Week 19
- 6 days ago
- 16 min read
Day 135 / July 10, 2026
Our alarms rang at 2:00am and we were once again up navigating the dark Refugio to get down for breakfast. We had the same bread with jam and butter as well as a yogurt bowl before heading out to the mud room to put our shoes on. We were on the trail by 2:45am making our way up.
It was another beautiful starry morning and we had it all to ourselves. The trail was incredibly clear and well maintained. This time my headlight was fully charged making the occasional scrambling a lot easier with two free hands. The route was an exciting staircase-like upwards push weaving around rocks and funky bushes for the bottom section. Just as I felt myself getting into a groove, there was a massive whoosh and a thundering sound to our right. It was dark, and everything was still so new so asked Val, "What was that?!" to which he replied, "I think it may have been an avalanche." We couldnt be sure at the time, but in the later daylight we were able to see a gigantic slab of snow had come off the face of Tocllaraju. Other climbers on the route confirmed they heard it too and we were all hoping nobody was hurt.
By 6:00am we were at the snow line and switching to crampons with ice gear. At that point we had intersected with two duos, one of which had zoomed ahead and the other pair was dwindling and asking us (mostly Val after I admitted to being a newbie) about what the plan was. Val shared we were going based on the AllTrails route we had, which seemed to continue up over the adjacent ridge and that was that.
The pair saw us tying up and opted to go ahead to avoid the faff (none of the other groups tied up that day). Val secured us on a rope spaced roughly 10m apart. He handed me an ice axe, reminded me how to use it in the event a self arrest was needed, and we continued on. He shimmied up a short, 15 foot slabby section to get over a mini ridge and then we walked up on snow.
I waddled awkwardly following along Val’s footsteps, conscious about maintaining minimal rope tension between us. It was my first time using crampons extensively and it felt weird! Especially as the route was mixed with occasional rock hopping then back to ice, getting the spikes in the right spot took some coordination that I was still working on. Nonetheless, we started the final section at 7:30am and reached the summit around 8:15am.
The other groups had started heading down by that point, so we had it all to ourselves!! Urus Este 17,782ft. Epic!
We snapped a few pics, took in the view, then started our descent. Val had me go first this time so I carefully led us down the rocks at the summit and back onto the small portion of glacier remaining below. We were back towards snow line and transitioning out of crampons right at 10:00am.
Not too long after, an absolute gazelle of a human passed us running up towards the summit with a light pack and trail runners on. We said good morning and gave him a holler to which he replied “Second summit of the day!”. We laughed in confusion and amazement then continued on. Eventually we would come to find out that the man was Dr. Pascal Egli, a Swiss glaciologist and athlete living and working in Norway.
The energy from the summit, beautiful conditions, and friendly neighbors was electric. We bounced down the trail on a high and ended up back in the refugio snacking on some ramen by 12:15pm. With our 2:00pm leaving cutoff on the mind, Val headed up for a nap while I flipped through some books on the bookshelf.
We were just finishing up packing when the mystery trail man came into the bunk room. He introduced himself as Pascal, and we chatted briefly about where he was from, his job, and his experience at the Skyrace the week before (he crushed it!!!). I was conscious we were especially stinky with all our old hiking gear laid out as we packed and this was confirmed when Pascal headed over to open the window before lying down for a nap. We gathered things with more haste and were on our way by 1:45pm.
We started the descent with full tummies and psyched from the successful morning. Val would occasionally stop to filter fresh mountain river water (delicious!) but never for too long as we knew we had the scheduled driver as a backend.
The muscle fatigue crept in and the repeat pounding of descending steps had my quads on fire. The heavy packs felt heavier over time too (Val was a trooper!). Then to top it off, my lips were chapped from the sun and kept cracking and bleeding when I moved them.
The view was absolutely beautiful the whole way down. We even had clear sight of a famous trad route called Karma de los Cóndores, a 9-pitch, 5.11+ on the granite tower Huatun Ulloc which Val marvelled at along the way. “They say it’s like Astroman in Yosemite!” and “Rudy check this out they put a cui photo in the Mountain Project log!” I do encourage you to check out the posting, the psych is rather infectious.
We walked the rest of the route in silence, and tried to focus on the big Huaraz dinner to come. With just half a mile left to go, Val was stopped by four dogs who seemed set on controlling traffic. What we didn’t see at first, is they were channelling hundreds of sheep up the trail towards Pashpa. They paused for a second, so we continued on thinking they were diverting to one of the fields nearby.
