A right turn puts an end to the last 3 hours spent on this long stretch along the Pacific Ocean. After leaving Lima, fog and a chaotic traffic were the only distractions on this boring itinerary. The road finally steepens and the landscape is constantly evolving: the coastal desert is slowly transforming into something greener and more vertical. The only pass, between Santa Rosa and Conococha, is getting closer, switchbacks after switchbacks, and nothing in the landscape seems to indicate that the altitude is already that high, except maybe the difficulty to breath properly. 4900 m (16070 feet). A large plateau is spread out below, pointing at snowy mountains, still pretty far. On the right it is the Cordillera Huayhuash, wild, high and steep. On the left, the road is slowly going down toward Huaraz in a wide valley dominated by the Cordillera Blanca.
Huaraz is about 120 000 inhabitants and, by itself, is of little interest. Yet Huaraz is well known worldwide. For the mountain lover it is a synonym of adventure, altitude, white summits or committed mountaineering. It is often compared to Chamonix in the Alps because of its incredible position (right under the mountains) allowing a quick and easy access to the mountains, but the comparison stops there. In 1970, a terrible earthquake (7.9 of magnitude) destroyed most of the town and killed about 70 000 people from the valley.
Today, only a very small part of Huaraz is authentic while the rest is more modern, unfinished and shows little estheticism. However this town expresses a pretty unique atmosphere, mixing nationalities, cultures and civilizations. In the same street, one can run into a tourist whiling to have a look at those snowy mountains, a trekker, beginner or experienced, ready to hike up those trails in order to get closer to the glaciers and lakes, an Andean farmer coming into town to sell or buy some goods or just someone on his way to the office. All the Peruvian cities are not showing such diversity and here, it definitely brings a kind of cultural wealth.
During the week, streets are crowded, incredibly vivid and noisy. Moto-taxis’ traffic is chaotic as usual; merchants are showcasing their products on the sidewalk; cafés and restaurants are scattered across the city advertising for their great terrasses; hotels and hostels are ready to welcome all kind of tourists; mountain gear shops (you can buy or rent whatever you need for a decent price) and trekking or mountaineering agencies are near each other’s. In this crowd, each one seems determined to follow a unique direction, giving an intense feeling of disorder that looks finally pretty esthetic. I really enjoy getting lost in those streets and being part of this mob. As usual, I’m being shy behind my camera and I finally take just a handful of pictures. The market follows the same rules than the city: a kind of organized mess where you can find a bit of everything. Colors, noises, atmosphere here, are unique but exhausting as well.
To escape the modern world it is fairly easy to reach the trailheads to hike toward lakes, passes or summits. The shorter ones are day hikes. The main issue there will be altitude. The city is already at 3000 m (10,000 ft) and the trailheads are often above 4000 m (13,120 ft). Therefore it is important to be patient and organized.
It is possible to find amazing big walls and impressive cliffs in those mountains but their access is often difficult and altitude would be an issue there too. A few spots are bolted near Huaraz and bouldering is possible as well. But a tiny bit further it is possible to find some interesting climbs: Antacocha (about one hour from Huaraz) and Hatun Machay (a bit further).
The cliff above the Antacocha lake (4000 m – 13,120 ft) offers a couple of multi pitches routes (4 to 5 pitches). The strange rock is generally good, but here, the best part is definitely the view on the Cordillera Blanca. A sunset can easily be magic from this eagle’s nest… and after a couple of days in Huaraz, the silence here feels amazing!
Hatun Machay is a real rocky forest. Huge boulders seem to have been thrown down into the ground, on a green plateau, high on the mountains (4200 m – 13,800 ft). The granite here is excellent and the numerous routes offer a wide variety of climbing. The place is that great that it would be just nice to sit in the grass and look at the clouds or to enjoy the evolution of the sunlight on the rocks. But the verticality is right here, offering a challenge to the climber in us. It will be time for a break only when body, arms and fingers will scream stop.
However, during those last months, access to Hatun Machay could have started to be more complex due to disagreement between communities. Is it still possible to climb there? I’ve heard people talking about removed bolts or even a burned down refuge… It seems necessary to go back there to figure that out, and even if it is not possible to climb anymore (which would be really bad for the climbing community), going for a drive in the Cordillera Negra could never be a bad thing.
