Having arrived late at night in Lima, we didn’t know how the trip was going to go when the driver showed up at the airport to give us a ride to the hotel in a Toyota Yaris to carry three of us with about 400 lbs. of gear to climb in the Andes. We managed to squeeze all of us and our gear in and got to the Hotel San Antonio Abad at 12:30AM.

After an early breakfast we piled our gear into the taxi for the bus station, which turned out to be one of the most interesting cab rides of my life. It turns out that stop lights and lanes are more of a guideline for driving in Lima than a rule. I finally just closed my eyes and hoped we got there in one piece.

An eight hour bus ride on a two level bus which included Wi-Fi was a beautiful ride, especially as we headed into the foothills of the Cordillera Negra. We finally topped the pass at about 14,500 ft. and started heading down the valley to Huaraz. The views of the glaciated peaks of the Cordillera Huayhuash finally came into view. Now I was starting to get excited about getting up into the Corillera Blanca and climb.

The next day we did a short acclimatization hike above Huaraz at about 11,500 ft. and took in some of the local sights and culture. Eli did some bouldering with some of the local Peruvian kids and then we headed back to town to get some shopping and errands done.

The next day we headed up for a more taxing hike up to Laguna Churup, a beautiful lake that sits at the base of Nevado Churup at 14,500 ft. The views were absolutely amazing and when we topped the final cliff band and the lake and mountain came into full view it was amazing. This was higher than either Renee or I had ever been.

The next day we loaded up the van with gear and headed up to Ishinca base camp. After about an hour and a half ride to the small village of Pashpa where we met the Burrow driver that would haul all of our gear up to camp.

The walk into base camp was about four hours up the most beautiful canyon with 2000 ft. cliffs looming above us most of the way. We finally reached the end of the valley at 14,300 ft. to the most spectacular view of 6032m Tocllaraju towering above us. Juaquin our cook and Edwin our porter along with the burrows arrived about 15 minutes ahead of us and had already started getting everything set up.

The next day we took it a bit easy in the morning. We then got our gear together and headed up to 16,000 ft. on Urus Este to stash some of our climbing gear for our climb the next day and get a bit more acclimatized. All went well and everybody was feeling good with the altitude.

The following day we left base camp at about 6:00 AM to climb Urus Este (17,979 ft.). All went well until about 16,000 ft. Renee was showing some signs of AMS and was starting to slow down a bit. We reached our gear at 16,000 ft. and got everything ready to climb. We reached the toe of the glacier at about 16,500 ft. and Renee really wasn’t up for the climb at this point.

We made the decision to leave her there at 16,500 ft. while Eli and I finished of the climb. Urus Este is not technically demanding, but is was sustained 40 to 50 degree slopes with a lot of hidden crevasses. Eli led the way as we took a different route than most and was a little more demanding. We finally reached the summit at about 11:00 AM. The weather had really socked in and we were in the clouds and snow for most of the way. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get the great views of Ishinca, Ranrapalca and Tocllaraju that we were hoping, but it was nice just to be on top of its tiny little summit.

We snapped a few photos, got some fuel in us and started back down. We reached Renee at 16,500 ft. and she was hunkered down in all of her clothes trying to keep warm and feeling about the same. We headed back down to 16,000 ft. where Edwin our porter was waiting and unloaded some gear for the trek down to base camp.

The next day was a rest day, although Edwin and Eli were going to make a run up to Ishinca high camp with some gear before we headed up there the next day. Renee seemed to be feeling better and was just going to take it easy. Everything seemed to be going well and then all of the sudden Renee just collapsed, throwing up and shaking violently. Her head and neck was really hurting.
We got her into the tent and tried to get her warmed up and stabilized. After about 20 minutes Eli determined that it was the onset of cerebral edema. We decided to get her out of there as fast as we could. We got some Dexamethasone into her and got some items to make a carriage if we ended up having to carry her out.

She was able to walk out on her own for the most part, with the help of Eli. Once we got down to about 12,000 ft. she started to feel better, but was still out of it. Edwin had gone up the mountain to make a call to get a ride to meet us at the trailhead. They showed up just as we did and we got Renee loaded up and down to Huaraz at 10,000 ft.

After a night of rest she seemed to be feeling better and the headache was subsiding. So we decided not to take her to Lima and just let her take it easy and recover in Huaraz.

We rested another day, in which I got the stomach flu and was starting to come down with a cold. Eli and I decided to climb Vallunaraju the next day. We would leave town at 4:00 AM which should give us plenty of time to make the climb.

When I got up, I was not doing much better and was really dehydrated from the flu. Juaquin, Eli and I started up the trail at about 6:00 AM. I was doing okay and felt strong, but could really feel the effects of the dehydration. Finally at about 16,000 ft. we were about to the toe of the glacier where we would start climbing, and I just bonked. I was dizzy and nauseous and just not feeling right.

We decided at that point to just bag it and call it a day. Renee was surprised when we were back at the hotel so early. So that was the end of our climbing for the trip, but it was still an incredible trip. We spent the next couple of days hanging out in Huaraz and taking it easy. We both can’t wait to get back under better circumstances!