mountain excursion (part II)

Once again, forgive me for cutting and pasting from my other blog but this one is even longer than the last and I have no desire to rewrite the whole darn thing.

day 2 of the trip to huaraz was an eventful one indeed. it started out early with a 6am wakeup call for breakfast at 630 and leaving the hostel at 7 for the trip to lago (lake) 69. we had heard that it was a beautiful place to visit and take pictures of so we decided it was worth getting up with the sun in the morning.

the group of 9 of us piled into the van that was taking us to our starting point 3 hours down the road and 800 m higher than huaraz. it was an ok ride there, the lady from seattle was constantly asking to pull over so she could take pictures of the local scenery and it was getting fairly annoying, even for me. the tour guides were getting impatient to get to the start point so we could do the hike and so was i. after some flat and some bumpy roads, we made it into the park where the lake is located and got to our departure spot - located at 3900 m above sea level.

we ate a bit of lunch before and peed on the local trees before heading off on our hike. a conservative estimate said that it would be a 2.5 hour hike up and a 1.5 hour hike back. we were told that the lake was at 4450 m so it didn't look like it was going to be that hard of a hike, only needing to go up another 500 vertical meters. the guides said that it was an easy trail so we didn't expect it to be that hard.

slight problem - we weren't acclimated to the elevation.

we started off and on the relatively flat sections noticed that we had a hard time talking between ourselves for more than 4 or 5 words at a time. there just wasn't the oxygen there to breathe and speak. we tended to get tired quickly yet found that we recovered quickly when we took a break. after about an hour, our group was starting to fragment into the hikers who were doing ok with the altitude and those that were not. i am proud to say that i was in the group that was doing fine and i was setting the pace for the 3 behind me that were all 10 years younger.

there was a flat valley as we approached the 2 hour mark and at that point, we were at 4400 m. with the joy of knowing that we only had another 50 vertical meters to go, the group of 4 headed across the valley and towards the last trail that would take us to the summit of our journey. we came across some people coming down and they said that the view was amazing but the hardest part of the hike was still to come. no problem!!! we weren't that tired and the skies looked clear. for about 10 minutes and then it started to hail. little tiny balls of frozen water bounced off my cap and shirt (notice i didn't say jacket, cuz i didn't bring one) and the sky changed from being a lovely shade of blue with fluffy white clouds to a sunless day with dark rain clouds looming overhead. oh frackin' lovely, i thought. i'm gonna get soaked at altitude without a rain coat and in relative cold (it was around 8 C)...

the last slope was wicked steep with loose rocks and a lot of vertical ground to cover. the 50 m we thought we had to go was a slight (!!!!) understatement and the 4 of us began to splinter into single hikers as we ascended the last slope. i would take 10 steps and stop to catch my breath. i was amazed at how hard it was to breathe, and the pounding in the back of my head from the altitude was getting rather severe as i continued to climb. when i busted out the gps, i noticed that i was at 4500 m and still not anywhere near the top of the hill. i figured out then that it was going to be a long afternoon even though it was only slightly before 1pm.

i managed to push my way up to the top and towards the infamous lago 69. it was a beautiful sight and i would have appreciated it more only i was physically spent. the gps registered the lake as being 4616 m above sea level and it completely felt like it. at this point i was getting nausea from the altitude and couldn't eat the snickers bar that i had brought with me to eat at the summit of the journey. how sad must i be if i can't eat chocolate????

the headache and nausea were too much so i started back down after only being at the lake for about 20 minutes. the signs my body were giving me told me that i needed to get down from that elevation and back to somewhere that i could get oxygen to my muscles (and brain). i began the trek back to the van and found the walk back to be as difficult as the walk up. the rocks were sliding everywhere and i had to take tiny steps to ensure that i didn't bite it and roll my way down the mountain. after a while, my legs started to cramp up from the lack of oxygen in my muscles and things went from bad to worse. i was going slower DOWNHILL than i was when i was going uphill. the fatigue of the hike was setting in and i still had 1000 vertical meters to descend (which should have taken me about an hour). it took closer to 2.

after about 30 minutes of hiking, my brain disconnected. the altitude was getting to me and the constant walking meant that there was a relative lack of oxygen going to my brain. i got to feeling like i was drunk, with a hangover, and in jeopardy of falling off a mountain. not a good combination and the reality of what altitude can do to a person was really sinking in. the slower members of our group were passing me on the way down and noted that i couldn't walk a straight line no matter what the terrain. it was not a good experience and i have a new found appreciation for what high altitude hikers go through. not being acclimated was biting me in the backside and i went from having a pretty good day to a bad one.

the terrain leveled out a little as i got closer to the van and i struck up conversations with anything that would listen. the cows, the burros, my shoes, even my hat (i told you i was in bad shape). and somehow i made it back to the van and collapsed in the front seat with a massive headache and burning desire to vomit. ugh, i definitely was going to remember this experience...

the van departed for huaraz and as we descended back to the normal elevation of where i could breathe, my headache went away and the nausea with it. i never did throw up and somewhere around 3700 m is where i felt like a human again. the ride back to town went well and although i was tired, i wasn't sick. to finish off the day, a couple of us dropped by a local restaurant for some pizza before we hit the sack around 9pm that night. i haven't slept that well in a long time.