Story Shorts

The update on the past few months, in pictures.

Girls only!

With my German friend Tine, we made one of the only ascents this year on Wamasraju, a mountain with a confusing and sometimes challenging approach over uncomfortable rocks.  We felt proud to be an all women's climbing team -- a rare occurrence in the Cordillera Blanca.

Here, I'm about to rappel off of an Abalacov.

This is an Abalacov... two holes that meet, drilled into ice with an ice screw, which we use as an anchor to belay/rappel.  It's safe, I swear.

Chasing Boys

In the mountains, I am usually out with a bunch of boys.  Boys with long legs who walk fast, and I'm always running to keep up so as not to make my gender look bad.  Thankfully, in the mountains Maparaju and San Juan, accessed from the Quillcayhuanca Valley, my companions were good to me.  I suspect they were just happy to have a girl mix up the gender balance, even if it means taking it a little slower.  That, or Argentines and Chileans are muy buena onda.

                                                                                   

We arrive at our new home for the next few days: basecamp in the Quebrada Quillcayhuanca, access to both Maparaju and San Juan, two small mountains (17,473 feet and 19,304 feet respectively) with tenuous rocky approaches.  Notice we are all wearing buffs -- they're in style.

Andres checks out the path before us.

 The summit of Maparaju lies ahead.

 Taking a rest on the descent.

 Then... in the high camp for San Juan, Pancho eloquently expressed how far away we were from civilization:  "estamos en la concha de su madre."

Tall penitentes made the walking tricky but safe. This first big cornice, cut in half by a narrow crevasse and poised to break, however, did not.  We turned back before a series of naughty cornices tempted our egos but threatened our lives. No wonder no one summited San Juan this year.

So... how do we pass the time at basecamp?  

Tales of mountaineering usually only include summits and narrow escapes. Let me fill you in on what happens in the space between. 

Stretching our buns

                                                                                     Picking Fights

Making Love

 Drinking Yerba Mate

 Drinking Yerba Mate

 Drinking Yerba Mate

Drinking Yerba Mate













Climbing for Narcotraficantes

After Peru, Andres and I climbed together in Ecuador, then headed up to Colombia on impulse. In Colombia, we saw just how present the drug trade is.  One sector we climbed in is outside a small town called Florian that is only reached by three hours four-wheeling on a dirt road.  Until 2003, Florian was a "red zone," run by narcotraficantes, producing coca leaves and processing coke in the town's labs. The army came in, took out the narco lords, and replaced the economy with subsidized fruit tree plantations and a push toward developing the area's ecotourism.  The whole town seems to be in on the tourism plan -- everyone asked us how we heard of Florian, what attracted us there, what would bring more people in.  They bought us breakfast, offered us their homes, and tried to get us to stay longer.  We were happy that, as climbers, we could contribute to the economic transition from drugs to ecotourism.  I asked a man how the economy compares now to its narco days, and he says that they do not count their wealth in money, but rather in lives spared to the drug trade's violence.

 In Ecuador, the rainforest creeps up after you as you climb.

Chill climbers in Suesca, Colombia, belay from the tracks.

 Siesta

Andres takes a sit in Mesa de los Santos, Colombia, near the border with Venezuela.

In Florian, we find the climbing destination -- a big cave just a half-hour walk from town.  Andres fords the river to check out the routes on the other side.

 And that big bright sunny hole gives way to....

...this.  And then...











...to this.

Andres shows what happens to your hands after climbing stalactites.

 Can you spot me?

View from the fray.

Honey, could you please answer that?












Post-script:  I am now living in Quito, Ecuador, in a nice apartment with my friend Joshua. We eat fancy foods, like pine nuts and gruyere and chutney. We have an extra room for climbing gear and guests, so all are welcome. I like to drink a cup of freshly made blackberry juice for one dollar around the corner. I start work for the Ministry of Education one of these days. In the evenings, I read Jay-Z's autobiography and consider what my life would have been like as a crack-hustler-turned- hip-hop star.  Quito is friendly and full of life.  I am too happy here.