We finally plopped down by the lake to wait for our ride by 4:50pm. It felt SO good to be off our feet for a moment. Then a lil pup came over to visit from the house opposite. Val started calling him Lil John, and well Lil John took a liking to him too. The driver messaged on WhatsApp to say he would be running a bit late. We had no where to be so we just stayed settled on the ground and snacked on some gummy worms.
20 minutes later, we felt the ground shaking and heard a chorus of ‘baa-ing’. We looked up to see that the herd of sheep from before was being moved right past us. When they reached us, they paused for a moment. The herding dogs poked them onwards and they continued past.
Just before the driver was about to arrive, two men approached from the trail and plopped down on the road opposite. They introduced themselves as volunteers from the Italian Mato Grosso organization and mentioned they were also looking for a ride back to Huaraz. They had spoken with the other staff at the Refugio, heard we were also heading down, so raced down to see if they could catch us in time. We said there was absolutely no problem, so long as it was okay with the driver.
The driver appeared right then at 5:35pm and agreed to take us all down. He whipped down the bumpy road, over two narrow makeshift bridges formed by trees, and we were at the bottom in no time.
There was some confusion about taxi payment at the bottom which had us feeling slightly awkward. The two volunteers had agreed to split everything evenly, which we were psyched on. Though the taxi driver said no, I’ll take the payment originally planned, then 10 soles per additional passenger. The volunteers handed over their 10 soles each, I handed over the 60 soles for me and Val and that was that. Knowing they contributed to the maintenance of the Refugio, I wasn’t too pressed, but Val (rightfully so) was confused. I tried to explain to him what we had said in Spanish to the driver, when a collectivo appeared in front of us. We had been planning on ordering an uber for the remaining 30 minute journey to Huaraz, but this was even better! We confirmed the destination for Huaraz before hopping in and continuing our conversation. The way I saw it, we just saved money by not ordering an Uber, so everything had worked out. Although this is not a logical view, and I should probably be more aware of precise spending.
We hopped out of the collectivo two blocks away from our new hostel and started dodging the people, dogs, and vendors on the very busy dusk streets. Eventually we made our way up the steep stairs to check into Hotel Huaraz. We went straight to the room, plopped down our bags, then headed around the corner to Big Mountain Hostel where our other bags had been stored. We let out a collective tired sigh after finally closing the door back in our new room. Val hopped in the shower first while I rotted on the floor excited not to move for a while. It was my turn then, I had a quick wash and we headed around the corner for a much needed dinner at Bonus Tracks.
Val had a big burger and a delicious beer (Purple lager?) while I scoffed down a whole pepperoni pizza and sipped on more coca sour. At that point we were happy to be eating anything, though tiredness kicked in quickly and we went home straight after to sleep.
Day 136 / July 11, 2026
We enjoyed a slow morning this morning recovering from the massive day prior. We left the hotel just before 10:00am, dropped off my boots at the rental store, then headed towards California Cafe for some breakfast scran. En route, we passed the Huaraz Plaza de Armas where some kind of graduation ceremony for local students was happening. Everyone was dressed up in beautiful outfits and lots of families were out in the streets to watch the formal processes taking place. With hunger creeping, we didn’t stay for too long and instead scurried the remaining blocks to the cafe.
When we stepped in the door, the first thing we saw was Luca engrossed in three different climbing books. We asked if we could join him and he made space for us to settle in.
He and Val chatted about our time in the Ischinca Refugio while I scanned the menu for anything resembling home fries. I landed on something with a name adjacent to “hangover special” and figured it would do the trick. Val got a full english breakfast and then we also got pancakes to split.
The timing was serendipitous really, after my departure Val was planning on doing some climbing and had been trying to arrange something with Luca. The face to face time finally gave them a chance to assess expectations, talk about conditions, and pick an objective. Delicious food, a great atmosphere, and witnessing the excitement between the two of them dreaming up an adventure made for the best morning for me. Once we had our fill and they agreed on a time to meet up again, Val and I headed out to see the Huaraz central market.
Val had already been the week prior, but said it was a necessary place to see when visiting Huaraz (and trust me when it comes to markets, I don't need convincing!) As we neared the market, the surrounding streets became busier and busier. There were all kinds of fruits, clothing, breads, and street food for sale. Val then took a sharp left down a short concrete ramp and just like that we were inside! The sections of the market were labeled on the floor but it was so clear to see based on what the clustered stalls were displaying. The ‘pork’ area for example, had whole pigs and heads on big metal hooks. We walked up and down the connected rows taking in the sights, smells, and sounds. Knowing we had no kitchen to use, we instead just browsed out of curiosity. It was the sensory stimulus we needed and after a short ten minutes, we walked back to the hotel.
