family. It is awesome and really gives Huaraz a very friendly, inviting feeling.

Tres Dias

All packed. Batteries charged. Spare cards for the camera. Only need a power adaptor and to get to the airport on Sat.

Una semana

Feeling great. Climbing well. Hiking strong. Running freely. Got my technical clothes and boots packed. Crampons, treking poles, harness, prusiks, cordelette, biners, ice screw and Vthreader packed. Snacks, gels, camelbak, batteries, sterilizer, diamox, lomotil packed.

I'm getting excited.

Pics? You want pics?

Pretty Exciting Week.

Climbed well, ran pretty well, minimal hamstring hassles. BUT, Gregory messed up my order on duffels. Only sent one and I need 2. After contacting Moosejaw (bought through them), they were supposed to send me out another bag. BUT they delayed and then sent it ground. So, today they're overnighting me the second bag to make sure it gets here (haven't received the tracking info yet though). I'll check again tomorrow if I don't hear. What a freakin' hassle.

Then, and more dramatically, Janene was taken out by a couple of dogs who dislocated her patella. She's on injured reserves, but looks like no surgery needed. However, Hanna will probably have to drive me to the airport next week. As for me, I haven't done any more work on getting my stuff together. Maybe tomorrow. I'm just happy that Janene's going to have a short rehab and be back on her horse shortly.

Last interval training was today. Woot.

Major hike

Saturday was sort of a miscalculation. First, I slept in. Didn't get started on the hike until after 9 so I hit the heat of the day. I had planned on hiking around 10 miles with 30-40 pounds. However, I packed up and started out. It was slow going. When I got home, I had traveled 8 miles, almost entirely all up and down hill. I weighed in when I got home. 50 lb pack. Guess that's why it took 4 hours total time.

Picture time:

Time ticks on

3 weeks (or so). My strength is much greater. My hamstrings are still tender, but doing better. Running is hard, but hiking, lifting and climbing are not. I'm ready.


I think.

Hike tomorrow.

Sprints today

OK, today was sprints. Uphill. In the humidity and heat. The good news is, I cut 10 seconds of my sprint distance. Pretty happy with the work out today.

Progress!

Yesterday was the first major sign of tangible gains. At the gym, I flashed 2 V4 problems. Now usually I have to project V4, it often takes me a couple weeks to get them wired, so that is huge progress. Also, I was able to run up and down the campus board a couple of times. Time to get back to ice tool pull-ups however. The hamstrings are doing much better.

Been gardening to keep myself centered. That's been very fruitful.



Ha! Pun there.

Today's hike: That was weird...

'Twas an odd hike today. The original plan was 10 miles with a 45-50 lb pack. First off, today is the first day of truly hot, humid mid-Atlantic weather. Despite this, I still brought the full pack, with ice axes on back. After getting out to the powerlines, I head East towards the main road. So far, all is unremarkable.

The main road is 3 miles from the start, so when I get there, the plan was to cross the road and continue along the powerlines for another mile or so. However, as I'm standing there at the main road, waiting to cross, what should drive by, but a power company truck =8O

He hits the brakes and pulls into the very next driveway. Now maybe he was just reading meters, but after a couple minutes, he pulls out and drives away, missing all the other driveways. Gotta figure he called in to the office that he saw some guy walking along with a big pack and a coupla pickaxes on the back.

At this point the plan for the day changed. I just continued walking up the main until I came to a side road that heads back towards home, but deadends in the woods. I've wanted to see where exactly that pops out at, so I decided to bushwhack up to my little road through the woods.

When I got home, the GPS said 5.2 miles, which is ok, but a little shorter than I had planned. However, I really didn't want to have to explain to the power company folks why I was carrying axes on a huge backpack. The whole Peru story might not fly the first few times they heard it. Weird.

Pretty hard day

So, started the morning with a 3 mile hike carrying a 60 lb pack. Then, worked in the garden until the storms blew in. Did some welding and metalwork during the rain. at 5pm, the rain let up and still had the work out ahead. Sprint intervals. Man, I'm exhausted this evening...

Weekend of hiking

Well, back out to the powerlines this weekend. Saturday was a 10 miler with a 30+ pound pack. Lots of hills. Pictures from Saturday:






Today was 5 miles over the same teraine with a 40+ lb pack and no trekking poles.