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Hey guys, got my very own Toching the Void right here, and I´ll start from the very beginning.
As I said in the last journal, Martin, Matt and I planned to climb Mount Pisco (5,752masl) without a guide and we were going to do it Monday. We spent a lot of time doing a lot of prep work for it, this is serious business, we were venturing into the realm of mountaineering for the first time and it´s no easy step to take. We spent two days sat in Cafe Andino poring over topographical maps, sketches, route descriptions and humorous stories of a dinner party at the summit. We needed to rent a fair few bits, get some food in and a bigger pot to cook in!!!
Friday/ Saturday - We decided we´d do the trip over three days, although the travel companies try and tell you you can do it in two. We now know that is an impossible task. The first day we´d go up to base camp, roughly 4665masl, spend the night there and then the next day head on over to morraine (a huge boulder field of glacial debris) camp, only about 500m higher just for the extra day acclimatising, as we saw from ice climbing thre was no way I could do the summit attempt in one shot.
We would leave morraine camp at about 1am and hopefully make the summit by sunrise.
We met later to draw up the shopping list, and although the route looks really clear from the photos, maybe sketch a map or write a few route pointers. It´s all very exciting planning everything in advance, more carefully than normal anyway!! Extra food, pro´s and con´s of kit, how light we´ll go on summit day in case the weather turns. We´ve definately decided to walk roped together, although speaking to one lad who´s done it twice there seems to be no need. But it´s nice to take the extra precaution.
Spoke to Russ who had returned that night. They didn´t make it past base camp, all three in their group were knocked for six by the altitude and they even had a donkey to take their gear up to base camp. But then there´s nothing you can do about that. I feel bad for them.
Sunday - and everywhere is closed!!! Matt managed toget the rental shop owners to open up for us late afternoon and we rented rope, cordelette, carabiners, mountain boots, crampons, harnesses, gaiters and gloves. Still undeterred when we were told the bus up to the drop off point doesn´t leave til Wednesday we decided to taxi up there, whatever the cost and just have to get up early tomorrow for the rest of the bits.
Monday - We sped around getting well breakfasted and the food shopping in - including chocolate bars for the summit, what luxury!!! The taxi up there got us to drop off point in good time, well a midday start wasn´t the most ideal but we still had plenty of daylight left and it was only a four hour walk max to base camp.
It was so hot and we were quite frankly carrying far too much weight. A donkey would have been a great idea as we could have conserved our energy for at least a day (they can´t get accross to morraine field to second camp), yet we got there with only a few minor complaints (hurt foot, knee, legs etc) ant pitched up after a few rounds of hellos at the tents. There were quite a few people there.
Tuesday - Broke camp quite late, again it was only another 4 hours to morraine camp accross a huge boulder valley, with steep sandy sides that just liked to give way of their own accord. We heard (and saw one) enormous rockfalls every half hour or so from the surrounding peaks, it didn´t feel a very safe place to be!!!!
We were at camp just after lunch and settled down to relax and recuperate before our 1am start up the mountain. We made particularly great aquaintances with three Norwegians who had already been to morraine camp once, having been forced to return to lower base camp because of altitude. They were a great laugh. Although we couldn´t see the summit from there, we could see the footprint starting up the first section of snow. Not long to go!!
Camp was quite crouded, not normally our cup of tea, with, including guides for some, 14 people in total all ready to make the summit push that night. However, the feeling of cameraderie and mutual understanding of purpose was great. Pisco is an extremely accessible peak, yet not many go there without knowing what to expect. Everyone was in bed for 6!!!
Wednesday - we woke at 12:30 and decided to get up and make breakfast, even though we hadn´t planned to leave til 2, there was no way we could go back to sleep (those of us who did sleep) and so we left at half 1. Each group was leaving at their own time - some had gone at half 11, the Norwegians weren´t leaving til 4 so the mountain didn´t feel too crowded.
It took us an hour to reach the snowline from camp, another hour to fit crampons (mine broke) and rope up but finally we were on our way at about 3am. Matt was leading, myself in the middle and Martin bringing up the rear. Hearsay was right, we didn´t need a guide, the path was incredibly well defined and the half moon so bright we hardly needed the torches. It´s amazing how long everything seems in the dark, it was a long and winding trail. There were some incredibly steep sections of ice (45 degrees doesn´t seem much now but then it was a killer), several ice bridges over crevasses, some obvious, others no more than a dimple on the snow. And the cold. I have never known cold like it.
Part way up what we guessed was the 3m ice wall we had read about Martins crampons fell off, the bane of hiring gear, they had fitted fine in the shop (as had mine) but now they just decided to act up and we spent a very long cold time putting them back on. Fortunately Matt´s botch job of tying mine on was holding.
