Lifeless Sierra smiles

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My trekking and climbing programs in Peru

A newly designed, rather old story about my first mountain expedition (2012) in the amazingly beautiful mountain system Huayhuash Cordillera in Peru

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Those who didn’t skip geography lessons at school, of course, remember that the longest mountain range in the world, the Andes, stretches along the entire Pacific coast of South America.

From the very top of the continent, from the hot tropics of the Strait of Panama to the cold southern reaches of Patagonia, Andean mountain range stretches in a giant fold, with many of the peaks which significantly exceed the altitude of six kilometers.

Most flights to Peru from Europe cross South America from east to west

The Andes are a huge barrier that divides the flow of rivers throughout the continent into two basins - the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Deep in the heart of the Andean plateau, gentle hills merge into an endless series until the horizon, overgrown with stunted thorns and sad, skinny cactuses. The altitude here imperceptibly exceeds 4000 meters, without trying to in any way change the landscape with the appropriate mountain outlines.

Endless expanses of the high Sierra - no water, no life

There are no settlements here, only occasional Quechua Indian shepherds wander here with their lamas, calmly chewing coca leaves.

This is the Sierra, the harsh high desert that covers a large part of the Great Andean Range, arching its ancient back along the entire western coast of South America, and sleeping deeply under the eternal tune of the tired and monotonous surf of the Pacific Ocean.

Sunset on the Pacific Ocean in Lima

Almost touching the foam on the bends of the gentle waves, the plane was descending over the ocean. For a moment it seemed as if we were landing on water.

But then, a narrow strip of sandy shore flashed by, and under the wing, the lights of the airfield of the capital of Peru, Lima, flashed like a dotted line. The passengers, stunned by the hours-long flight, began to stir sluggishly and began to emerge from the sleepy anabiosis that lasted 14 long hours of the transatlantic flight.

Lima, Miraflores

On shaky legs, I leisurely walk down the ramp and hobble towards the dark and inhospitable airport building. The air of another continent is no different from the usual city stench - the atmosphere is dominated by shades of dust and unhealthy exhaust from old cars...

Somewhere 10 hours have been lost, and instead of the morning according to my home time, it is already late, dark evening.

After a flight across the Atlantic, prepare for severe jet lag - the time difference with Europe is 10 hours

Lima turned on the lights on the streets, the dim dull yellow light hid from the eyes of half-asleep tourists the daytime ugliness of the metropolis, a huge blot spilled on the hilly shore of the gray and cold Pacific Ocean.

On the way to the hotel, I admired from the taxi window a continuous series of identical gray shabby shacks and stunted palm trees, half suffocated under a layer of dust.

The usual picture in Lima is a gloomy sky, fog and the bustle of a huge city

I couldn’t believe that behind this decoration there could be hidden a dazzling and shining world, for which we went on a journey to the other end of the earth.

This season we decided to visit an area located far from the popular tourist routes - a hard-to-reach and little-explored mountain system, a separate island of snowy peaks lost in the depths of the Andean plateau of central Peru - the Cordillera Huayhuash.

Lima is located on the coast, there is still a long way to get to the mountains by intercity bus

Those few travelers who were not afraid to undertake this long journey, all unanimously claim that the Cordillera Huayhuash is a paradise on earth, unique in its fantastic beauty and majestic grace of the heavenly crystal peaks of the mountains, which seem to have come out from under the cutter of a brilliant jeweler.

Cordillera Huayhuash - a pearl among the mountain attractions of Peru

Our team, already tested in the most remote and wild corners of the globe, unanimously agreed that a ten-day journey around this lost mountain world is worth flying to the other side of the earth, enduring all the hardships of a long and intricate journey to the mountains that even for local people are considered distant and inaccessible.

For the huge and very comfortable bus it took a long time to get out of the dense chaos of Lima's traffic (really crazy one). Then it made its way through the colorful bustle of the market slums on the outskirts of the city, and, finally, went on the straight line of the Pan-American Highway, which slowly drove south along the gray and foggy coast of the Pacific Ocean.

Pan-American Highway - the main highway of South America

...The endlessly long road seemed to lead to heaven. The serpentine loops followed one after another, the altitude on the altimeter on my watch had already exceeded four kilometers, and there was no end for the ascent.

