– Full slide show at the bottom of the page –
Tupac. A year ago, kicked of the mountain by a strong fever (read this post), we reached this small Andean village inexistent on most maps. Sick and incredibly disappointed, we were leaving the Cordillera Huayhuash “Haute Route”. 5 days of rest and antibiotics put me back on my feet, but, above all, gave me enough time to think about going back and finish this loop around those amazing mountains.
Before doing so, we had decided to resume our trip right from this same little remote village. The classic trailhead of the Huayhuash trekking is quite easily accessible but it is absolutely not the case for most of the places situated on the east side of the mountains like Tupac. It is sometimes possible to find a “collectivo” or a taxi in case the daily bus has been missed… if this one simply exists! Nothing is published on internet, and, in the villages, everyone seems to have his own version of the schedule… Finally, we found out a regular bus is linking Chiquian to La Union, a somewhat important city in the area where it will be mandatory to spend the night. Reaching this town quite late at night, the streets are dark and the few signs mentioning “hostel” are kind of discouraging. In those cases, it is often best to ask around in the street… The “Picaflor” (hummingbird) is immediately recommended. From outside, it looks like a shop and the owner is surprised to welcome tourists. After crossing a courtyard on the backside, he leads us to a bedroom for 25 soles a night for two (around 7 dollars). We ended up using our sleeping bags…
At 5h30 on the morning, the landlord knocks on the door: he found a combi for Baños, the last village before Tupac. The van is full: passengers of course, but a full bed, mining equipment, a bunch of bags of all kinds…
The roof rack is as big as the van. During 3 hours on a dusty road, the driver avoids the pot holes, stops to drop someone in the middle of nowhere, picks up a new passenger who, patiently, was waiting (who knows how long for!) on the road side. The chatting goes on and for the first-time Tupac sounds familiar to some people! In Baños a taxi is waiting for some clients heading to the little village.
How pleasant it is to move at 13,000 feet high in this little village! My memories of it were kind of fogged out by last year’s fever. The village’s drunk is welcoming us on the unique square: his cheekbone is swollen and the corner of his eye is all bloody and puffed up. It is 10 am and he is wandering around with three large bottles of beer. Obviously, those are not the first of the day. He is trying to offer us a drink and it is everything but easy to decline it politely…
Acclimatized, well trained and in great shape, we slowly leave the little houses behind to follow a good path. How could we not take our time to fully appreciate the place, the incredible calm and silence, and the unveiled glaciers? A shepherd drop his tools and quickly comes toward us to shake our hands. Two horsewomen on their way to Tupac are delighted to meet tourists on this trail. Such a warm welcome is unexpected and bring a deep and sincere human dimension to this Cordillera.
Less than 3 hours are necessary to reach the Huayhuash camp where I felt sick last year. It is early enough to enjoy the cool and sunny afternoon. The trekking agencies are just starting to set the tents for their clients. Lying in the grass, I can’t stop looking at the nearby glaciers and I’m amazed by the contrast between their whiteness, the surrounding green pastures and the immaculate blue of the sky. The next few days will be the hardest ones of the “Haute Route”, always above 14,000 feet high. The east side of the Huayhuash Mountains is greener, less steep and less snowy than the west part toward which we are heading.
Leaving the Huayhuash camp we are leaving the comfort of a good established trail as well. Here, the Alpine circuit really starts, climbing up the pastures while slowly getting closer to the glaciers. The already spectacular landscape is getting richer and richer: a lake here, some spectaculars seracs there… It is smoothly changing into a mineral world. I constantly need to stop and look all around to realize I’m not dreaming. The last minutes before reaching the Trapezio Pass are unforgettable and exhilarating: snowcapped mountains are surrounding us and the Nevado Trapezio on the North is underlined by turquoise glacial lakes merging into the green of the lower pasture’s grass.
At the pass, at 16,700 feet, the colors and feeling are simply overwhelming: out of this world lakes, mineral and colorful landscape, steep and vertical walls, rugged glaciers… and as usual now, the silence. After such a peak of beauty and emotion, our itinerary is not losing any of its intensity yet. On the other side of the pass, going toward lake Jurau, we have to let the Nevado Trapezio disappear to enter into a large and spectacular glacial cirque. The belated snowfalls were quite huge this year and the mountain is still wearing a shiny and immaculate white coat.
This place is too beautiful to not look at it and it is almost painful to remain focused when crossing the glacier. When the valley opens, it is time to accept going down. Under stonewalls and glaciers, the turquoise water of lake Jurau are waiting for us. After 4 pm, the sun is disappearing behind the mountains and the cold is immediately severe. Don’t forget it is winter here…
How can I describe the following day in a couple of sentences? It begins by following a creek. Its water comes directly from the glaciers of the Siula Grande. This is a bucolic and serene place. The sun rose a while ago, but it will need some more time before overlooking the highest summits. This is the valley where Joe Simpson and Simon Yates set their base camp in 1985. The show starts when the path is leading to a steeper terrain.
A bit later, without any warning, you look around and the height and beauty of the unveiled Nevado Siula Grande just knock you out. Take your time to bounce back, sit down, accept the fact and appreciate the beauty of this mountain. This is a rare moment that won’t leave you unscathed. It is almost tempting to stop here, set the tent and spend the next few day to enjoy the view… But the day has just started… so has the show!
The trail has disappeared and the grassy slope is pretty steep. Every step seems to enrich the landscape. The aimed pass is not well marked, just a little notch on the long North-South ridge that runs parallel to the Siula Grande face. The variety of natural colors around us is overwhelming and it is going to be hard to make people accept that my pictures have not been “photoshoped”. Another day at 16,700 feet high, bottom planted on a rock, I’m delighted by this rare view. I’m trying to memorize every single detail, color or sensation amplified by this intense solitude. In front of me, the glacier is merging into the Sarapococha Lake. Joe Simpson had to crawl for 3 days in this ice maze…
Our itinerary is now more obvious and follows the main ridge toward the North. It is sometimes mandatory to scramble a little, go east or west to avoid a steeper step. This is a progression between sky and earth in a 360-degrees landscape, vast and grandiose. One more time, the show doesn’t stop when the bivouac at lake Caramarca is reached. In the vague description of this “haute route” found online, it was mentioned that “this place would feel sacred even to atheist”.
On the morning, the severe cold is hard to fight even while moving and after hiking up the steep moraine it seems appealing to stop and boil some water. The hot tea brings some warmth to the numb extremities. The glacier ahead is steeper than I thought. A couple of crevasses are visible and a real bergschrund topped by a 45-degrees slope are standing between the Rasac Pass and us.
The lightweight hiking crampons that we brought are reaching their limit but a fresh track allows to move fast and to easily reach the pass at 16,700 feet high. It was the last difficulty of this alpine circuit, and, as often, a weird, complex and contradictory feeling is in the air. It is a mix of relief and achievement but the sadness of a farewell too. The trail is pointing down and a long day will be spent on it to reach the bottom of the valley and the main trail.
Incredible, splendid, intense and silent, this alpine circuit or “haute route” of the Huayhuash cordillera is probably the greatest mountain itinerary I got the opportunity to hike over 20 years in the mountains.
