The morning we went to Hatun was sunny and crisp. We made it to Andean kingdom a little before 8am just as the city was starting to wake up and you could see all the vendors getting set up. I was still feeling kind of Ill from the food poisoning and I wondered how long the ride was. Huaraz is at 3000m and Hatun Machay is at 4300m so I knew the whole trip would be a climb up the road. Andreas showed 30 minutes late and while apologizing he explained he had gotten a flat. As he was helping us load our packs, I sized up his old land cruiser and started getting myself ready for a slow climb up to the oxygen depleted dead lands known as Hatun. What I know now about 4000+ meters places, is that nothing grows up there. They get yellow grass which the sheep, cows, and donkeys eat, as well as potatoes and corn crops. Nothing else. No trees, no plants. There are some cacti that grow and some other thorny little things. Oh, and rocks, lots of rocks.
After our crew piled in to the squished truck we bounced our way down the narrow streets of Huaraz and stopped at a tire shop. By tire shop, I mean a bunch of dudes standing outside pounding tires on and off rims with pick axes and sledge hammers with one small air compressor. As rough of a shop as it was, there were plenty of cars parked with their 4ways on at the side of the road and we were one of them. In the car we had Andreas who was the guide, and 3 other tourists who didnt really talk much, and to be truthful I don’t remember their names or much about them. We all sat in the car while they patched his flat and then jacked the car up, put the tire on and waved us goodbye. Finally, were on our way. My stomach still feeling ill all I wanted was to get the 75km drive out of the way. We drove for like 5 more minutes then pulled into a gas station. Buddy needed to fill his tank... Sometimes it just isn’t my day... Something I’ve noticed about people in High altitude towns is everyone moves slow. People drive slow and even talk slow. It’s kind of like Kootenay Time in nelson, but in Nelson people are high in a different way...
On the drive up the highway we were stuck at multiple constructions zones for about an hour. I had a window seat and just hung my head out the window. (Later that night I had sunburn on my forehead...haha) While we were waiting at one stop I saw a donkey come out of the ditch with a bag on its back and a guy walking behind it. They got to the road, stopped and he dumped the bag of sand off the donkeys back, and returned down the hill towards the river. 2 minutes later another donkey and another man. It looked to me that they were packing sand from the river to the road for the construction company to use for paving... wow... random and thought provoking.
To get to Hatun you turn off the highway and climb a steep switch backing road for 30 minutes. The views were epic! You can see all these 5000 and 6000 meter peaks covered in snow and ice and there is a monster called HuayHuash which command your attention as you take the view in. I had great photos and when the Refugio came into view I recorded a video as well... Needless to say, none of us will ever see those images...
The Refugio is a 2 story stone building made of rocks with a synthetic clay roof. Inside there’s a wood stove, 3 big tables to eat at and a small kitchen area with a sink, stove and counter space. Upstairs there are 10 or 12 bunk beds with thick blankets on each one. Cati and I slept outside in our tent.
We unloaded the truck, put all our stuff on a table inside, and ate a quick lunch. We promptly loaded the climbing gear we needed into our packs and walked the half kilometre to the amazing single pitch sport rock forest. We climbed a shitty 5.9, a really nice 6a+ and the nicest 10d I’ve ever been on. This 10d had big volcanic pockets, pinches, a shallow chimney section and to finish it shallow 3 finger pockets with a dead point at the end. All this in 20 meters makes for an amazing climb.
As we flaked the rope and got ready to return to the Refugio I started eyeing up a climb beside the 10d. Super blank wall with small 2 and 1 finger pockets. I decided I’d try it the next day. Being at 4300 meters we were told to take it easy, drink lots of water and so forth. We joked as the sun set because we felt really good and had done some good climbing without feeling much fatigue. When we got back we set up our tent and I was a little surprised at how fast it got cold. It was definitely around the 5 degree celcius range. That night we sat infront of the fire and drank some tea after dinner. This was defiantly going to be a good mission way out here in the middle of nowhere. We went to bed happy, full and ready for a good day of climbing to commence in the morning.
