The Mount Pisco roller coaster - Huaraz

UPDATE 06/09/2011 : VIDEO ADDED


(James Ley: 21st August 2011)

I had been thinking of climbing mount Pisco for a month, Vallunaraju had been a great experience but when I had finished it I knew something was missing. It had not satisfied my desire for a challenge that pushed me further physically and mentally than I have ever been pushed.

Sarah and I were planning our next destination so I had to throw the idea out there…..”why don’t we stay and climb Pisco??”..We had agreed previously it was Vallunaraju or Pisco, we could not afford both. The answer to my surprise was “ok, wohoo!!!”. I was so happy!

We had returned from The Way Inn lodge on the Saturday morning and we were going out for dinner as we had nothing in the hostel…. when it happened, Sarah stepped off a curb and fell. From her cries of pain it was pretty evident that the damage was going to be quite bad, it turned out to be what seemed to be a twist, we controlled the swelling by icing it in the restaurant and hoped for the best. We were so annoyed at the situation that we didn’t really speak to each other in the restaurant. So much for a romantic evening.

The day of the trip arrived, Sarah was being stubborn and said her foot was fine. We had to take the dreaded 2 ½ hour bus ride to Cebollapampa, the start point for the Laguna 69 trek and the 3 hour walk to our base camp.

The walking at altitude (4000m) was harder than I remembered, but 2 hours in to the walk we got our first glimpses of Pisco, all the emotions and the build-up started to stir; excitement, anticipation, fear of failure. Shit- this was a big one I though. Sarah and I starred at each other in ore. We also had 2 other guys on the tour with us, Vlad (originally from Russia, but living in Canada) and Jorge (from Spain) who also looked shocked at the looming climb.

Mount Pisco 5752 m

So at 7pm we all had a hearty dinner expertly cooked by our porter and then settled in our tents to try and get a few hours sleep until our alarms went off at 12 am. I lay in the tent staring at the canvas trying to imagine how I would feel when I got to the top assuming I made it….The next thing I knew I was awaking to the sound of Sarah’s alarm ‘Lady Gaga’, just what I wanted, it was time.

The walk from the base camp to the glacier would take between 2 – 3 hours, ascending from 4600 meters to 5100 meters, all by torch light. It was tough. We had to cross an old glacier field where moraine boulders the size of cars were scattered like pebbles for km’s and km’s.

The walk was very tiring, especially with back packs containing ice boots, crampons, ice axes, food and water. I started to wonder “if this part is this hard, am I going to manage the summit” and what about Sarah’s swollen ankle?

It was 20 minutes from the glacier when Sarah began to complain of her ankle hurting her, I coldly advised this journey was mind over matter and she just needed to have the right frame of mind. As the minutes past and she crawled over the boulders crying out in pain I realised there was no way she was going to make it to the summit. I saw the dream of reaching the summit slipping away, I knew Sarah was in physical pain with her ankle, however, I was aching inside that I would not achieve what I had dreamed of every day looking at the mountains.

As we reached the glacier I advised one of our guides that Sarah was in a bad way and would not make the glacier. At this point he advised I go ahead with the Vlad and Jorge  and leave Sarah with him. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place now, I didn’t want to leave Sarah but equally was so driven to achieve the goal that I knew it was an option. To my relief and gratitude Sarah was adamant that I should go on and she would be right behind just a little slower.

We roped up and prepared for the 700 meter ice ascent, I said goodbye to Sarah and deep down knew she wouldn’t be right behind me, I knew she would have to turn back and return to base camp alone. I pushed that to the back of my mind and selfishly tried to convince myself it would be ok, another part of my consciousness understood that I should return with her to help her…

As we stepped on to the glacier within 15 minutes the head lamps behind us (that had been Sarah) disappeared, we didn’t see them again for the entire trip. I kept turning around and looking to try to desperately see the lights, but they were never there. It turned out that she had stubbornly put on the crampons and had attempted to walk the glacier, but jarring the crampons into the ice where doing her ankle no good and she had to admit defeat. I was going to have to achieve this alone.

The walk was long and slow, after 2 hours we reached the most technical section of the climb, we needed to cross a crevasse and climb a fairly steep Ice wall. , I didn’t seem to have the same fear I felt the previous time. I felt stronger and more in control.

The final hour of the climb was going to be my biggest test, after 30 minutes of continual climbing I started to doubt in my mind why I was here, what was the point if Sarah was not here to share it with me…Every step began to burn my lungs, a feeling of nausea and dizziness began to overwhelm me. Every 10 steps I had to stop, sometimes I would kneel in the snow unable to look up. The thought that I had come so close, within 80 meters, but I may actually fail became very real.

I think it was these thoughts and these alone that kept me going. I was aching all over but knew it was mental. At 6.50 am, 3 hrs and 50 minutes after stepping onto the glacier we reached the summit.

As I looked up and realised I had done it I felt tears roll down my cheeks. I was not upset or unhappy or happy, I was just exhausted and overwhelmed by the whole situation. I think this may be the first time I have set myself such a goal and achieved it. There was also pain behind it however-Sarah was not there, I wished she was there to share this with me, but I knew she was looking up at me from the valley below.

The views out across the Cordillera Blanca were amazing, every way you looked were 6000 meter snow covered peaks, ironically we were the lowest mountain in sight! The Pisco summit sits 5752 meters above sea level, we had ascended 1100 meters in just 6 hours. This however was only half the story, we now had to descend 1100 meters back to base camp.

The thought started to run through my mind how exhausted I was, and that we had so far to go. Crevasses to cross, Ice walls to descend, and all in the day light when you can see the darkness that fills these caves. This time I would not have Sarah to help and talk me through it.

I started to eat as much as I could. I knew I was seriously low on energy, the climb had taken so much out of me: I was about ready to sleep. The descent was actually ok, we arrived off the glacier within 2 ½ hours. Ahead of us was another 2 hour walk across the moraine, but I knew at the end of that was Sarah, a big hug, a cup of tea and a place to finally rest.

The ice wall

We walked back in to camp at 11.15am, the climb had lasted 10 ½ hours. Anyone who competes in a sport or treks in the mountains knows how hard this amount of activity is and I was exhausted. All I could do for the next 5 hours was sleep and eat. I now know how mountaineers feel after a big summit attempt.

This trip had been a real journey for me. The fact I ended up doing it alone actually makes me more focused that I was able to achieve this in my own mind with no other influence.

I remember saying to myself “never again” in those last 30 minutes of ascent, but never say never hey!