UKC

Hi,

I am planning a trip to Peru for three weeks starting at the end of July.

Myself and a friend are aiming to climb two peaks and any advice would be really appreciated... unfortunately neither of us are capable / confident enough (YET!) to head out ourselves.

My experience is on easy Scottish climbs and a course in the Alps. Climbing wise I am stronger (though no Ondra), and comfortable with my rope work / multi-pitch climbing. While my friend is planning to spend time in Bolivia learning some winter basics, he climbs indoors and I will take him out for multi pitches before hand / hard scrambling to practice Alpine skills. So basically nothing too technical, but I don't want to walk up a 5.5km high hill :P

Tips on feasibility, decent guides, mountain itinerary (to get the ideas flowing) e.t.c. would be great.

Dan

In reply to Braintax:

I went out to Huaraz on my own as part of my uni studies in 2003. At the time I had ice climbed about grade III and had done a handful of simple routes in Chamonix.

I ended up getting really quite a lot done and actually successfully pushing my alpine grade. It was an interesting time because I needed to find partners out there - leading to some great experiences and some slightly dodgy ones.

I focussed on alpine peaks with snow walking and easy climbing. For this it is essential to be familiar with glacier travel and crevasse rescue - there's no real mountain rescue service out there so in many ways you're on your own. On the flip side, I found that my experience of long days in the scottish hills climbing long days on less than perfect rock/ice was really useful.

Language - the whole thing is a lot easier - and cheaper - if you can speak spanish. This allows you to take local taxis and not chartered tour buses, and to bargain in shops etc. It's also a lot of fun. Good stories of sharing the back seat of a car with a lama.

Gear - take all your own out there. You can buy in shops but it's generally left over from previous climbers and of dubious quality.

Accom - I stayed at Jo's place in Huaraz. A british guy who runs a really chilled out outfit which is pretty climbing-centric.

Guides - if you go to the "casa de guias" in Huaraz they will sort you out with guides, donkeys, transport, chefs and the rest. I would have spent x5 the amount I did if I had done this.

Books - there are a few but the most inspiring I found was something like "climbs in the Cordillera Blanca" by Brad Johnston - great pictures and really positive writing.

In 3 1/2 weeks I climbed Pisco, failed near the top of Chopicalqui, failed fairly low down on Ulta and climbed Hotline on Pucaraju. 4 climbs are pretty feasible if you are organised.

I have no experience of using guides out there.

Have a good one!

In reply to Braintax: Check out john biggar's company Andes
You can ether book the whole thing through him ,or just phone him up for some info and tips.

In reply to Braintax:
Hi there
HP's reply covers much of the ground. By the sound of things, you would benefit from a guide. Altitude aside, The Cordillera Blanca can give a relatively easy entre into climbing big hills. It can really be a great playground. However, glacier conditions are changing by the season, quite dramatically in places. Much of the Brad Johnstone guide is getting dated. There can be some quite dodgy glacier antics in places. Some very capable climbers have died at the foot of some faces in recent years, due to increasing objective dangers. Experienced climbers have died in cravass falls on easy routes. Do not under estimate the capability of walking up and down a 6km high hill safely.

Local guides do not always have the most enlightened or even safe approach to things at times. This is sad to say and I do so on a number of personal experiences. This is compounded by the fact that some of these fellas actually have the UIAGM carnet. If you wish to use a guide, check out an American called Ted Alexander. He lives in Huaraz and would put together a very good itinerary for you. He may not have the international guides carnet, but I use him on a professional basis in my capacity of delivering Outdoor Pursuits in the school I teach in Lima. Google "Skyline Adventure School Huaraz". I have also been out on the hills with him whilst he is guiding clients and chatted with some of his former clients. He's sound.

Living In Lima and climbing in the Andes in long weekends and week long holidays, I can vouch for the fact that you really can get quite a bit done in a short time. The key, is be fit, do your research and choose objectives well.

Good luck

Alex