Lares Trek (Leg 2)

 

South America Day 12

During the first evening of the trek there was much talk about hardship on the hike and not signing up for this. We found out later the guides had concerns at that point about people not being able to make it. By the next morning there was a band of 5 heading back down to Lares. Vincent, Nora (who can be forgiven because the hike turned out to be far beyond their bodies' capabilities), Smita, Hina, and of course Special K, took the option to bail out. Each to their own. Our tour leader, Roberto, led them back down the valley to Lares to link up with a bus back to Ollyentambo.We headed off a little before the five, but quickly gained altitude. Before long they were little ants in the valley below (above). We survivors all seemed to be ticking along pretty well for the first while. Everyone was pretty up beat for the start of the biggest day of hiking.

 

The first section of trek day 2 was a steep ascent that transverses up the side of the valley. It's hard to show with a photo (above) but even with the traversing, the angle was pretty fierce. It was a bit of a challenge, but everyone was up for it.

 

Very quickly we climbed up into the clouds leaving the campsite far behind. You can kind of see it way off in the valley below (roughly centre of picture). It's surprising how quickly you can go when you put your mind to it.

 

As we pushed through Alt 4000m things suddenly started to get a bit more difficult. There seems to be a barrier right on 4000m where everything remotely resembling exercise hurts. Not long after that we stopped at a rocky outcrop for a break. It was quite the impressive outlook from up there. What wasn't so impressive was the view back up the hill toward where we were going. It looked like a never ending track upward. It was all the more daunting with the oxygen deprivation.

 

The last climb to the first summit of the day was quite difficult. The altitude claimed a few victims and caused the group to spread out quite a bit.

 

We eventually switched back one last time and were all of a sudden on the top of the ridge. Behind us far below was the valley we'd hiked from earlier that morning and in front of us were a pair of lakes. The wind and drizzle backed off long enough for us to appreciate the view for a few minutes. We were standing at 4150m above sea level.

 

Above is the second lake. It was down below us a little compared with the last one. Something to note in this photo is the path that we were about to take. It was to wind down past the lake, away to the left and down into the valley in front of us. Seemed like a good idea until the guide (Horacio) told us were we were headed. You'll be able to see the saddle in the range in the background about centre of shot. That was the target. We had to descend about 300m only to climb up the other side and add another 150m! This wasn't going to be easy.

 

We were still reasonably up beat when we started down the valley despite the altitude starting to take its toll on some. We set off with our camp right there in front of us on the mules. We knew they'd be there well before we arrived. My knees weren't liking the downhill much, but I wasn't too bothered. The group stayed together pretty well on the downhill as expected. Just as we hit the low point in the valley, the drizzle turned to rain and looked to be settling in. Not the best sign just when we were about to go vertical again.
The camera didn't come out much after that. The scenery disappeared behind the rain and the risk to the camera was too much. We stopped at a small village for a snack break. One of the local stray dogs (I nick named Arfa because he was missing half his tail) liked snack time and followed us for the next 24 hrs.
After the snack we trudged up the hill in driving rain, higher altitudes and ever dropping temperatures. Before long we were soaked to the bone from head to foot including gloves and boots. It was miserable. The next stop would be for a late lunch before the last push to the top.
Kerri was struggling as were a couple of the others and I elected to stay back with them and our assistant guide, (Jose') who we'd become quite friendly with by this point. The group quickly splintered as Horatio was setting a fairly solid pace leaving the people in the middle of the group in a lonely place. There were some cranky hikers trudging through the rain.
By the time we reached the tents at lunchtime, the will to continue was waning among the tail, but there was no turning back from there. Some hot food and a rest restored a bit of faith, but leaving the dry warm tent wasn't really very inviting.

 

We left the tent with the rain back to a drizzle initially. There were a flock of about 12 mountain caracaras (more later but they're a hawk of sorts) circling over us. I can't say it was an encouraging sign.
The trail was getting increasingly slippery the higher we went and the temperature was rapidly decreasing. Not long after we set off, the rain started again, but this time it was serious. The group scattered more quickly this time and finding the right trail became more difficult. The rain got heavier and eventually turned to sleet. Kerri wasn't impressed. Apparently princesses aren't meant to hike in mud in near zero temperatures at 4000m above sea level.
We eventually reached the summit in driving sleet with most of the group already at the campsite below us.

 

We were just thankful that the vertical ordeal was over and a hot meal and a sleeping bag were waiting for us. 20mins later we would be laying down in our tent.
A big thanks to Jose' (above in yellow) for his encouragement and patience with us particularly during the last couple of hours of that trying hike on that day.

We crashed and burned after dinner that night. We were exhausted. The night was a bit rough considering our gear was so wet and the tent made it worse every time we touched it.