TR: Alpamayo 7/22-8/1

[flatnose]

Just got back day before yesterday from Alpamayo. Originally planned to climb n. Face of quitaraju as well but unfortunately the weather had other plans for us.

My partner Tom has written a rather long-winded, but poignant, account of the trip (except the part about ramen noodles and mashed potato flakes which are, in fact delicious). If you don`t need the blow by blow you can skip to the photo link at the end.

Cheers.

 

Hi Everyone,

 

On July 30, Adam Jones and I reached the summit of Alpamayo (5,947m

or 19,511 ft) by the Basque-French route, possibly the most famous

mountain in Peru and one of the most beautiful mountains in the

world. We were on the mountain for 10 days, including a 4-day

battle through snowstorms at Col Camp (18,000 ft), both of us

crammed in a tiny single-wall tent. It was something of a miracle

that we were able to reach the summit during a brief clearing in

the weather and the whole affair turned out to be quite an

adventure. Here´s a day-by-day account of the climb. I´ll have

photos of the whole thing when I get home.

 

Day 1...We leave Huaraz by taxi at 6AM and drive 2.5 hours to the

village of Cashapampa (9,500 ft). We meet our donkey driver, Elias,

and load up two donkeys with equipment and food for 9 days. We hike

15 miles to Base Camp (14,000 ft) which takes us about 6.5 hours.

We make camp and organize food and supplies to move up the mountain

the next day.

 

Day 2...We wake up to find mostly clear skies and set off for

Moraine Camp (16,000 ft). It takes us about 2 hours with heavy

packs and we place my Trango 2 on a flat area amongst rock slabs as

our advanced base camp tent. We spend the afternoon collecting water

from the glacier and resting. That night, it snows several inches.

 

Day 3...We wake up to gray, cloudy skies and dampness from the

overnight snow. We decide to wait in Moraine Camp due to the bad

weather, rather than moving up to the less comfortable Col Camp

(18,000 ft), where we would be camped on the snow, with our only

source of water from melted snow. It snows again several inches

that night.

 

Day 4...The weather seems to be improving, with mostly clear skies

in the morning. We pack up, leaving the Trango 2 at Moraine Camp,

and set off for Col Camp with 3 days of food and the EV2

single-wall tent, hoping to climb both Alpamayo and Quitaraju with

a rest day in between. We struggle up the glacier with 40 lb packs,

winding around crevasses to reach the ice wall which leads to the

col. By this time, the weather has deteriorated and it seems about

to start snowing. We climb 2 pitches of 50-60 degree ice in clouds and

wind (with huge packs on...fun) to reach the col and descend to Col

Camp, taking about 4 hours from Moraine Camp. We quickly set up

camp and start melting snow to cook just as it starts to hail and

snow again. We set our alarms for 3AM, hoping for the best and

hunker down as snow pelts the tent for most of the night. At 3AM,

it´s totally socked in and a no-go for the summit.

 

Day 5...We wake up and try to dry out as much as possible. The EV2

is covered in snow and crusted with ice on the inside from our

frozen breath which has collected during the night. It´s cloudy all

day and we never see the mountain. It snows again that evening and

continues through the night. Again, no chance for a summit attempt.

 

Day 6...Our third day in the tiny single-wall at 18,000 ft. Morale

is extremely low and the track leading to the face has been covered

in fresh snow. Our food is seriously depleted, but rationing has

allowed us to wait a fourth and final day for the weather to break.

If we aren´t able to try for the summit the following night, we will

have no choice but to descend to Moraine Camp where we´ve left 2

additional days of food in the Trango 2. We´re also running low on

energy from so many days at 18,000 ft with poor sleep. Luckily,

that afternoon, the clouds clear for the first time and we can see

the summit. We hope that maybe we´ll get a chance that night. But

by dinner, the clouds have returned and it snows yet again through

the night.

 

Day 7...Our last possible day in Col Camp. We wake up to the usual

clouds and crusting of ice all over the inside and outside of the

tent. We eat our last bits of remaining food throughout the day,

including a nasty mix of Ramen and mashed potato flakes for dinner.

The clouds clear in the afternoon and we get our best views yet of

the summit and our intended route. The summit attempt has to happen

that night or we´re going down in the morning. I wake up at midnight

to go to the bathroom and the sky is clear...nothing but stars.

Salvation has arrived it seems. I tell Adam and we decide to get up

around 3AM, so that we reach the technical climbing on the face by

sunrise.

