Peru Part 1
- Ishinca Valley, Ancash, Peru
- 30th June — 6th July 2024
- Words by Jim
- Photos by Jim & Ryan
After spending six days acclimatising in Huaraz (3,100m) with day hikes to Laguna Radian (3,900m) and Laguna Churupita (4,600m), we felt prepared to venture into the mountains proper.
We chose the Ishinca Valley for its diverse range of objectives and the presence of a manned refuge at base camp. Given this was our first foray into a true high-altitude environment, having a refuge provided a (perhaps psychological) safety margin. In Peru, there is no formal mountain rescue service and no helicopter assistance, so the refuge offered us some peace of mind.
Our objective was to traverse Ishinca (5,530m), ascending the northwest slopes and descending the southwest ridge which is all easy “walking” terrain. Following that, we wanted to try a technical climb on the northeast face of Ranrapalca (6,162m).
We organised logistics through the Casa de Guias (guides’ office) that helps independent climbing teams. The logistics were quite simple — a taxi from town to the mountains, and hiring our Burros and Arriero (donkeys and donkey driver) which cost a total £120 for the round trip. Without the guide’s office doing it all for us I think it would have been rather difficult and probably way more expensive.
Day 0 — Packing
I woke up in the middle of the night with a real bad stomach and diarrhoea. Assuming food poisoning, I decided to start taking Buscopan to stop it in its tracks.
We bought supplies, sorted and packed. 2 duffels and 2 large rucksacks, ~70 kg total weight! Probably too much stuff…
Day 1 — Walk to Base Camp
Our taxi picked us up from the apartment at 7am and drove us into the mountains. Base camp is at 4400m and is about a 10km walk with 700m ascent from the trail head.
The walk was tough and we both felt the altitude way more than we were expecting to.
Day 2 — At Base Camp
Almost zero sleep and both of us seriously fucked by the altitude… RHR ~100 bpm (mine is normally ~55). All we did was lie in the tent feeling shit, hydrate and try to eat. Managed to go for a little potter around after taking some altitude medicine (Diamox), Ibuprofen and Coca tea.
Day 3 — At Base Camp
Another night of terrible sleep for both of us. Although starting to feel better in terms of altitude, my stomach was in knots. I hadn’t had a shit since we left town, and everything I ate felt like it was just sitting there, going nowhere. The food we had brought — high-energy but stodgy — made eating very difficult for me.
To improve our rest, we decided to set up the bivouac tent and sleep separately. We also treated ourselves to dinner at the refuge, hoping it would lift our spirits and help settle my stomach, perhaps even prompting a much-needed toilet break.
The day was warm and sunny and we spent most of it lazing around with a few short walks through the meadow. I even washed in the river, which perked me up.
Day 4 — Hike to Ishinca/Ranrapalca high camp
I slept much better and my stomach finally settled, so we decided to hike to high camp and back. While technical climbing up to 6,100m is out of the question for this trip, we still wanted to see if we could do Ishinca. Therefore, we needed to acclimatise to higher altitudes and assess the condition of the mountain.
The hike was 10km with 650m ascent (round trip), and it was quite challenging, especially the final 150 metres where I felt like a zombie. This took me higher than I have ever been before to 4950m.
At high camp, we met a pair of Argentinian climbers and spent some time chatting. We shared pictures from our guidebook about the northeast face of Ranrapalca, which they planned to climb after Ishinca but had little information on. We had a good laugh about how we thought our experience climbing in Scotland and the Alps would prepare us for the big mountains!
Despite the tough hike, we both felt relatively good and decided to aim for Ishinca over the next 2 days. Our plan was to hike back to high camp and then summit the next day.
To give ourselves the best chance of success, we decided to sleep in the higher refuge — which is unmanned and similar to a bothy — instead of using the bivouac tent. This would mean carrying less weight and make it considerably less unpleasant to get out of bed and gear up at 4 a.m.
After examining the northwest slopes, we concluded it wasn’t a goer; the retreating glacier had made them much steeper and open than in any of our guidebooks. The southwest ridge appeared to be the safest and easiest route for us to reach our first summit of the trip.
By the time we returned to base camp, our friends Bert and Alvin had arrived and set up their tents with us. It was nice to have a larger base camp crew!
I tried eating one of my high-calorie dehydrated meals (a 1,000-kcal bolognese), but just two spoonfuls set my stomach churning again. So, it was back to ramen and white bread.
Day 5 — Hike back to high camp
I finally managed to take a shit, which was semi-solid at first but quickly turned into diarrhoea. I started taking Imodium and, in hindsight, I should have done this on Sunday instead of jumping straight to more hard-core meds — lesson learned.
We hiked back to high camp, this time to spend the night in preparation for summiting Ishinca the following day. Bert and Alvin joined us to aid their acclimatisation and to stash some gear for their own climbing attempt in a few days.
