Peru -  Cordillera Vilcanota

By John Wallack

[Austrian Alpine Club Newsletter 165, Spring 2005]

      The Toyota minibus climbed the dirt road  leaving Urcos  with impressive power. There were seven trekkers, the guide, cook and horse man along with the driver. The pile of duffels and gear on the roof was huge. The road pretty much climbed directly to over 12,000’ passes.  The drive from Cusco to Tinqui is about five hours. Our mid-day departure meant unloading the bus and setting up our first camp at 13,600’ in the dark.

The views from camp in the morning were spectacular. The snow covered north face of Ausangate in the morning sun was a great introduction to the 9-day trek. The standard Ausangate trek is a 5-6 day circuit, but we modified the plan to give us three possible 18ers to climb. We coordinated the plan with Waykitrek (recommended by South American Explorers Club – SAE).  and our guide Richard Sanchez. Richard was familiar with the climbs in this area.

The first day’s trek took us past thatched adobe huts and grassland. We saw a few trekkers on horseback the first day, and as it turned out, they were the last gringos we saw on the trek. We enjoyed the hot springs at our lunch stop. The fast ascent to altitude made me feel like I was made of lead. The two nights in Cusco at 11,000’ were helpful, but sleeping at 14,000’ so quickly was pushing it.

Summit of Campa

The second day of trekking took us up to about 15,000’. Camp #3 was just below Campa Pass, in great position to climb Campa Peak.  We rested in the afternoon, planning on climbing the next morning. Several of us were struggling with the acclimatization. During the night, we could hear the snow on the tent.  In the morning, we decided to delay Campa for one day. The clouds were low and we hoped for better weather. We did a day hike of a close-by 16,300’ point for conditioning. The extra day really helped.

We woke to clear skies at 4AM for our Campa climb. The approach to the glacier took less than two hours. The snow at the base of the glaciers was surprisingly soft. We worked our way through some huge ramps and around to the southern side of the peak. Starting off at the north side and traversing Campa to the south made it an interesting climb. The final 300 feet included a steeper section of penitentes. All seven trekkers made it up Campa: Deac Lancaster, Darin Spykerman, Jenn Schneider, Nicole Kanizay, Sara Beck, Kris and John Wallack. The views from the summit were great - snow covered peaks in every direction. The descent was amazingly easier (something about the thin air)! We decided to give up Peak #2 due to the weather delay, so we descended the south side of Campa and moved on to a new campsite beyond Campa Pass. We were enjoying the convenience of a horse-supported trek.

The next day, we moved camp south to the base of Huayruro Punco. This took us off the normal trekking route a bit and gave us a  great start for the climb. This was our highest camp at 15,800’.

We had a cold morning for Huayruro Punco. We were to the glacier in an hour. The snow was steeper here than Campa, reaching perhaps 50 degrees in a couple places. We were to the summit by about 10AM, with great mountain views.  We returned to camp for lunch, then moved camp a few miles down valley. It was a relief to sleep a bit lower. The trek out took two more days.

The climbing possibilities in the Cordillera Vilcanota are excellent. There are peaks at all levels of difficulty to choose from. By varying from the normal trekking circuit a bit, you can include several climbing possibilities, depending on your schedule. The cost of this trek was $495/person.  This included round trip private bus from Cusco, all food, a cook, a guide, tents, a horse for emergency use and horses to carry gear. Based in Cusco, we also included a tour of the Sacred Valley before the trek and Machu Picchu afterwards.