 

Day 8...We´re up at 2:30AM and roped up, heading for the face at

3:30AM. The new snow on the glacier is a major obstacle and we

struggle to find the route to the face. We reach the 45 degree snow

slopes below the face and struggle to make any progress. We´re

gaining only about 50m of elevation per hour. The snow is thigh

deep. At 6AM, we´re traversing on steep slopes under the face when

a massive avalanche releases from the French Direct route(a route

to the right of our intended routes), sweeping the slopes about 50m

to our right. It´s the closest I´ve ever been to an avalanche of

this size. Two guided parties just behind us decide to turn back,

believing the route to be too dangerous for clients. Adam and I

discuss for a few minutes and decide to continue to the start of

the Basque-French route and assess conditions from there. I believe

that once on the face, there will be minimal avalanche risk, since

the route is pure water ice and should not have accumulated much

snow. We struggle on to the base of the face and the start of the

route, taking 3 hours from Col Camp. It should have taken only 1

hour, but the new snow made progress extremely slow. I reach the

vertical ice of the bergschrund and set a belay with 2 screws. We

organize our two 60m ropes and Adam starts off on the first pitch.

As I´d hoped, there is no significant new snow on the route and the

only objective danger we face is a collapse of the summit cornice

which hangs over the route. I take the second pitch which also goes

smoothly on 60-65 degree water ice. As Adam finishes the third

pitch, spindrift starts sweeping the route and clouds have rolled

in. We´re climbing in a white-out and I´m following the pitch

bombarded with spindrift 1-2 ft thick. I can´t see my feet and I´m

taking tons of snow in the face, making it difficult to breathe.

Luckily we´re able to belay to the side of the ice runnel, out of

the worst of the spindrift. The cruxes come on the fifth and sixth

pitches, the first a step of 80 degree ice led by Adam, and the

second a 20m traverse on 80 degree snow and ice under the summit

cornice, followed by 20m of tunnelling on 70 degree snow and ice to

break through the cornice and gain the summit ridge (led by me).

Adam joins me on the ridge at noon after having spent 5 hours

climbing the face and we can´t see a thing. The wind is whipping

and the true summit (the highest snow mushroom) lies 100m away

along a horribly corniced ridge which now has about a foot of

fresh, sugary snow to make things especially interesting. We set

off for the summit, setting an intermediate belay from a picket

about 40m into the traverse. I start off from the belay, nearly

crawling on all fours. The snow on the ridge is really loose and I

need to test every foot to avoid slipping off either side of the

ridge. There is much cursing and near-soiling of the underpants. I

finally reach the summit and can barely see Adam just 60m away.

Adam declines to follow the last 60m along the ridge (probably

discouraged by my extensive cursing). An ascent to any point on the

ridge is considered a successful summit due to the precarious nature

of the traverse, but my stubborness (i.e. stupidity) allowed me to

stand on the absolute highest point. After about 10 seconds on the

summit, I returned to the belay and we prepared to descend the

face. We placed a picket and rappelled over the summit cornice and

then descended the face in 6 double-rope rappels from V-thread

anchors in the ice. It took us 1 hour to complete the rappels and

cross the bergschrund. We then downclimbed 300m more in knee deep

snow and finally reached the flat glacier below the face where we

roped up and returned to Col Camp at 3:30PM having spent 12 hours

on the route. Since we had no food and no fuel remaining in Col

Camp, we had no choice but to pack up camp and return to Moraine

Camp that night. Exhausted, we packed up the EV2 and started off

with heavy packs at 5:30PM. We made two 60m rappels to descend from

the col and then negotiated our way down the glacier and through the

moraine, arriving in Moraine Camp at 8PM after a 17 hour day. We

quickly made some dinner and went to bed. I didn´t get much sleep

though, since I was suffering from some snow blindness and my eyes

hurt and watered profusely.

 

Day 9...We get up late and pack everything, ready to descend to base

camp. We have 50 lb packs and are extremely tired. Luckily, it´s not

very far to base camp and we arrive around lunch time. Adam buys a

beer and I buy a huge bottle of Coke. We make arrangements with

Elias to hike out with donkeys the next day. We eat as much as

possible and that night the weather is still total crap. It rains

for much of the night.

 

Day 10...We load up the donkeys and start hiking back to Cashapampa

at 8AM. The 15 miles seem like 30. We stop a few times to eat and

drink, but it feels like a forced march and my legs are really

sore. Finally, I arrive in Cashapampa at 2PM and we load into a

taxi, reaking of 10 days in the mountains. We stop for lunch in

Caraz and have steak and french fries. At 5PM, we´re back in our

apartment in Huaraz.

 

What an adventure and what an awesome climb. It was really lucky

that we were able to get to the summit and it was quite a test of

my determination and endurance. I would have been really

disappointed if we´d spent 10 days on the mountain and gotten

nothing to show for it. And this isn´t even the whole story. Part 2

involves a crazy puppy that followed us all the way to Col Camp, who

I pretty much had to rescue from the mountain when we finally went

down. And Part 3 involves a set of ice axes that we retrieved from

the summit ridge which belonged to an American party who was on the

mountain about a week before us. But those can be stories for when I

come home next week. I´ll be in NYC on Aug 7. We´re planning one

more route and then I´ll be on my way. If you succeeded in reading

all this, congratulations. I´m going to incorporate it into a trip

report on SummitPost. I´ll see you all soon.

 

-Tom

 

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Edited August 4, 2006 by flatnose