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Dispatch: Acclimatizing and Scoping Outside of Huaraz
Hello Mountain Zone, this is Wade McKoy reporting from the immaculate, flowering gardens of the Andino Hotel in Huaraz, Peru. The weather is fine and, though we are in winter, it's pleasant and warm. Today, for altitude acclimatization, we hiked to Laguna Shurup — I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that right — Shurup, elevation 15,000 feet. We rode to the trailhead in a small van for several miles on a bumpy singletrack. We could have walked to the trailhead almost as fast, but I wonder if all those ferocious little dogs that herded our van through the endless villages would have eaten us alive. Bouncing along, we watched the brightly dressed Quechua Indians hauling loads of grass and driving small herds of cattle and sheep. Every time I asked for permission to photograph them or simply raised the camera, they immediately responded with gestures that needed no interpretations, saying, 'It is most definitely not okay to take my picture.' I'm sure we'll work through this, in time. And with the invaluable help of Tarivio, our Peruvian guide, but for now, though it's agonizing at times, I'm happy enough just to watch. At the end of a two-hour hike up a moderately steep trail, through treeless highlands, massive moraines and rocky steeps, the lake revealed her turquoise waters, pooled at the base of Nevado... Hey, how do you pronounce this? ... Nevado Huamanrita, an 18,000 foot — plus a few hundred — foot-tall pyramid. Through the steep, snow-fluted face, Moss saw a descent route he wanted to ski. While he scoped the 60-degree, steep face and dreamed of ski runs for which he would someday return, a shirtless Bissell went scrambling across the smooth granite, 55-year-old Turibo took a nap, Porter took notes and I fiddled around with my cameras. Jake, our American guide, stayed back in Huaraz to pick up a few last minute food stuffs. We're actually pretty glad to get shed of Huaraz for the day. It's a mix of crumbling streets and new pavement, tumbled down shanties and newly fashioned and even luxurious places — quite confusing, at least to my perception. But, some light was shed on its condition, but we read about a great earthquake of 1970, which killed 30,000 people in Huaraz alone — about half its population — and completely destroyed about 90 percent of the town. This helps explain the current mix of dilapidation and renovation. So much more could be done, however, if the town's gold mines weren't being sacked by the multinational corporation, Barrick, who takes all the gold back to Canada, except for the Peruvian government's share, which stays in Lima. This sounds a bit like history repeating itself; for in the 1500s, it was the Spanish Conquistadors who stole the Inca's gold. We learned about these things from Isabella, who has come back to her home town to teach Spanish. Her insight also explained why many of the local men have not been very friendly with us. As if the gold wasn't enough to steal, it seems like many of the foreigners also want Peru's most beautiful girls, and some of those girls are truly very, very beautiful. Well, enough of that. Tomorrow we begin the next phase of our mission. After the morning drive northbound on what will probably be another warm, sunny day, our loads will be packed on roughly 10 burros for the journey up-valley towards our objective: 19,775-foot Toqllaraju. I'll be carrying no load and limping along with a cane to nurse a sore leg that I banged a hole into by falling on a sharp rock today. A Peruvian doctor made a house call to our hotel on short notice, in the evening, and only charged $35 to thoroughly irrigate my wound and give it the thumbs up. No stitches needed, no problem. Since I heal quickly, I expect to continue to participate on this most excellent adventure.
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