Cordillera Huayhash Trek.
Organised ourselves with help and guidance from John Biggar, referred to us by Martin Moran. We conceived this primarily as an acclimatisation trek for our climbs later in the trip. From Quartelhuain to Llamac, using the established route, with standard campsites used by multiple parties, marked on an American-published 1:50000 map dated 2004. We hired two cooks/arrieros and two burros/donkeys, based at Huaraz. They travelled ahead with the food and camping gear, usually arriving late afternoon. The highlight was undoubtedly our foray in search of Joe Simpson's "Touching The Void" basecamp, which required an "unsupported" wild camp near Cutatambo (trekkers' animals were at that time not permitted in to the Rio Calinca valley). A fantastic day followed, when we walked north towards the glacier snout, with great views of Siula Grande, finally finding the distinctive Matterhorn-shaped boulder as we returned southwards in the afternoon. All conversations with our burro drivers were conducted wholly in Spanish - we had taken a crash course in Madrid earlier in the summer to prevent total chaos!
A wealth of precious memories, both of the landscape and the wonderful people we met along the way. The weather remained fantastically settled throughout - day after day of dry cloudless conditions, in temperatures rarely above around 20C. The reason for the Inca's worship of the sun became obvious as each morning it emerged above the peaks, miraculously transforming a rigidly frosty camp site into a comfortable breakfast spot. Among the wildlife we were lucky enough to spot were Llama and Condor!