A sleepy numbness attacked the passengers of the bus, who were in no way prepared for the effect of the altitude. Rare outlines of squalid and deserted Indian settlements made their way through the slumber; occasionally, a haze of fog rolling onto the road hid the harsh landscape of the high-mountain desert - the Sierra.

Many roads in Peru are located at altitudes above 5000 m

I woke up to a change in the rhythm of the turns of the road. The road no longer twisted so furiously. Buildings of an incomprehensible color floated past the window; ahead, the lights merged into a dense pattern of the night city.

The inscription “Bienvenido a Huaraz” (Welcome to Huaraz) flashed on a strange structure near the road.

The second day spent on the road was ending... The fatigue that had accumulated along the way covered us with bouts of drowsiness, but the end of the torment was already close - finally we had reached the starting point of our mountain expedition.

The starting point of all mountain routes in Peru is the town of Huaraz, the capital of mountaineering and mountain tourism

Huaraz is a fairly lively and large town located in the wide, fertile valley of the Rio Santa River. The valley is located between two mountain ranges - the Cordillera Negra from the west and the Cordillera Blanca from the east.

A picturesque place, I must say. In the morning, the sun rises over the majestic snowy peaks of the Cordillera Blanca - the White Ridge, translated from Spanish. All the beauty of the snow-white peaks looks so close, it seems that you can stretch out your hand and reach it...

A misleading impression. Getting to these “close” mountains is long and difficult; the cyclopean scale of the relief cannot be assessed by the human eye.

Huaraz is dominated by the highest mountain in Peru - Nevado Huascaran

The population of Huaraz is about 15,000 people. Most of the town's inhabitants are Quechua Indians - the remnants of the indigenous population of Peru, who, thanks to their peace-loving and calm disposition, survived the conquest of the country by the conquistadors.

The financial situation of the local people, in general, is quite sad - for European eye it is strange to see people living without the basic benefits of civilization - without hot water and central gas, without electricity or heating. However, this is the standard mode of living in most Peruvian provinces.

People love to celebrate holidays and carnivals in Huaraz - every week in May the most colorful costume parades take place

However, the villagers of the Peruvian highland provinces do not complain about their lives - they are unpretentious and happy with their calm and poor life. Tourists from distant countries are received with curiosity and shy interest, in which there is no search for profit - the country has not yet been spoiled by the “tourist gold rush”.

Families, as a rule, have at least three or four children, education is state, medicine too - although peasants trust healers more than doctors.

The combination of the brightest and purest colors is a characteristic feature of all mountain systems of Peru and Bolivia

Nature did not skimp on decorating of this land. The abundance of bright colors and vitality literally shocks a tourist unaccustomed to such sensations.

The mountains dazzle with their snowy peaks, the rivers amaze with their purity and strength, the lakes glow with all the colors of the rainbow, the water meadows amaze with the abundance of a wide variety of plants. A rich land, generous to its people.

The Peruvian mountains are no less rich inside than outside. Veins of coal come right to the surface, and a little deeper - gold, silver, platinum...

The Pierina mine in the province of Huaraz is one of the largest gold deposits in Peru

Nature has not forgotten anything for her favorite land, hidden among the high ridges of the Great Andes.

These mountains are like a separate universe, a real shining miracle, the existence of which could not even be imagined a couple of days ago, habitually suffocating in the human turmoil of a crowded city.

Traditional outfits of the Quechua Indians can be seen in any rural area of Peru

However, the final goal of our journey is still far away. From Huaraz there is a long way to one of the wildest and most remote areas of the province, from where we will move in a caravan with pack animals deep into the legendary mountain system to see with our own eyes what other travelers talked about confusedly and enthusiastically.

Cordillera Huayhuash - an island of snowy peaks in the vast ocean of the desert Sierra

An old minibus, heavily loaded with equipment and food for our expedition, lazily negotiated the bends of a dirt road, pockmarked by fresh mudflows and strewn with deep holes, into which it constantly fell, shaking out the remnants of a sleepy drowsiness from its passengers.

The road from Huaraz had already stretched for more than six hours and there was no end in sight.

Depending on the road conditions, the journey from Huaraz to the Cordillera Huayhuash can take a whole day.

The altitude on the altimeter did not fall below 4000 m, and the landscape around was not pleasing with its variety - gentle hillsides overgrown with stunted scorched grass, dissected here and there by outcrops of red rocks. Boring, bumpy, dusty road.

