Climbing Alpamayo in 7 Days
Ancash Province – Peru
Elevation:
(19,506ft/5.947m)
Difficulty
Advanced
Duration
7 days
Itinerary
We will leave the hotel in Huaraz town (10,138ft/3.090m) after breakfast and will travel by private transportation along the Callejon de Huaylas on the northern side of Huaraz, passing through different towns and villages such as Carhuas (8,694ft/2.650m), Yungay (8,202ft/2.500m) and Caraz (7,381ft/2.250m). We get to the last village of Cashapampa (9,515ft/2.900m) where the donkeys/horses will be ready to be loaded with our camping and climbing equipment. We will start hiking up through a narrow valley for about 2 hours before we take a lunch break. We will get to the first camp, “Llamacorral” (12,467ft/3.800m) after 5 to 6 hours. We will enjoy the rest of the afternoon in the camp admiring the beautiful landscape and resting until dinner time. Overnight in tents (-/-/D)
We have breakfast around 7 am and then hike along a relatively flat valley, admiring and enjoying the beauty of the wonderful turquoise lakes called “Ichicocha” and “Jatuncocha”. We will have lunch at a place called Quishuar, in a beautiful native forest. After that, we will start going up on a relatively steep path to the Alpamayo base camp (14,764ft/4.500m). The total hike will take us between 5 and 6 hours. We usually get to this camp early enough to relax and check our climbing and camping equipment for the next days. Dinner will be served around 6 pm. Overnight in tents (B/-/D)
We leave the base camp around 8 am, but not before having a good breakfast. We will hike up for 3 to 4 hours on a rocky, rather steep section which is not too difficult, until we get to the Moraine camp (16,240ft/4.950m). We will have a chance to get a very nice view of Artesonraju, Paria, Pucajirca peaks, etc. After setting up our tents we will tear into our lunch boxes. We will relax for the rest of the afternoon. Dinner will be served by late afternoon. Overnight in tents (B/-/D)
We will have breakfast around 6:30 am and leave the moraine camp around 8 am. We will walk up a few minutes to get onto the glacier where we will rope up and put our crampons on. The first section is not too steep, consisting mainly of walking on snow/glacier, but the last section just before the saddle (17,389ft/5.300m) will get a pitch or two of 60 º to 70º ice climbing. It will take us about an hour to climb this section. Once on the saddle, we can see the amazing Alpamayo south-west face. From the saddle we need to walk down for a few minutes to get to the Alpamayo high camp (17,389ft/5.300m). The whole ascent to this camp will take us 5 to 6 hours. We will set up our tents on the glacier, have lunch and relax, take pictures and admire the unique landscape the rest of the afternoon. The dinner will be served early, around 5 pm. Overnight in tents (B/-/D)
We will wake up very early in the morning, around 1 am, and eat a light breakfast. Then we will prepare and put on all of our climbing equipment, and leave the camp by 2 am. The first hour will be mainly walking on the glacier slopes until we get to the bergschrund, where we look for a snow/ice bridge to cross over. From here on we will be climbing on an ice runnel, which leads directly to the summit through eight pitches of snow and ice, gradually steepening to 50º to 80º. The last section 120m offers beautiful blue ice and ends at a knife-edged summit (19,511ft/5.947m). Once on the summit, we can enjoy the wonderful surrounding peaks like Quitaraju, Santa Cruz Grande, Artesonraju, and several more from the Cordillera Blanca. We will spend a few minutes there, taking pictures, recovering, eating, and then start rappelling down; it will take us 8 to 9 hours to the summit and 3 to 4 hours to descent back to camp. Once here will have something to eat and rest in the tents (B/-/D)
We will have breakfast around 8 am. Then we pack our equipment and start descending to Alpamayo base camp (14,764ft/4.500m) around 9:30 am. It will take us 5 to 6 hours. Dinner will be served by late afternoon. Overnight in tents (B/-/D)
We will get our breakfast around 8 am and pack all our equipment to get ready in order to load everything on the burros (donkeys). We will start our way back to Cashapampa (9,515ft/2.900m), where our transportation will be ready to drive us to Huaraz town (10,138ft/3.090m). Overnight in Hotel (B/-/-)
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