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Nevado Pisco 5,752 m (18,871 ft)
When you hear the word « Pisco » in Peru (or even in Chile), it is generally before a diner or in a bar… Indeed, Pisco is the local alcohol, made from distillated grapes and often drank as a famous Peruvian cocktail : the Pisco Sour. However, the mountaineer visiting the Cordillera Blanca is generally not seeking this kind of exhilaration but more something involving high snowy summits. The Nevado Pisco is probably the mountain recording the most ascents in the Huaraz area: ideally located in the middle of a lot of famous peaks and technically easy, it offers an incredible belvedere over the surrounding glaciers and mountains.
Climbing toward this summit is not really a challenge. It is often a first step for the parties looking to work on their acclimation while checking the current conditions, or for the beginner whiling to climb a nice looking summit in a breathtaking landscape. For us, it is simply a way to be again in the mountains, on a glacier, just to enjoy the little remaining time of our trip. Very well acclimated, we were looking to climb quickly some more technical peaks. Chopicalqui, Tocllaraju… were on our list. When a mountaineer is in shape and well acclimated, those ascents can be fast and safe, but the local way to go, especially if a guide is hired, has not changed much since the first heavy expeditions in the seventies or eighties. For once, I was ready to get a guided service in order to be able to focus only on the summit (things we rarely do…). Every time we asked around, a heavy logistic was always mandatory and we gave up. For Tocllaraju, it was a 5 days mandatory expedition : mandatory refuge for the first night after a 2 or 3 hours hike, a short hike to reach base camp the next day, cook and mules were mandatory… Expedition mode. For more remote summits I would go this way too, but those were too close to the valley and too accessible.
Alone we would have gone for 3 days with light bags, without mules. Of course, the guide and the mule driver have to make a living, but the way mountains are climbed needs to change with the gear and the way it is done elsewhere, especially when acclimation is excellent : fast and light (which is often safer too…)
More accessible, the Nevado Pisco will then be our fallback. We are leaving as a group of 3, with Martin, a very nice guy from Quebec met a couple of weeks earlier in the mountains. The SUV is parked in the Llanganuco valley, just after the lakes. After a 3 hours peaceful hike, we reach the Refugio Peru where we will camp for the night. It is possible to hike further up, closer to the glacier, but that means carrying our heavy packs higher too. It will be easier to be fast and light the next day.
The night is short and brings little sleep but the ascent is still long. To reach the summit early enough we need to leave camp around 3 am. Crossing the large moraine is really annoying, and under the light of the headlamps it is mandatory to stay focused to not end up off route. Even by daylight, this area would be everything but fun, especially with heavy packs. The glacier is quickly reached and it is pleasant to hear the sound of the crampons in the hard snow.
A couple of small crevasses are showing up not far from the main path and an icy wind is slowly picking up. At the pass, the sun is welcoming us but barely manages to warm our bodies. The final slope is really easy but some large crevasses are on the way and it is mandatory to cross those over unreasonably thin snow bridges. The rope is tight but heart and breath stop during the few necessary steps to overcome the abyss. The wind is getting stronger and colder. When turning back starts to feel like a good idea, the summit happens to be just a couple of steps away, desert. A couple of minutes later, the amazing 360 degree panorama is etched deep into our frozen memories. We slowly go down to let the sun warm our bodies while admiring the landscape. We are back at the car a bit more than 24 hours after leaving it.
Day 1 (jour 1) : Llanganuco Valley – Refugio Peru : 2 – 3 h – 800 m of elevation.
Day 2 (jour 2) : Refugio Peru – Pisco – Llaganuco Valley : long day – 1200 m of elevation, 2000 m downhill.