The car, in which we had been swallowing yellow dust raised by worn-out wheels from a broken dirt road for at least six hours, wearily rolled over another dull desert hill.

Suddenly, around the next turn, a panorama opened up ahead that took my breath away.

Cordillera Huayhuash - Smile of the Lifeless Sierra

The unreality of the picture was especially sharply felt against the backdrop of the gloomy lifeless monotony of the high mountain sierra, which for hundreds of kilometers around did not give even the most unpretentious creatures a chance to live.

And suddenly - nature laughed with a white-toothed smile on a dry and dark face. Against the background of the scorched desert, like a wavering mirage of a fairy-tale city with sharp spiers of watchtowers almost reaching the sky, a mountain oasis of a unique, indescribable sight appeared.v

Within the limits of the Cordillera Huayhuash there are 5 majestic six-thousanders, which are very rarely climbed

Hugging tightly to each other, like one friendly family, dazzling snowy peaks stretched towards the sky, each of which was undoubtedly worthy of the brush of the best artists, if such majestic beauty is accessible to the human representation.

Openwork glaciers, steeply falling from the celestial cliffs, crumbled below into many rivers, rivulets and streams, which, in turn, saturated with vitality the lush grasses of the meadows at the foot of the inaccessible mountains.

Main peaks of the Cordillera Huayhuash - Siula Grande and Yerupaja

Along the lower edge of the lush greenery of the high-mountain pastures stretched a dark belt of dense virgin forest growing only at an altitude of more than 4000 m, consisting of gnarled trunks of strange trees twisted into an impenetrable thicket.

The picture was complemented by an abundance of crystal clear lakes, every of them reflected the radiance of the sky in its own way. It would be useless even to try to catch all the play of colors and shades of fantastically bright reservoirs, a great variety of which, like a sparkling necklace, encircled the foot of the snow-white peaks and adorned the lush greenery of the gorges below.

Incredible panoramas of the Cordillera Huayhuash

All shades of green, turquoise, blue, indigo and violet sparkled and continuously changed color, flashing and dimming if a random cloud covered the sun.

This was the purpose of our trip. The Cordillera Huayhuash, an amazing mountain region, lost in the inaccessible depths of the Peruvian Andes, is a very compact mountain system, separated from the other high peaks of Peru by the endless expanses of the lifeless sierra. This entire mountain system consists of five main peaks, each of which is at least six kilometers high.

The character of the Cordillera Huayhuash is an unique combination of heavenly peaks and colorful mountain lakes

Strange names are unusual for hearing: Yerupja, Rondoy, Irishhanka, Siula…. Like a friendly family of giants, the mountains stand tightly, pressing their rocky shoulders against each other, without depressions or crossable passes.

Anyone who dares to encroach on the inaccessible lowerings between celestial peaks sandwiched by glaciers will need the ability to withstand the cold and cruel elements of the mountains, the ability to climb steep icy slopes, squeeze into the rocks to escape from rockfalls, get out of the way of deadly avalanches. These are wild and untamed mountains, laughing at human audacity.

Without exception, all the peaks of the Cordillera Huayhuash are very difficult for mountaineering

Cordillera Huayhuash gives the waters of its springs to two oceans. The rivers flowing from the eastern slopes gradually lose their agility, grow, mature and imperceptibly get lost in the expanses of the jungle of the Great Amazon, so that after thousands of kilometers of a leisurely way they flow into the cradle of the Atlantic.

The western slopes of the Cordillera Huayhuash give rise to fast streams that carry their waters towards the closer Pacific Ocean.

Cordillera Huayhuash - where there is water, there is life

The tents are set, the smell of cooking spreads throughout the camp in a small clearing at the foot of the peak, which hides its shining crown in a shaggy cloud.

This name of the mountain is Nevado Rondoy, and our route begins from here, smoothly skirting the very heart of the Cordillera Huayhuash - a group of high peaks, the altitude and complexity of which makes even the most experienced travelers and climbers to respect them.

Rondoy is one of the crucial mountains of the Cordillera Huayhuash

A little guest wandered into our tent to have a look at us and check the source of the smell of the delicious dinner. With a shy and slightly embarrassed smile on his round, dark face, he carefully hid something in the bulging pocket of his father’s old jacket.

