Greetings from Huaraz... Alpamayo expedition is kicking off!!!
Everyone arrived yesterday in Lima on schedule, and we made it to Huaraz less than 24 hours later. After checking into the Hotel Andino, early to bed was almost mandatory. Today we woke up to the clearest skies ever, and soon after a copious breakfast, we jumped in the van that took us to the Quebrada LLupa, where we'd venture on a morning stroll. What a better way to start acclimatizing than an active hike? Huaraz sits at 3,000m of elevation. Two hours after the van stopped, we found ourselves at the beautiful Churup Lake, "just" 100m above the summit of our beloved Mount Rainier. Lunch by the water with a casual talk and laughter to exercise the lungs without effort at such elevation, and back down to allow the body to rest and start adapting.
We packed our gear, took a nap, went for dinner and got excited about what's ahead... tomorrow we'll leave early towards Cahsapampa, to start the hike in towards Alpamayo BC. Our next post will be from the satellite phone. Stay toned and cheer for the team!!!
Best,
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos and the RMI Alpamayo team
Well... and our trip came to an end! Today the group departed Peru and most of our climbers will be arriving home, with the memories of two weeks in the Andes. Behind are the quebradas (valleys) the cochas (glacial lakes) and of course, the rajus (snow covered mountains) that had been home and playground during our climbing seminar in the Cordillera Blanca, the CAPITAL of Andean climbing, without a doubt.
We had an incredibly successful trip with motivated-to-learn and dedicated-to-perform climbers. Nevados Urus East, Ishinca and Copa proved a great progression for folks, while implementing expedition skills, culminated a trip that served as learning grounds for alpine climbing in the greatest ranges of the world. We leave you here some pictures while we already look forward to next year's editions of our RMI Peru program!
Thanks for following along,
RMI Guides ElÃas deAndres Martos, Robby Young and team
Back at Base Camp! And What a day we had! Our ascent to the summit of Copa was everything but ordinary; intricate navigation to avoid a blocking bergschund, trail breaking at 20,000ft, steep slopes in the dark... and a corniced summit ridge, among other factors, provided a great graduation climb in this, our second Peru Seminar. We managed to descend to the safety of Base Camp in a long push, picking high camp on the way. Everyone is pretty tired, but feeling well and accomplished. We are turning to our tents now, and will check in again tomorrow from Huaraz.
Best regards,
RMI Guide ElÃas de Andres Martos and team.
Hello, this is the Elias calling from 200 meters below the summit of Copa, which we just tackled about half an hour ago. We wanted to get out of the wind and we're taking a break, heading down. It is 10:16 am local time and we've had a really, really hard day of work to get to the top - intricate navigation and steep trail breaking to 6,200 meters which is the top of Copa (roughly the same as Denali). Now we're heading down; we're pretty happy. And we look forward to sending you a dispatch from our camp. We're going to try to make it down to base camp, if we can, but our first objective will be high camp. So hope all is well at home and we'll keep you posted in a few hours. Bye.
RMI Guides Elias de Andres Martos
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos calls from just below the summit of Copa in Peru.
Congratulations to the entire group! Sounds like an exciting and exhilarating climb! A special hello and congrats to my dad, Larry. Looking forward to hearing more!! -Jen
Posted by: Jen on 7/10/2015 at 6:17 am
Congratulations to Elias and whole team upon reaching summit of Copa - - what a week!
Hello, this is the Peru Seminar and ElÃas and Robby and Peter with the team at High Camp on Copa. We are currently at 5,200 meters. The crew climbed really well this morning. It took us slightly less than 4 hours to move from Base Camp to here, and we are currently settled in, cooking dinner, replenishing water, and getting ready for what's ahead tonight: the biggest of our objectives, Copa, at 6,200 meters. We'll be checking in tomorrow, hopefully from the summit, and stay tuned for more. That's it for now. Everybody's doing really well, and we wish everything is good at home. Bye!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos calls in from High Camp on Copa, Peru.
Greetings from Nevado Copa Basecamp, one of the most beautiful places on earth!(seriously) We all climbed this morning to this idyllic place, and ever since, our eyes have been put on the slopes of this Andean giant that sits before us. All is ready to launch tomorrow towards high camp, and our forecast is telling us we'll have the best weather possible. Everyone is really well acclimated, and the good sports reign amongst the crew. Stay tuned for the progress of the graduation climb of this 2nd edition of our Peru Seminar.
RMI Guide ElÃas de Andres Martos and team
¡Hola again from BC!
In case you missed our call this morning, here is the recap; another 100% summit success!!! Everyone did an excellent job on our climb up Urus East, a step above the previous Ishinca, on a day where we encountered steep terrain, short pitches, involved scrambles and rewarding rappels. Our views of distant Copa, where we head next, from the top, were jaw dropping; all of us can't wait to head there day after tomorrow. We're enjoying dinner as we speak, and in twelve hours we'll be hitting the trail downhill towards Huaraz for a day. Stay tuned!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Hello, this is the RMI crew on top of Mount Urus. This is guides Elias, Peter and Robby. We are going to show you the excitement of the crew. {Cheers from the team!] I think that was loud and clear but once again 100% on the top of Nevado Urus. We're pretty psyched. It's 10 o'clock local time and we are having a great time. The weather gave us a break. Been a couple days of snow but we are under sunny skies now looking at our next objective, Copa, and if I turn around, I'll be looking at our last objective, Ishinca. Stay tuned. We'll be letting you know how we are doing on the last stretch in the next couple days. That's it from the top of Urus. Bye.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos calling from the Nevados Urus summit!
Greetings!
We're ready for our next objective, Nevado Urus. We all appreciated a rest day today, after yesterday's summit on Ishinca. We spent the day learning and practicing rappelling as well as fixed line ascension in the vicinity of base camp. We also had a thorough discussion regarding expedition planning. Now we're packing for tomorrow's alpine start, hoping to tackle Nevado Urus before the forecasted weather pattern hits - grapple to snow in the mid-afternoon. That's it for now!
Wish us luck tomorrow,
RMI Guide ElÃas and team
¡Buenas tardes! The team is back at Basecamp after a great, successful day on 18,143ft Ishinca. Everyone climbed well up the southeast glacier, which provided a steep, yet sun-cupped summit ridge. An early summit allowed us to descend via the southweat side, completing an up and over traverse of the mountain; extra credit for everyone! We're now looking forward to an active rest day tomorrow, keeping an eye on the weather as our beautiful summit day turned into a dust of unexpected snow at Basecamp this evening.
Best regards from Perú!
RMI Guides ElÃas de Andres Martos, Robby Young and team
Thank you team leaders Elias and Robby, sounds like a great beginning for all!!
Posted by: Laura Voisinet on 7/4/2015 at 4:41 pm
Congrats Robby and team! Living vicariously through these posts. What an adventure. Greetings from sunny Traverse City fourth of July morning. Safe travels On descent.
Posted by: Victoria Sutherland on 7/4/2015 at 5:48 am
Sounds like quite the adventure with many new experiences, skills, stories and friendships for all!
Posted by: Laura Voisinet on 7/10/2015 at 6:15 am
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