My plan was to climb a nevado Huaytapallana with its 5557m, but things didnt go as I would expect...
I started on wednesday morning. Found a car which was going up the valley to the mountain pass. This ride was totally one of the highlight of the trip. The cabin was full, so me and other 8 people were sitting in the bed of the this Toyota truck together with all bunch of shit like bags with potatoes, pastery, one day old sheep... After an hour I got out, said good bye to the people and started hiking to the mountain...
I reached the lake in about an hour or two at the altitude of 4700m, pitched my tent, cooked some food and walked around little bit. After a long time, I felt so happy... Being away from the city, all by myself in the nature... I was looking at the mountain, trying to figure out my way up for tmrw and it sure looked scary at some parts.
I have never climbed such a big mountan by myself and this sure was going to be the highest peak I would ever scale...
I fell asleep pretty soon after the sun got down, just to wake up few hours later with a terrible headache and weird feeling in my stomach. I remember swearing a lot at that point. I dont know much swearwords in spanish so pretty soon, I was repeating myself... Later that night I woke up again, headache was gone and when I got out of the tent I saw the beautifull night sky for the first time here. Recognizing only the constalation of southern cross, I stared at the stars for a long time before getting back to the tent again. It was really cold and I had to put on some extra clothes...
Trying to get some more sleep was the only thing I was thinking about. I was imagining the way up, I was remembering all the mountains I climbed in my life and I was scared... I knew Im gonna go for it, eventhough it wont be easy...
At about 4 in the morning I remembered that I didnt put my shoes into my sleeping bag and that they are probably pretty frozen...
At 5 I finally got out. I cooked some food, packed my shit and started hiking to the base of the glaciar. I felt strange. My stomach was not fine, I knew that since the middle of the night and unfortunately the feeling didnt go away. I felt week and strange the whole way to where I was about to start the actual climb. I think the altitude didnt help much either, eventhough I never had problems or any symptoms of the altidude sickness before.
It took me like an hour to make the decision to start the climb. Sitting under the glaciar, visualizing the best line up... I was the only person out here. The mountain looked beautifull and climbable, but I just didnt feel like Im able to do it, since I had that stupid problem with my stomach...
As the crampones bit into the glaciar for the first time and I chopped off some of the top layer of the hard ice with my ice axe I felt good again. I wasnt sure if I can reach the top, but I knew Im gonna try to get as high as possible... The first part of the glaciar was pretty straight forward, quite flat with some small crevasses, which were easy to see... Finding my way through them was much easier then I thought. Pretty soon I reached the point where the slope got steep, at some points up to 50-60degrees. These short passages were really fun to climb and I got up them pretty fast without any problems. But I felt getting weeker and slower as the ground was getting higher and terrain in general more complicated.
I was taking breaks, enjoying the views, but on the other hand I was getting nervous, because I felt like Im not climbing fast enough. the breaks were getting more frequent and longer. My mind was sharp the whole time but my body was getting weeker and weeker with each step and my stomach was hurting like crazy at this point.I was just above 5200m when I realized that I have to go back, I knew I was sick. I took the decison pretty quickly, without regretting it really. It was still really early, about 9-10 in the morning, but I knew that if I keep going, I might not have the strenght to come back. The final ridge was supersteep and pretty narrow with tall walls on both sides.
It took me a good hour or more to get back. I practiced self arrest on the steep parts, sliding down on my ass and had a good time. I was getting really tired though and by the time I reached the bottom of the glacier I was going really slow. I reached the place where i left my stuff, fell on the ground and fell asleep. At this point I was not able to do anything. I didnt want to move no more. I didnt know what to do. I tried to eat, but felt like throwing up. Slept some more and more...
It was about 1 oclock, when I realized that I have to start moving. I was getting scared of passing out... I was exhausted and confused. It was not a hard climb, it was not a hard or long hike. My body was just refusing to eat or get some energy from what I ate before. I slowly packed my shit and started hiking back. Each step hurt like crazy and I was not covering any ground at all. I would sit down every hundred meters, wait for 5 maybe 10 minutes. I would get up, walk, sit down... It was crazy. I was trying to stay focused, but i couldnt. I was going so slowly that it was freeking me out and I knew that I have to keep going. I wouldnt be able to stay here one more night. Not in this shape. The last kilometer, which was uphill took me a good hour to walk. I felt like a robot. I had no mercy with my body at all. I felt my body eating itself, since there was no food in my stomach, but I didnt give a shit anymore. My mind was focused on the road I could have clearly see and I knew Im gonna get there no matter what.
It was about 5, when i finally reached the pass and seeing people in the little house up there was just fantastic. I got inside this little restaurant, drank tea, ate soup and started to regain my strenght. It fekt so good to talk to people...They were so nice to me. I dont know how to describe the feeling I had that moment. I dont feel like I was going to die up there, but that day I have totally reached the imaginary bottom of my strenght and physical cabability. I dont understand where I got the power to get back with my 20kg backpack...
This trip was crazy but enjoyable. Seeing how much power you loose because of fucking diarhea freeked me out. I didnt reach the top of the mountain, but it doesnt really matter. Im glad I was able to turn around and come back in one piece. Climbing solo is not easy, but its doable and Im sure I will do it again unless I find someone crazy to do it with me...
Back in Lima,spending the night with my friends and a new norwegian girl who moved into the house felt like the best thing in the world. I dont know why I take these risks, but the feeling I get up there in the mountains is just irresistible...
