Shaqsha

Shaqsha was, let´s say, a little rigorous. Arriving at the village of Huaripampa in the morning, my partners James (from Austalia), Kyle (from Seatle) and I were unable to locate any burros to carry our gear to mountain. Shaqsha is a rarely visited peak, so there is not a climber-friendly infrastructure like the other trail heads. but that is partially what drew us to the climb, the adventure of going to the mountains without burros, refugeos, other climbers, and a well warn trail through the snow to the summit.

The town Mayor or doctor (as identified based on being a well-dressed, charismatic guy in a leather jacket who knew everyone in town and certainly didn´t seem like a farmer) informed us that all the burros were being used for construction of a building outside of town. Soooo, we hiked the 7.5 hours to base camp with our heavy packs across country with no trails, burros, or people. then James and I woke at 2 in the morning the next day for the 13 hours summit push, Kyle was sick and didn´t join. We climbed for 13 hours with 4 hours used to decend the 6 pitch climb with only one rope. this meant i had to make about 4 additional V-thread rappel stations in the ice (see photo of one) and we had to downclimb about 5 pitches. it was exhausting but that is what we were looking for, a little adventure. It was a really nice climb up a beautiful southern arete that should be a classic, with steep snow of mostly 50 degrees but up to 80 degrees and some ice pitches up to about 70 degrees. in the pics, our line is the right most arete, it is the same line that is on the cover of the Brad Johnson Guidebook. after the climb, the next day, we had an exhausting 5.5 hour hike out along a aquiduct canal. i am destroyed, and taking two full days off in town doing nothing but reading, writting, eating, and lots of sleeping.
much amore para mi todos amigos,
-Chris

Shaqsha