However, the pocket clearly has not enough space for its contents and the wet tail of a freshly caught trout openly crawled out. It was a gift for us with which the little Quechua boy came to please the huge and terrible strangers, fantastic like ancient gods.

The natives of the Peruvian highlands are shy, but always friendly

Slowly, heavily measuring the steps, our team approaches the pass, which seemed so close from the camp below, but in reality turned out to be a difficult and prohibitively long climb.

First along the lush grass of the meadows, then along the icy bed of the stream, and now - along a barely noticeable trail winding along the shallow powder of a steep rocky slope.

The beginning of the trekking route in Cordillera Huayhuash after an overnight snowfall

The first pass is always the most difficult. It’s not surprising that after a wet overnight stay in the Cuartelwain camping site, the first turns of the trail were difficult and slow.

The numbers on my altimeter changed even more slowly, reluctantly confirming the fact that the altitude, although not quickly, but gradually was approaching the mark of the Pass - 4655 m.

In the end, something resembling a saddle appeared above my head - in response to my questioning glance, the Indian guide nodded affirmatively - there was the long waited pass ahead.

The first pass of the Cordillera Huayhuash trekking route - how else to celebrate such an event if not with a handstand?!

The proximity of the end of the climb quickened my steps. Be patient a little longer, and here it is, the saddle of the pass, from which new landscapes open up, views of new peaks and completely new, unexperienced emotions.

“Look, it is left quite short distance to go today,” the Indian guide joyfully announced and poked his stick towards the valley, which, according to the most conservative estimates, was still three hours of hard descent...

Colorful lakes of the Cordillera Huayhuash

But the colorful beauty of the landscape inspired hope that the descent would be not only difficult, but also very pleasant. Far below, the greenery of the alpine meadows spilled high from the flat valley bed onto the slopes of the neighboring ridges.

The backs of freely grazing cows dotted the green slopes with colorful spots. Cows, by the way, looked nice and happy.

Elegant Peruvian cow

Slender, healthy, smooth skins, hair to hair, strong and full of their animal power.

Righteous envy rises to the throat when the horned mountain beauty, gracefully bowing her head, stares at you with moist, expressive eyes, looks at you with an appraising gaze, playfully waving her clean fluffy tail. Happy cow - tasty steak!

In such pastures I wouldn’t mind being a cow. But better to be a horse

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The quick shadow of a huge bird flashed overhead.

- Beware of the condor! - the Indian guide shouted and hid himself behind a rock.

An impressively sized feathered predator was circling in the sky, clearly unhappy with our presence and seemingly fearing for its nest somewhere close.

The huge bird noticeably narrowed its circles, each time approaching the people from the direction of the sun. Someone shouted - be careful, it's attacking! With a dull rustle, swept over my head the clawed paws of the condor, the undisputed master of the sky above these mountains.

Royal condors are the kings of the sky over the mountain peaks of the Andes. The wingspan of that creature can reach 3.5 meters

Turning around, the condor made another approach, but the trekking poles pointed upward kept the bird from a more dangerous attack.

Meanwhile, our group was descending into a narrow gorge between the rocks - the only passage into the valley descending to the village with a strange name - Kalinka.

When the sun painted the crimson color of sunset on the tops of the neighboring ridges, our team was already descending along a narrow street of an Indian village, tightly squeezed between rough clay fences.

Sunset in the Cordillera Huayhuash

We spent the night in our tents pitched on the grass of the village stadium, gathering with this spectacle all the surrounding children. Surprisingly modest and unobtrusive they were timidly standing on the sidelines and pretending that they had nothing to do with the tourists.

By the way, this feature is characteristic for the majority of the rural people of Peru.

The whole range of emotions: distrust, interest and curiosity

Naive workers of their earth, these people live in their own simple way of life, firmly established for many centuries, and in general, probably not changed much after the arrival of the conquistadors.

Religion got changed, new customs have appeared, but the land has remained the same - responsive to work, but rocky, requiring back-breaking work and love, giving in return the little that is needed for life, no more.

Cultivating these fields at altitudes of over 3,000 meters is incredibly hard work

Tourists here are strange, incomprehensible creatures from another, inaccessible world, which no one understands and does not need here. Among the rocks overgrown with eucalyptus, which need to be plowed, cleared of stones and wheat planted on tiny patches of land, each grown grain of the harvest costs sweat and exorbitant labor...

