The bus ride to Puno, the port town to Lake Titicaca, went over a 14,300 foot pass. Doug hadn´t been over 10,000 before so it was a first for him. we arrived in Puno and took a mototaxi to our hotel. a mototaxi is a motorcycle with two covered seats attached to the back over two wheels. we walked around a bit, shopped for alpaca textiles, and then i got diarea and doug got altitude sickness. so we went to bed at like 7. and skipped dinner. our lunch that day was a great empanada with meat inside and deep friend whole potato and fresh juice for 2 dollars. rad.
next day we hit the lake. Lake Titicaca and Puno are at about 12,300 feet. yikes, Dougs been breathing hard. we took a boat out onto the lake to visit the floating islands made of reeds. the island is called Uros and the reeds are harvested right there in the shalllow bay next to Puno. the reeds are basically closed cell fibers so they float. the islands are about 10 feet thick of reeds and the water about 25 feet deep. they just keep adding more reeds on top. its is pretty spungy. they took us across to another island in their reed boats to a restaurant on reeds were we ate friend trout and potatoes. always potatoes in peru. hell, they were domesticated here.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Lima, Miraflores, and Nasca Lines
Well Doug Davenport arrived and we went to downtown Lima to visit the catacombs of the Monastery of San Francisco (lots of human bones in the catacombs as most folks in town were buried there under the monastery, wild hey?). we then jumped on a public bus to find an art museum and rode through some marginal barrios of Lima. the wealth contrast in Peru, but especially Lima, is strikeing. we had excellent coffee and cake at a random cafe somewhere in the middle of nowhere in a Lima barrio on our way to find the art museum. the museum was closed cause we burned most of the day just trying to get around town and find the place.
then we went home to Miraflores and Barranco and had dinner and drinks. the pics show the awesome colonial downtown Lima, some typical Lima barrios (we didnt go to the real slums), and also some of Mirafloes (the rich suburb). you can identify the Miraflores pics by the modern 70s style buidlings, and stores like Starbucks, Burger King and a McCafe (you guessed it - starbucks for Mcdonalds).
next we took a day bus to Nasca to see the Nasca lines, which were made in the desert soil about 3000 years ago for unknown reasons. can you say UFO??? creapy, but wild. they thingk the lines were made for religious reasons tied to the stars and agricultural seasons, rainfall, etc. the pics dont show it much justice so maybe google them real fast for a quick picture or two. then our last night we got drunk on the Peruvian beer, Crystal, and took an all night bus to Arequipa (not recommended - the night bus AND drinking before it....yikes,). i have no pics of arequipa, which as a beautiful Plaza de Aramas and we just stayed in town for two day and visited an old monastery.
then we went home to Miraflores and Barranco and had dinner and drinks. the pics show the awesome colonial downtown Lima, some typical Lima barrios (we didnt go to the real slums), and also some of Mirafloes (the rich suburb). you can identify the Miraflores pics by the modern 70s style buidlings, and stores like Starbucks, Burger King and a McCafe (you guessed it - starbucks for Mcdonalds).
next we took a day bus to Nasca to see the Nasca lines, which were made in the desert soil about 3000 years ago for unknown reasons. can you say UFO??? creapy, but wild. they thingk the lines were made for religious reasons tied to the stars and agricultural seasons, rainfall, etc. the pics dont show it much justice so maybe google them real fast for a quick picture or two. then our last night we got drunk on the Peruvian beer, Crystal, and took an all night bus to Arequipa (not recommended - the night bus AND drinking before it....yikes,). i have no pics of arequipa, which as a beautiful Plaza de Aramas and we just stayed in town for two day and visited an old monastery.
Bouldering Last Week
Went bouldering last week with a fun international group - Californian, Brazilian, Israeli, German, and Australian. See pics.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Karma de los Condores
Karma de los Condores is a new, yet, classic nine pitch route in Quebrada Ishinca. it goes at 5.11plus and has been called the Astroman of Peru. i should have known that i cannot climb Astroman or Karma de los Condores, but we tried anyway.
we climbed the first pitch and half and bailed. my partner got scared, and as i think he climbs stronger than me, i also got scared from the safe location of the pedestal belay. so, we rapped and ate lots of food at base camp. its cool, i am pretty burned out on climbing anyway and this marks the end of my 4 month alpine road trip. i am now shifting to being a tourist and am leaving for Lima tonight. then i go home to the Bay, then Wisconsin, then Utah for October. November will be couch surfing in the Bay Area, then month long Amtrak ride to Denver, Chicago, Wisconsin for Christmas followed by Portland for New Years Eve. then, if i have any money left, back to the Bay to start the part of my life that contributes to society. likley in teaching.
-chris
we climbed the first pitch and half and bailed. my partner got scared, and as i think he climbs stronger than me, i also got scared from the safe location of the pedestal belay. so, we rapped and ate lots of food at base camp. its cool, i am pretty burned out on climbing anyway and this marks the end of my 4 month alpine road trip. i am now shifting to being a tourist and am leaving for Lima tonight. then i go home to the Bay, then Wisconsin, then Utah for October. November will be couch surfing in the Bay Area, then month long Amtrak ride to Denver, Chicago, Wisconsin for Christmas followed by Portland for New Years Eve. then, if i have any money left, back to the Bay to start the part of my life that contributes to society. likley in teaching.