2 Am. I wake up with a massive head ache and a dry throat and nose. I couldn’t get comfortable and I couldn’t sleep. Fuck. Someone had mentioned this could happen the first few days at this altitude... Cati was awake too with the same symptoms... well... misery does like company... we laid there for hours and complained to each other before we fell back asleep... Morning came with the sun beating into the tent which soon became a human oven... From just above 0 to 30 degrees in our tent in a few hours...This was going to take some getting used to.
The last 4 days we spent At Hatun Machay were all pretty much the same. Some nights we would eat gravol so we could sleep and we both wondered if a person could get addicted to it... probably right? The climbing was super epic. Really unique features id never climbed before. Perfect pockets and sharp barbed edges... It was a challenge to climb every day as we both had worn most of our skin off by the second day. Speaking of the second day, I went to the Blank, pocketed climb Id seen on the first day. I tried leading it but the 3rd bolt was too far away and I took an awkward fall. It didn’t hurt but we decided it would need an extension. At this point I had no idea of the grade. Cati gave it a go after me and took the same fall. We climbed a few other climbs that day but at night, all I could think about was that climb. The next day after coffee, tea, peanut butter and toast, we sat outside on the steps and soaked in the sun. I grabbed my camera and set it up on a rock and took a photo of Cati and me chilling on the stairs. Earlier in the day a cab with 4 tourists had arrived and gone on a hike. Just after I took the photo a Scottish guy named James came down the hill from the east side of the Refugio and started talking about how he had come up to boulder. We chatted for a while and we all decided to go to some boulder problems and then some routes. As we walked away towards the crag, the camera sitting on the rock outside had completely slipped my mind.
James took some amazing photos while we climbed and though I had noticed I dint have my camera with me I still didn’t remember it being outside. At 5pm, we were at the blank climb I was projecting and the other 3 tourist hikers came by to grab James. They walked to the Refugio and I started to psych myself for the climb. We had rapped in and put all the draws in and figured out it was a 13a. It would be the hardest route I would have ever completed. I top roped it, figured out I needed to do two knee bars in a row, the second one being a drop knee, knee bar. After that, there were a few thin moves with my left hand ending up in a 2 finger shallow pocket and my right on a thin, sharp crimp. From there you dead point to a right hand pocket only big enough for 2 fingers stacked on top of each other. One more dead point to a big right hand pocket and then a few pockets more with small crimps finishing it off. Such a beautiful slightly overhung climb. That day, I pulled all the moved on top rope. What a great feeling to pull all those moves! Now I just need to climb it all in one on lead.
We walked back to the Refugio totally stoked on the place with endorfens and adrenalin keeping us amped. We were half way through making dinner when I finally remembered the camera. I went outside to grab it and...what? Why isn’t it there? I went inside, asked the caretaker who told us he hadn’t seen it. I went back outside looked around for a long time and finally accepted it was gone. Someone had actually walked by the camera, picked it up, and instead of bringing it inside so it didn’t get broken, stole it. Who does that? All the photos Id taken of Peru, gone. There were only 4 people there that day and I had their emails from the check in book. I emailed them when I got back to Huaraz and every one of them replied. Weird, this means even the thief replied with a fake “sorry bout your camera msg” fucking karma shall strike you hard. Stealing from someone who is traveling while you’re traveling? Some peoples kids...
Anyways, I’m over it now. It defiantly put a damper on the vibe and we were ready to leave a few days before we had intended. I had worked my project on lead, climbed the whole thing but on the day we were leaving couldn’t put it all together. On my last attempt it started raining. I pulled all the hard moves and then fell just above that because I was rushing my moves. I wanted to try it again but it was literally pouring. So I climbed to the top easily, rapped off and cleaned the route. We walked away from the crag that day in a downpour. It was cold, windy, and gray and I was really happy. I had just reached a milestone in my climbing. I didn’t send the route, but I proved to myself I was ready for the next grade. Stoked and soggy, Cati and I packed all our things, said our goodbyes and half slept on the bumpy cold ride home. It was just getting dark in Huaraz when we got back and someone had informed us that it was going to rain for a week straight so naturally as we got ready for bed one thing was on our minds.
Now what?
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