Alpamayo Circuit - Days 8-12

ALL 56 PHOTOS (Days 7-12)
PHOTO EDITS (cool effects and such applied to some photos from the trip)


Day 8 - Clarity
Quebrada Tayapampa
1640 ft ascent/descent, 11.2 mi

Huilca is cold. Even though it was a lower elevation campsite (by lower I still mean 13,100 feet), in the morning the entire valley was covered in frost and the sun didn't reach the valley floor until late morning (stupid waiting game again). But this morning brought the clearest skies we had seen on the trip yet. I decided I couldn't pass up the Quebrada Tayapampa, with Alpamayo at its head, on this sort of day. So instead of moving on I made a day trip up the canyon. First was breakfast though, which our friendly neighbor came out to keep us company and give us some more oca root while braving the cold with us.











L - Tey's perfectly named photo, "The Waiting Game"
R - Making Breakfast

After breakfast, Dion, Tey, and Rima packed up and set off to Pomabamba. We said our goodbyes, and I took off with a light pack to head up the Quebrada Tayapampa. The trail up the canyon was well defined at first then became a faint, overgrown track which eventually vanished. I personally love hiking this way. It adds an element of adventure and freedom. I walked up past the Pucajirca mountains above Laguna Safuna, on through grassy pampas with grazing cows, climbing steep rocks next to a rushing stream, then passing the emerald green Laguna Gaico and the more turqois Pucacocha enclosed by the steep rock faces of Nevado Pacajirca Sur. The views of Nevado Tayapampa and Alpamayo were awesome, and the tumbling streams and colorful lakes completed the amazing setting perfectly.














L - Alpamayo
R - Laguna Pucacocha Below Pucajirca Sur


I ate dinner again with the family, soup and French fries, and talked with them for a bit before retiring to the tent. The nights in Huilca were beautiful as the moon became fuller in its cycle, and it was nearly full when we reached Huilca. In the bright, white light the snowy mountains glowed above the shadowy valley floor, and with the stars filling the blackness around the moon above, it was a sight that made you stop for a while and admire it, despite the nipping cold.


Day 9 - Rollercoaster
Huilca to Tupatupa Pass
1970 ft ascent, 3940 ft descent, 3150 ft ascent, 14.3 mi

In the morning I shared soup with the family, who gave me enough oca for my trip to last three days! That was a lot of oca. It was another chilly Huilca morning, and after a cold packing up of camp, I headed off for the Yanacon Pass (15,125 ft). After a steady climb up pampas, the trail goes vertical up a loose, shale covered slope. The views back down toward Huilca and over the other side of the pass were pretty. I then descended steeply for a long while (nearly 4000 ft) through green pampas and forested valleys to Janca Pampa, a large valley on the other side of the mountain range. What I found here was one of the most amazing spectacles I have ever seen.

It was like something that can only exist in the imagination, too perfect to have just occurred naturally. The colors, the surroundings, the way everything merged and blended over the landscape, complimenting and even enhancing all that was around it. I don’t know about any of you, but when I see these sorts of settings, I feel them. It is like the mouth watering at a certain scent, how your favorite music or piece of literature stirs up emotions inside. Something seems to just hit me when I take in these scenes. At first I think it is a bit of surprise at what I am seeing, but that feeling of awe doesn’t dissipate over time. I still marvel as I stare out onto the scene and the minutes pass by. No words will do justice to what I saw, and while pictures usually better depict what is being observed, they will never be able to replace the real thing. I will try nevertheless to describe to you what I found when I reached the Jancapampa Valley, especially since the light wasn’t so good for the pictures.

The Pucajirca Mountains have a few prominent peaks with glaciers in their upper regions, and the eastern face of this mountain range is a steep rock face overlooking the Janca Pampa valley. Horses graze in Jancapampa’s lush, green pampa fields spreading out widely to forest covered hills, which gradually feed into the towering rock-face of the Pucajirca range. The icefall from Pucajirca’s upper-reaches tumbles dramatically 3500 feet over the rock face in a series of converging waterfalls (8 or 9 in all) to the green valley below, culminating into a peaceful river on the valley floor with water almost glowing with its whitish tint. The gentle roar of the far off cascades plays in the background like a sort of musical accompaniment. I stopped and had lunch in the valley just to admire the spectacle that much longer (see the edited photos, I may have been able to fix the light a bit...but since monitors on computers down here aren’t so great, I might have just messed them up more. =) We’ll see).