-chris
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Back to Ishinca
After hanging in town for about two weeks with a few days sport climbing at Hatun Machay and bouldering near town, i am off again to Quebrada Ishinca for three days to climb a nine pitch rock climb, Karma de los Condores. i am going with Kelly Carbone who i know from Oakland, CA, and Alex from Brazil. it is a hard but safe rock climb, famed as the Astroman of Peru. we will see.
i´ll be back in town Tuesday afternoon.
-cj
i´ll be back in town Tuesday afternoon.
-cj
Friday, August 22, 2008
Chavin de Huantar
Spent a day at the ruins of Chavin de Huantar that are about 2 hours from Huaraz.
The ruins are Eguiptian aged, around 3,500 to 4,000 years old, some of the olderst in South America.
The ruins are Eguiptian aged, around 3,500 to 4,000 years old, some of the olderst in South America.
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| Chavin de Huantar |
Friday, August 15, 2008
Ranrapalca, The North Face
Twenty-two hours is how long it took to climb the North Face of Ranrapalca. Climbing Ranrapalca is representative of my new understanding of what it means to be an "alpinist".
The climb started with 4 days in the Quebrada Ishinca base camp (14,500 ft) waiting for the rain and snow to dissapate. On the 4th day we shuttled a load of gear to the Ranrapalca high camp (17,000 ft) and returned to base camp. On the 5th day we carried the last load to the high camp in the rain and set up a hopefull camp there. On the 6th day, the sky cleared to a miraculously blue cloudless sky! Wonderful. This day consisted of us sleeping in until 10 - eating, napping, eating some more, drinking fluids, scoping out the approach to the climb, more napping, eating, and reading. Went to bed at 6 to get up at 11 pm! all the sleep and eating the day before was to charge us for meager 5 hours of sleep before the climb. we left camp at 12:20am, started climbing the 3,000 ft wall in the dark at 1:30. with headlamps we simulclimbed through some easy 50 degree snow, hard rock, thin ice (JJK, the ice was rotten and about 2 inches thick over rock) to about the half way point when the sun came up. we sumilclimbed some more through more ice and snow to the middle snow finger you can see on the pics of the face. just then the sun hit the face around 8 or 9 and rock and ice started falling down the face but we were tucked safely in the snow couloir by then. buy this time i got really exhausted as i hadn't fully recovered from my previous Shaqsha climb and subsequent fever sickness. so i slowed us way down. at the top of the snow couloir i led over the final rock band, which was loose 5.9 at 20,000. holy cow, that was scary. we summitted at 2:30. our rack consisted of 2 screws, 2 pickets, 8 nuts, 4 cams, 1 hex, and 4 pitons, and we protected the climb with almost exclusively the rock gear. Boy, i don´t won´t climb an alpine climb without those lovely pitons (two KBs and 2 baby angles).
On the summit ridge we post holed in deep powder toward the decent route, the north east face. AFter two long rappels on rock the sun set. We did 4 rappels in the dark on snow from rap stations of two snow bollards, a picket which we left, and a screw. We left the picket and screw without hesitation. then we had to navigate through a heavily crevassed glacier for hours, finding our own way as we were the first party on the mountain after the most recent storm so there were no tracks anywhere. we arrived at our high camp around 10pm. our Argentinian friends were camped next to us and had hot tea for us. most of which i didnt enjoy as i just passed out in my tent. 22 hours round trip. holycow, i am still tired.
The climb started with 4 days in the Quebrada Ishinca base camp (14,500 ft) waiting for the rain and snow to dissapate. On the 4th day we shuttled a load of gear to the Ranrapalca high camp (17,000 ft) and returned to base camp. On the 5th day we carried the last load to the high camp in the rain and set up a hopefull camp there. On the 6th day, the sky cleared to a miraculously blue cloudless sky! Wonderful. This day consisted of us sleeping in until 10 - eating, napping, eating some more, drinking fluids, scoping out the approach to the climb, more napping, eating, and reading. Went to bed at 6 to get up at 11 pm! all the sleep and eating the day before was to charge us for meager 5 hours of sleep before the climb. we left camp at 12:20am, started climbing the 3,000 ft wall in the dark at 1:30. with headlamps we simulclimbed through some easy 50 degree snow, hard rock, thin ice (JJK, the ice was rotten and about 2 inches thick over rock) to about the half way point when the sun came up. we sumilclimbed some more through more ice and snow to the middle snow finger you can see on the pics of the face. just then the sun hit the face around 8 or 9 and rock and ice started falling down the face but we were tucked safely in the snow couloir by then. buy this time i got really exhausted as i hadn't fully recovered from my previous Shaqsha climb and subsequent fever sickness. so i slowed us way down. at the top of the snow couloir i led over the final rock band, which was loose 5.9 at 20,000. holy cow, that was scary. we summitted at 2:30. our rack consisted of 2 screws, 2 pickets, 8 nuts, 4 cams, 1 hex, and 4 pitons, and we protected the climb with almost exclusively the rock gear. Boy, i don´t won´t climb an alpine climb without those lovely pitons (two KBs and 2 baby angles).
On the summit ridge we post holed in deep powder toward the decent route, the north east face. AFter two long rappels on rock the sun set. We did 4 rappels in the dark on snow from rap stations of two snow bollards, a picket which we left, and a screw. We left the picket and screw without hesitation. then we had to navigate through a heavily crevassed glacier for hours, finding our own way as we were the first party on the mountain after the most recent storm so there were no tracks anywhere. we arrived at our high camp around 10pm. our Argentinian friends were camped next to us and had hot tea for us. most of which i didnt enjoy as i just passed out in my tent. 22 hours round trip. holycow, i am still tired.
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| Ranrapalca |
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