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Lake Llanganuco
Best shot of the trip so far - we think.We decided to test our endurance and handling of altitude with a one-day trek into the Cordillera Blanca. We investigated a few options with Galaxia Expeditions (a small Huaraz based company with good guides who spoke English) and we plumped for a trek to Lake 69 - more than anything we were intrigued by the name, what wonders awaited us we could only imagine!
The day started early, a 6am rise followed by a 3 hour drive into the Huascaran National Park. On the way we were treated to a view of the spectacular Lake Llanganuco (Female Lake in Quechua the local language). Laura described it as aquamarine... I say turquoise - it matched Laura´s top. Another ascent winding up into the hills brought us to the start of our trek: with our backpacks, water bottles and packed lunches, we began. At the start, our guide told us we were at 3,600m; we´d been at altitude now for nearly 4 days so it didn´t feel so bad however we soon realised that whilst standing still at 3,600m was easy, hiking at that altitude soon proved to be a bit of a handful.
The first major ascent across the rugged
mountain side took us past spectacular waterfalls along winding rocky paths with sheer drops just a few feet to our side. Foolishly we forgot to eat breakfast and so it wasn´t long before the hike took an early toll on our legs... Along came banana power; not quite Eric but the effect was not dissimilar, a few scoffs and we were clambering like mountain goats (sort of, it was a dramatic improvement anyway). We reached the first pass at 4,100m passing a small nameless green lake (Lake 68 maybe). We were then treated to a flattish section of the valley with views of Mount Huascaran. This section of the walk felt so easy; after climbing for 500m it was a breeze on the flat however we saw the steep rocky path up ahead and the task soon focussed the mind.
The final climb up to the final altitude of 4,500m was tough... no scratch that, it was bloody tough. It required several stops to regain our breath; the altitude was really taking its toll, even drinking left us out of breath! We pushed on, our guide encouraged us all the way and after snaking back and forth for almost
an hour, we made it to the summit of the climb where we were greeted by the spectacular sight of the bright blue Lake 69 beneath the towering Mount Chacraraju with its snow capped peaks disappearing into the clouds. At this point, even whilst resting, the effects of being at 4,500m were noticeable on our faces (especially Laura´s which had swollen during the climb along with her fat little fingers). A quick lunch and we began the descent.
It was only after we started to clamber back down the path that we realised how far and how high we´d come. As we returned we kept looking back over our shoulders and each time we would be staggered at how high we´d climbed. I think during the ascent, when you´re focussing so much on each step and trying to lock out the pain, you don´t take in the scale of the climb or even appreciate the scenery as much as it deserves. It´s not quite Ranulph Fiennes but we´re still elated with our achievement.
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Isobel
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Wow!
Hey guys Your trip looks absolutely amazing. Am green (or should that be turquoise?) with envy. Keep up the blog - it's a great distraction from grey old London... Love Iso. xxxx