Various views of the Pucajirca icefall falling into the Jancapampa Valley

It was still early, so I decided to push on up over another pass and say goodbye to the incredible valley. I walked across Jancapampa, inhabited with a few Quechua villages, and climbed up through one called Pishcopampa, where once again curious children peaked shyly around corners of houses to see the gringo passing by. From there it was a steady climb up to Tupatupa Pass (14,300 ft) to an amazing lookout over the mountains. I could see maybe four or five distinct ranges from there in the late evening light. I dropped just below the pass to a small lake to camp. I had begun around quarter after eight that morning, and was just getting to camp at 5:00, with maybe 20 minutes for lunch. It was a long day with impressive views, making all the walking worth the aches it left behind.

Top L - View back to Pucajirca ice fall from Pishcopampa
Top R - View of Nevado Taullipampa from Tupatupa pass








Distant range seen from Tupatupa Pass








Sunset seen from camp







Day 10 – Rollercoaster through the Clouds
Tupatupa to Lagunas Morococha
1805 ft descent, 2790 ft ascent, 1805 ft descent, 985 ft ascent, 8.7 mi

With the impressive view from Tupatupa and a camp just below the pass, I thought I would climb up to the pass in the morning when the light is best for photos. Unfortunately, as happens all too often, clouds had come in and engulfed all the peaks, hovering low in the canyons. I couldn’t even see up to the peaks just above camp. So I just packed up and headed off on the next leg. It was another long day of ups and downs over steep passes, with all the views obscured. It is those views that make the passes easier to climb, especially when they are windy and wet. I finally settled in at one of the lakes of the Lagunas Morococha, which I passed on the Santa Cruz trek. I was now back in familiar territory, and would be heading out the canyon where I had started the Santa Cruz Trek. I was hoping for a clear sky the following day, as the last time I came over the Punta Union Pass it was all cloudy and obscured, very similar to the weather I had today. Would it clear by tomorrow? Looked doubtful, but you never know. As they say, in the mountains, “anything is possible and nothing is for sure.”


Day 11 - Snow!?!?
Lagunas Morococha to Llamacorral
11.8 mi, 1180 ft ascent, 3775 ft descent

Yeeeaaaahhhh, so that is what I woke up to. Although I had hoped for clear skies and sunny weather, I didn’t really care about the latter. I love snow. It makes the scenery gorgeous with its fresh whiteness painted across the landscape. It was the clouds, thicker than even the day before (and also the time I went over the pass on the last trek) that were depressing. Can’t have it all I suppose. This, after all, is trekking. And I love it. So I packed up a wet tent on yet another cold morning, and headed up the pass.

The unfortunate thing about the snow was its combination with the mostly rock-slab trail up over the pass and back down. It was a slippery climb, made more precarious with the pack on. Eventually I made it up and over Punta Union (15,615 ft), enjoyed the same view as the last time (just about solid gray), and then headed down. With no views to be had, and having passed through the Quebrada Santa Cruz once before, I went on far downvalley to camp. I could have made it out that day, but with it getting a bit late to do the taxi-bus combination back to Huaraz, I decided to stay another night. Down valley it was a pleasant partly cloudy day as well, so what was the rush? One more night of instant noodles and then out in the morning.


For those that remember the Santa Cruz Trek, here was my view over the pass...









So it could not possibly be worse, right? Wrong...



=-D







Day 12 - Two Deadly Sins
Llamacorral to Cashapampa to Huaraz
6.8 mi, 2297 ft descent

An uneventful two hour walk got me to the trailhead, where I caught a ride back to Huaraz. 12 days in the backcountry with its rich, tasty food and overly comfortable beds had made me ready to come back to civilization, where I stuffed myself with food with taste and nourishment, sweets, coke, beer, and then I lay around and did nothing, just resting the body. Gluttony and sloth. Committed in excess. Two of the seven deadly sins. My soul may now be in peril, but man, did they ever feel good.