My lungs are burning, yet we have been hiking for only thirty or so minutes. This is clearly going to be a little different trek than I am used to and I will be pushing my limits in a slightly different direction. Soon, my lungs are doing this new phenomena, which I dub 'razor lungs', as it feels like there are tiny little blades cutting me from the inside. Thereby making each breath feel like a chore, at best, and escalating painful. It is going to get worst before it gets better.
Things are made quite a bit harder because I came down with a bit of a cold in the Lima fog. Starting the hike at 75% lung capacity is tricky, and then with the stone cold fact of the lack of oxygen at altitude, my mind is depressingly contemplating ongoing logarithmic decay. For those that have never been up at serious altitude, it is a tricky set of attributes to manage. On the oxygen front, there is simply less of it to go around up here. This has a couple of impacts on the body a) there is less O2 to get transferred from the lungs into our bloodstream leading to decreased capacity of muscles and b) the lack of O2 diminishes your brain's capacity to reason. Hence your legs get slow, your mind gets slow, and you just keep putting one foot in front of another.
We are on a 3 day trek in the very impressive Cordillera Blanca, some of the highest mountains in both South and North America. This thin spine of a range has over 30 mountains over 5500 meters, yet it is only a shade over a hundred miles long and a dozen miles wide. For those not up to the meter conversation, as i was not until we started traveling, the 5500 meters equates to a shade over 18k feet (18040 feet). When I wrote about our time on the John Muir Trail almost a year ago, I titled it as 'In the Company of Giant', and those are some of the biggest mountains in the continental US. But they are not even close to the elevations that surround us on this hike.
For another point of reference, Mt McKinley, the highest mountain in North America, comes in at 6194 meters. There are several peaks in the range higher than that near our route and it never ceases to blow my mind that we are on the scree slope, or hiking by a stream with glacier run off from another 6000 meter peak. These are some insanely high peaks, and I am even more impressed with how sharp they are in relief, with spires and towers and glaciers throughout.
Back to today's hike, we have started out at about 4000 meters (13123 feet), pretty close to the very peak of Breckenridge and the same elevation as Potosi in Bolivia. We will trek up a deep valley and then ascend to a pass that comes in at 5200 meters (17060 feet), and then head down to the floor of another valley and back out to the main road and down to Huaraz, Peru.
We are on a semi-orgainzed tour, with a nice couple from northern France. Unfortunately, they are not really ready for the physical challenge posed by the altitude and will head back to the town before things get harder on the 2nd day with topping out on the pass. It is too bad, as they are quite game and very friendly.
We hike up the valley and have lunch. Then it is time to head directly up a very steep canyon wall, with minimal switchbacks to ease the burden. The razor lungs are in full effect. But, after a full hour we are at camp and the vistas across the valley are some of the best I have ever experienced in the mountains. Muriel and I have hiked all over the world, and the sharpness of the relief, the amazing sunset and the feeling of the stars at seemingly arms reach are all unsurpassed in my years enjoying the mountains.
One interesting part of this section of the national park is the number of cows, horses and burros that are roaming. In the valleys it is hard to walk more than ten steps without having to sidestep a pile of sh*t, which took a bit of getting used to and did detract a tiny percentage from the overall experience. But on the flip side, these animals are part of the nearby pueblos' livelihood, one which easily predates the 38 years the park has been existence. The first day camp is the lowlight of the cow phenomena, as at times there are ten+ circling camp, looking for some handouts and making a general nuisance for themselves.
The next day we head back up the canyon wall, rising through the loose rock until the wind picks up and we are at the apex of the pass, 5200 meters. Wow. Literally speechless. By my count, we can see 4 or 5 peaks over 6000 meters, each bathed in steep, bubbling glaciers. Way below the peaks, the 2 immense valleys recede as far as we can see.
We don't stay too long, as it is blustery at the pass and we have many kilometers to go before we will set up camp for the day. All told, we descend over 1000 meters, past a couple picturesque lakes and a number of bubbling creeks. Eventually, we get to the flat valley floor and put in a number of hours of hiking to get to the campsite. We have been going for 8 or so hours, which is not entirely uncommon for us on our trip. Yet, both of Mu and I are more tired than usual. The cumulative impact of hiking at these altitudes seems to have taken more out of us. That first day of hiking up the steep canyon wall was the hardest physical challenge on our South American trip, and we have not been shy about pushing ourselves.
We have dinner with our guide and one of the park ranger's, in the ranger's austere cabin. After the beauty of the mountains, with the loudest noises coming from the wind and the streams, it was a bit abrupt to have a soccer game from Lima on in the background of ranger's radio. Even though we have been only hiking for 2 days, the grandiosity of the mountains and the hike has transported us far from screen, radios and electronics. Right where we want to be for awhile.
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