Not long after that we met a group of four coming back our way, their girl had go hyperthermia and there was nothing else they could do but turn back. The cold was intense, but as we topped the ridge they had just come over the wind came ripping over, taking the temperature down to, what Martin guessed and was later guesstimate/confirmed by the Norwegians, to -20 degrees.
On went my extra layer of windproof. Martin put his down jacket on but already we had let our core body temperatures fall too low. We´d not eaten enough food or been drinking water either to help and not much further on we ended up huddled and waiting for over half an hour for the sun to rise, hopefully changing the direction of the wind and warming things up a bit. It was at this point I had lost all feeling in my fingers and they just weren´t waming up, no matter what we did, so Martin took off my gloes and discovered they were absolutely soaked through, i was lucky i didn´t have frostbite already and he bunged them in his pocket and gave me his gloves til they warmed up. Matt had given me his down jacket, I have no idea how but he had managed to stave off the cold through vigorous climbing and situps when we stopped.
What I saw of the sunrise (my hat was forever slipping over my eyes and I was still so cold i was hunched into a ball, despite thermals, baselayer, microfleece, two down jackets and a windproof) was amazing. And, hoping that conditions (although they were near perfect already) would improve we pushed on.
I have no conception of the passage of time after this point but it didn´t seem like much further on we decided we really needed to sit and have a proper food break as we´d been going for 4and a half hours, and really needed to energy. We had no idea how far we were from the summit and were so incredibly fatigued, it was taking several bursts of stop and go to get to the top of even some of the shortest and gentlest sections.
Matt dug us a snow cave to shelter us from the wind and here came the crunch. Do we turn back? Martin couldn´t talk very well, a sure sign of the cold and I, despite all the clothes had gone past the point of feeling the cold and was falling asleep on his shoulder. I knew before, I knew then and I know now, that when you reach that point in cold condidtions you are in a lot of trouble. Hyperthermia, after it´s got you to the falling asleep stage can be deadly. Fortunately Matt had kept a level head and the decision was made to turn back when I couldn´t reply to his questions and just dozed further. The conversation just seemed miles away to me, i hardly heard a thing.
Martin is so used to me saying ´im cold´even when we´re walking down the street he didn´t take my feeble protests as seriously as they were, and it was my fault for being too stubborn to realise, let alone be able to articulate just how cold I was.
But I desperately wanted to go on. We all did, we´ve never turned back from anything, but maybe this was the time we had to swallow our pride and honour the mountains decision it didn´t want us up there (sounds rediculous but I´m a firm believer in that).
At this point (I´m relating much of this from what I´ve been told, i hardly had any recollection of much of this part) two Germans and their guide passed us, Matt asked how far it was to the summmit, and the reply was only 30mins. Half an hour? We couldn´t even bring ourselves to think about being able to descend let alone push on for another half an hour. That´s something you forget about, do you have the energy to descend once you´ve burnt yourself out getting up?
Our decision to return was cast aside when they yelled down only seconds later ´its sunny up here, and there´s no wind´ This is what we had been hoping for and up we scrambled, spirits rejuvinated. It´s amazing what sunshine can do.
It seemed only minutes after that after traversing the easiest part of the ascent so far that the Germans were coming back towards us - they were coming back!!! that meant we were close!!!!! Only two minutes away in fact and we summited Mount Pisco 8am. What a feeling!!!
5752 metreas above sea level, with 360 degree views of the Cordillera Blanca mountain range lit up in the glorious morning sunshine, some towering above, others below. And beyond that more mountains, as far as you could see, dotted with small aquamarine lagunas. Absoultuely phenomenal. And so worth the effort. I hope the pictures can convey just a little bit of how studding it was.
We were joined by two of the Norwegians not long after, unfortunately their girls had to turn back only 200m from the summit. Out of 14 who climed that day, only 7 of us made it to the top.
We spent just as long coming down as we did getting up, the views were awe inspiring, we could see the crevasses in all their deadly deep glory, the sun making the ice blue and the icicles gleam. Some of the downward sections were do steep we practiced reppelling down, with makeshift anchors in the snow out of ice axes. I felt so elated but humbled at the same time, and we returned to camp at half 12, handshakes all round with our new comrades.
Thursday - We slept late, met the Norwegians for a bite to eat at the refugio at base camp and returned to the road for a taxi and then colectivo back to Huaraz for a well deserved hot shower. Tomorrow we´ll meet them in Cafe Andino for a celebratory drink and contemplate what it means next, now that we are officially Mountaineers.
So much love to you all, especially Mum, Dad, Aless, Sam, Phoebe, Nana and all the rest of the family who are reading. X
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nell
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:O
ahhh!! dont do that to me!! you are NOT ALLOWED TO DIE IN PERU. its not even up for debate, ill be very angry if u do, im so pleased matt and martin were able to help tho, cant actually contemplate what id do without u, so happy ur ok and u still managed to enjoy urself! much loveness xxxxxxx