Despite all the hardships, the inhabitants of the Peruvian highlands thank the land that gives them life - that is the base of their worldview

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...Ten days' journey. There were thirteen passes and almost two hundred kilometers behind us. The beautiful trail has come to its end, but the impressions from it will fill the memory with a colorful confusion for a long time until the memories will take their rightful place in the repository of life experience.

...From the ashes of the fire, neat bundles of wide reed leaves were dug out. Inside was baked tender lamb meat, a decent piece of veal and half a chicken.

The Peruvian dish Pachamanca is a tradition dating back to the depths of the history of the Inca civilization.

The owner of the house hospitably hinted that there was nothing to be ashamed of, and this dish, which they Indians call “Pachamanca,” can be eaten just with hands.

Lunch was not a fast one, since for an untrained person, even a very hungry one, it is difficult and fraught with consequences to eat such an amount of incredibly tasty and heavy food.

In Peru, especially in the mountain regions, the food culture is fundamentally different from the European traditions.

Another dish typical of Peru is Picante de Cuy - fried guinea pig

People exposed to heavy physical labor in an oxygen-poor high-mountain climate need at least three times more calories than we, who live on the plains and have long forgotten what it means to cultivate the soil with our hands.

So if you don’t eat in the morning, you won’t have the strength to hold your spade and you won’t be able to plow the field.

Try to order any dish which name ends in "poor man's style" in any Peruvian eatery. And if you want advice, be modest and don’t order it. Because they will bring you a huge dish, heaped with a mountain of a variety of products - boiled rice, maize, salad, stewed pieces of meat, potatoes, and so on - you will explode if your stomach is not flexible enough.

You need to be very confident in your stomach to dare to order the first and second dish in a Peruvian restaurant

This is how poor Peruvian peasants eat. And note, everything is fresh and absolutely natural, without preservatives or dyes, grown without fertilizers - there is just no money for that here. Here it is, the other side of the benefits of civilization...

We don’t and can’t have such food in our countries; we don’t even remember the taste of real food in the most cases. Try chicken in a provincial Peruvian restaurant - you will be surprised. It doesn't look like chicken, the taste, color and smell are different from European mass-production.

Then after return, at home it will be difficult to force yourself to eat that what we call chicken meat - except for the name, there is little left of chicken there.

The most delicious food always there is at the rural market. Frog soup - fantastically delicious

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Sometimes rumors can be trusted

Everything I heard about the Cordillera Huayhuash turned out to be true. Even more - only slightly the stories of eyewitnesses could convey that incredible play of colors, the radiance of magnificent peaks and the pristine purity of the lakes of this mountain system.

Cordillera Huayhuash - snow-white peaks of incredible shapes and colorful lakes

No words or photographs can convey that feeling of the unique greatness of nature, which like a sharp knife cuts off all the layers and greasy soot of the “achievements of civilization”.

It returns the feeling of complete and boundless freedom, silently and confidently puts a person face to face with all the greatness, splendor and uniqueness of the world, in which we are an integral part of one whole.

It is difficult to find in other mountains anything similar to the variety of snow forms that adorn the peaks of the Cordillera Huayhuash

In the bustle of everyday city life, in the whirlpool of small everyday problems, memories of ten amazing days spent in the shining land of mountain dreams will become the guideline that in difficult moments will not allow us to get drown in the black hole of meaninglessness and loneliness - alas, inevitable components in the life of a huge metropolis.

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...A dense cloud was rising from the valley below towards our camp. This often happens in the mountains in the evenings, when the air heated during the day condenses into fog, rises in the evening and pours in form of rain on the alpine meadows. Last night on the route, tomorrow we return to Huaraz, then to Lima - the journey is over.

After a soulful dinner in a rural tavern, I didn’t want to think about the impending return to another reality. I want just to sit and watch how dry eucalyptus branches crackle and turn into red coals.

The last picture from our first trip to the Cordillera Huayhuash - forever stored in memory

Soon the wind rose and mercilessly took away the pampered feeling of comfort. It got colder, then started to rain...

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Author of text and photographs - Alex Trubachev

Your guide to mountaineering and rock climbing routes in Argentina, Peru and Bolivia

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