It was just after 12:00pm when we got back. We took a few minutes to plan the rest of the day, I checked into my flight for the following day, then we prepped to go climbing in Los Olivos, a sport climbing spot on the edge of the city. We crossed the Rio Santa and continued the 30 minute walk from the hotel to the crag. In spite of the heat, we made decent time and were making the final approach to the crag by 2:20pm.
However, the route on Google Maps suddenly stopped and showed a dotted line to the final destination with no exact path. We looked up and could see climbers just 100 meters away on the other side of a small brook. Not seeing another option, I suggested we simply bushwhack our way up. Val led the way which involved sliding 100ft down to the brook along a very sandy dune. I followed behind him sinking knee deep into the sand along the way. We both took a moment to empty out our shoes then looked for the best way to cross the narrow brook. Except it was DISGUSTING. And I do not mean to yuck someone’s yum here, but that water was dirtyyyyy. There was trash, dead dog corpses, and a really horrid, putrid smell. It was so clearly not the way to get to Los Olivos. I figured we were in deep enough now so I continued up the bank the other side until a man herding his flock of sheep steered us away and pointed towards a connecting bridge 200ft further up the road. At that point Val, frustrated, hot, and overstimulated by the cesspool we were walking through, suggested we turn back and head to the bridge. I very gladly agreed and we started back up the hill.
It was at this point, Val decided to mention there was a note about a bridge in the climbing report posted on the Crag. I stood there completely puzzled as to why this key information was only being shared now. He followed up with something to the effect of “I thought you wanted to find the way”, there was nothing else to do but laugh. Safe to say, navigation was not our strength on this trip.
We crossed the bridge, paid our entry fee to the family attending the wall, then proceeded to get our climbing gear in order. I was still a bit off from the weird side quest we had been on just moments before, and was not yet in a climbing headspace. That quickly changed upon looking at the wall. The volcanic rock was super porous and had huge pockets on most routes, a rather inviting rock type. We ended up sticking to the La Cascada sector. Val led a 5+ warm up route which I then cleaned. I followed that with another 5+ route which I led and cleaned. Then Val led and cleaned a 6a+ called La Cascada. Conscious of timing and wanting to make it in time to watch some of the England v Norway, we packed up our things and started the walk back around 4:30pm.
We went down the hill, across the river, and past some frisky dogs to arrive at Charlie’s Pizza by 5:00pm.
We ordered a big pitcher of lemonade, some garlic bread and burrata, pizza, and carbonara, along with chicha morada (classic Peruvian drink made from purple corn). The restaurant was locked in on the game and so were we. Haaland had a few fumbles while Jude played an excellent game and just like that, England prevailed 2-1 in over time in the FIFA 2026 World Cup Quarter Final match.
I still had some packing to do in preparation for my flight the next day so we headed back to the hotel after that and called it a night.
Day 137 / July 12, 2026
Not much to report for today! Val and I enjoyed one last slow morning together. We said see you later not goodbye, as fortunately he was scheduled to visit me in Chile in just two weeks time. I left the hotel at 11:00am in an uber to the airport, and was later boarding my plane at 12:30pm.
I had a three hour layover in the Lima airport so found myself some snacks and listened to music. It wasn’t long until my Lima flight to Santiago took off at 4:00pm. I was super lucky to have a window seat to watch the beautiful sunset.
When I landed back in Santiago, it was go time to try and make it to the bus station before the final departure. I was able to order an uber, and made it to the Alameda bus station just in time to board the 11:30pm bus to Talca. I later learned uber is in a weird gray area for use specifically for departures from the airport because the ride-share app drivers do not have the permits required for the zone. That's to say in future, to avoid the weird pick up locations and cryptic messaging, I will stick to the taxis with the fixed rates.
Anyways I boarded my bus and drifted peacefully to sleep not knowing what was to come.
Day 138 / July 13, 2026
I woke up to my alarm at 2:30am when I was supposed to be arriving back in Talca, but from looking at my map, I could see we were still a ways away. I looked out my window and instead saw bumper to bumper traffic clogging all of route 5. It turns out a combination of an accident and some construction work had led to a standstill. Hoping to get a move on, our bus driver opted to detour somewhere near San Fernando on a backroad. It was all going well until we scraped under a bridge and the skylight was ripped off entirely. I had to pinch myself thinking surely this cannot be happening. We pulled over to the side of the road where they talked through our options. Owing to the time of day and the extensive traffic, they would not be able to get a replacement bus to us for a few hours. We could either continue without a window in the roof or sit and wait. We were all in agreement to keep going, so on we went.
