Trip Reports

Huascaran - 24 Jul to 18 Aug '05

Written by Leader Adele Pennington, August 2005

Enjoying an extra night in Huaraz, the second Huascaran team still had enough energy to dance the evening away at the Tambo to celebrate the beginning of their expedition. Yet again, the Peruvian weather excelled itself whilst the team completed their acclimatisation on the Santa Cruz Trek. The ascent of Pisco saw all the team summiting with ten minutes to spare to enjoy the good weather and views, before the clouds rolled in. Once back at the Refugio Camp, the cloud and snow left the team content in the fact they had summited just in the nick of time.

After an evening relaxing in Carhuaz, the team started their ascent of Huascaran. Taking each day as another Munro, they made their way up through the camps. By the time the team had reached Camp I, the weather had settled down to provide fantastic clear blue skies by day and bitterly cold star-filled skies by night. An early start from Camp I saw the team move through the Garganta, which had changed considerably since the last Jagged Globe ascent two weeks previously. Fresh avalanche debris drew the team’s awareness to the dangers of this passage through the awesome ice scenery.

Once Col Camp had been established, the team rested in their tents before leaving camp at 2am. Five minutes after leaving camp the three rope teams were entertained with their first vertical section of snow and crevasse jump. After a further two hundred metres of ascent, the challenging overhanging crevasse saw maximum team effort, as some members hauled and others pushed to cross this barrier. As the team made further progress up the steep slopes, the wind began to pick up making the ascent much more challenging. From the false summit, the members pushed themselves along the ´flat´ summit ridge with a bitterly cold headwind slowing progress. Finally, we found ourselves on the summit numb, cold, but elated. After some hot tea and a few emotional tears, the team made their way down to Col Camp, taking the fixed ropes and abseils/rappels in their stride.

A 4am start the following day saw the team return safely back through the Garganta to Base Camp, where a welcome beer left some members searching for their tent pals!

Congratulations to Stephen and Kathryn Barker, Tom Esser, Kaj Johansson, Raimond McCourt and Mark Shaffer, who all achieved their personal goals and a special thank you to all the in-country staff who made the ascent possible.

Adele Pennington and Mic Rofe, expedition leaders « Previous report | Next report »

Jagged Globe Newsletter

We publish an email newsletter with trip reports and latest availability, plus features, competitions and general news of our climbing, trekking & skiing activities.