I traded one of my 1,000-kcal meals with Alvin for one of his 500-kcal ones, which was just mashed potatoes and minced beef, hoping it will be easier for me to eat — a good deal for both of us.
Despite carrying approximately 15 kilograms in our packs, the hike today went smoothly. I felt much better in terms of altitude, and even the last 150m of ascent wasn’t as much of a slog as it had been yesterday. I actually felt pretty good upon arrival!
Day 6 — Summit Day!
Ryan was sick in the middle of the night however I slept surprisingly well! Alarm at 4am to start moving at 5 as it’s actually not that big of a day (relatively) and navigating the moraine is the most complicated part so being in it for dawn was our plan.
I’d started the day in softshell + hardshell pants but within 30 minutes had to stop and take the hardshell ones off! I also took off my R1 Air leaving just my base layer, windshirt and hardshell on top.
The moraine was indeed a pain in the ass — gaining too much height, losing the cairns etc. it was a real slog.
Once onto the glacier there were some small crevasses in the lower reaches but it was dry so easy to navigate. Only one large one we needed to cross via a snow bridge but it was a big boy (3m or so thick) so no belay was taken.
Once we reached the wet section, there was a well-trodden path that led us to a large snow bridge. The Argentinians had warned us about a risky bridge that could be easily bypassed on the right, so we assumed this was it. The crevasse beneath was enormous, and we couldn’t assess the quality of the bridge from our position below. Seeing a track leading to the right, we decided to follow it.
Unfortunately, this path led us to a dead end, with huge crevasses on the left and a snow-covered bergschrund against the rocky crest on the right. We considered forging our own path back to the main trail but quickly decided this was unwise. We retraced our steps and rejoined the main path. It turned out that the large snow bridge was huge and solid, so it probably wasn’t the one the Argentinians had mentioned. Perhaps they were referring to the earlier bridge we had crossed but assessed differently.
After this, the climb turned into a straightforward but gruelling slog. And when I say slog, I mean it was horrendous! We found ourselves in a relentless cycle: walk for a minute, rest for a minute, walk for a minute, rest for a minute. This went on for what felt like hours.
As we neared the summit, we encountered another team descending. They had come up via the northwest slopes, which had been our original plan, and their feedback made it clear that we had made the right decision to avoid that route. They described it as super steep and very open, requiring two ice axes at certain points. They also warned us about the cornice we would need to navigate to reach the summit.
The cornice to reach the summit was indeed the (very short) crux (Scottish I) which I led, placing 1 screw then a 1 screw belay at the top (my rack consisted of 2 screws, 1 stake and some slings and lockers so not much to play with!), bringing Ryan up on an Italian hitch.
Once on the summit we hugged, took some pictures, had a drink and snack then got the fuck outta there — all in the space of about 5 minutes.
Ryan descended first, still secured to the Italian hitch, and placed an extra screw to protect my descent. We then hoofed down the well-trodden trail until we reached the dry section, where we slowed our pace. We opted for the less steep side, avoiding the snow bridge we had crossed earlier, which had now been exposed to the sun for hours.
There were quite a few small crevasses, but because the glacier was dry, they were easy to navigate only crossing one small snow bridge. If the lower reaches had been wet, the crossing would have been much slower and more daunting, I think.
The way back through the moraine was a breeze; it seems we simply missed the obvious trail earlier in the day!
- Hut to Gaclier: 2.5 hours
- Glacier to summit: 3 hours
- Summit to Moraine: 1 hour
Once back to the hut, I crawled into my sleeping bag for about 30 minutes until it felt like my body was starting to shut down so I forced myself to get up, eat, and pack. The descent back to base camp was fairly rapid but painful.
Back to base camp, we were totally burst, with nothing left in the tank. I returned the high-refugio keys and bought a couple of bottles of spring water and Coke, which helped revive us enough to force down some ramen. Back into my sleeping bag at 7pm.
Day 7 — Return to town
After 12 hours in bed — though nowhere near that much sleep — all of us gathered around the table. Bert and Alvin had climbed Urus (5,400m) the previous day in a single push from base camp, and they were even more exhausted than Ryan and I.
I still had no appetite, but a coffee, a small tin of condensed milk, and Marlboro Lights all around perked me right up and gave me the energy to break camp.
On the walk back down to the road I rolled my ankle but was able to stand up fine and was walking pain free within 5 minutes…
Back in town
It’s amazing how quickly you recover once at a lower altitude however… my ankle is worse than I thought.
Hopefully a good few days of RICE will set me right for the remainder of our time here but we shall have to wait and see. Ryan is being an absolute legend in looking after me (going to the shops and cooking us good quality recovery food!).
Lessons learned
- Lower your ambitions when increasing the scope of your environment
- Be flexible
- Sleep higher more gradually when acclimatising
- When weight into base camp isn’t important — bring a tent each
- Think through and plan nutrition more carefully