I tried to get back to sleep and I woke up to the announcement we had arrived in Talca at 7:00am. I took the quick 10 minute Uber home and had a lovely chat with a guy who had moved to Talca from Haiti. By the time I made it upstairs, the sun was just coming up. I shut my curtains and went straight to bed.
I woke up sometime around 2:00pm and spent the afternoon catching up with my family and prepping for upcoming trips.
Day 139 / July 14, 2026
This week the University was closed for winter vacations so a portion of the FuncPoly Lab team had organized to go to Termas de Flaco to try and obtain some field samples. Catha and her dad picked me up at 9:30am and together we headed to GF Rental to collect the rental car. We received the keys to a white Chevy LTZ Sail at 10:45am and headed immediately to get gas. Catha and I then met up with the rest of the lab team at Professor Aparna's house at 11:30am to load the cars with supplies.
The crew consisting of Catherine, Mauri, Shrabhana, Aparna, Mario, Catha and myself then divided between two cars. Mauri drove Catherine’s dad's car and together we drove in convoy north up route 5. We stopped for groceries at 1:00pm in the San Fernando Lider and had a quick lunch in Papa John’s too.
Shortly after, we arrived at the rental house. After a long day in the car, Catherine, Mauri, Shrabhana, Catha and I opted to head to Sierra Bellavista for a breath of fresh air and a quick walk. We met a really cute pup who followed us around everywhere. It was tough to shake her on the way down, she ran behind us for a good ten minutes!
Back at the house Catha got to work prepping sopaipillas and we all worked as her sous chefs. Catha started by prepping a dough using boiled pumpkin and flour. Meanwhile, she had us cut up white onion which we soaked in hot water to cut the sharp flavor. We drained that and added diced tomato and cilantro to make the classic Chilean pebre. While Catherine helped to cook the sopaipillas in a pan, Catha prepared a brown sugar syrup on the stove and soaked fresh sopaipillas in the sweet mixture to make the classic sopapillas pasadas (if you haven’t tried these yet, I promise you I will be making them on the regular in the future).
Once all the work was done, we sat down at 9:30pm for a big dinner together then went to bed.
Day 140 / July 15, 2026
The next day began with an early start and a hearty breakfast spread of fresh bread, cold cuts, cheese, avocado, and fruit from our lovely hosts. We set out for Termas de Flaco, confident after our host assured us the access road would be open, only to arrive and find it closed. Feeling deflated, we headed back to the house thinking there was no other option. I quickly hopped online and with some help from Google Gemini, it became clear there were alternatives relatively close by. We decided on Termas Cauquenes. Back in the car we went, and the following 45 minutes were full of anticipation.
We arrived to Hotel Termas Cauquenes which normally provides access to a hiking trail toward the springs, and found it was closed for the day. Another set back. No matter, we opened the map back up and tried to find an alternative entry point. Our first stop up the road was gated in and had limited parking. We headed back down and had some luck near these huge water pipes just 2 miles up from the Termas. Excited for an adventure, I leapt out of the car and started leading the way down to the river. It was a slow waddle with all of the lab gear in hand. We made it just over half a mile when rain started to fall, forcing us to turn around without collecting any samples.
Back at the house, Cathe and Mauri cooked us rice and chicken for a late lunch around 4:00pm, a welcome warm-up after the damp hike. Everyone had some alone time for a bit to recharge, then we came together to play a few round of Jenga and prep for an asado at 8:30pm. Mauri took the lead and got the charcoal grill going with help from our host, who kindly donated some hot coals from his own fire to speed things up. Under a misty, starry sky, reggaetón played in the background while meat sizzled on the grill.
When rain finally came down, we moved inside and finished the evening with more Jenga and a timed, categories-style game that had us laughing and racing against the clock. It wasn’t the field day we’d planned, but it was a solid day nonetheless.
Day 141 / July 16, 2026
We all slept in the next day and enjoyed a whole spread of leftovers for breakfast.
At 11:00am we drove straight back to Talca. Catha and I dropped off Shrabhana’s stuff at her home and had a quick visit with Aslan before then heading to Aparna’s house for an end of trip tea with the rest of the team.
We were surprised to learn the rental car store was closed for some kind of holiday meaning we would have to return the car the next day. As I was heading to Santiago then, Catha and her dad kindly agreed to handle it. They dropped me off at home where I got busy cleaning and prepping for my guests to come the next day.
Chau for now! :)
Comments