The morning routine for this trip was that Boris would come by each tent and wake us up at the designated time and bring us our coca tea (more on that later...). The porters would then bring us bowls of hot water outside the tent where we could wash up. Talk about tentside service!
Last night after dinner, Boris gave us a preview of what today's hike would be like as we drank hot tea/coffee/water in the meal tent. He broke up the hike into 3 sections. The 1st section would be like the steps we climbed on Day 1 to the first rest stop, this would be "easy". The 2nd section would be more steps, but straight up with no breaks in between to the next rest stop. The 3rd section would be similar to the 2nd section, steep and more steps, but difficult because of the high elevation. If we made it to the top of Warmi Wanuska pass and were doing ok, we'd probably just hike to the campsite and have lunch there. Otherwise they would set up the lunch tent along the way. He said he actually preferred if we could make it to camp as it would be hard to get started again if we stopped along the way. After reaching the top, it would be all downhill to camp, more steep with more steps. Yikes!
I was still feeling a lot of apprehension as to whether I would survive this day, especially when yesterday was supposed to be the "easy" day (which I thought was hard). I managed to eat my breakfast knowing I would need to fuel up for the hike today. The porters boiled water for us in the morning so we could fill up our water bottles, I filled up my whole Camelback knowing I would probably be drinking a lot.
Poor Kate, last night she got really sick and was throwing up all night. We still don't know whether it was the altitude or maybe the fish we had for dinner (nobody else got sick). In the morning, she wasn't even able to keep down any water. Here's what an animal she is, as sick as she was, she managed to make it all the way on her own and even beat the rest of us girls up the hill! I guess she was throwing up all the way up.
I held up the rear again, but managed to keep a steady pace through the first section. It was difficult, and like Boris said, just like yesterday. Tucker and Nathan barrelled up the hill like it was nothing, keeping up with Peter who had gone on ahead on his own since Kate was a little slower today (she sent him up because she didn't want to hold him back). They were going so fast, they passed up the first rest stop where there were bathrooms and local people selling water and drinks. Boris was in radio contact with the porters and by the time the rest of us girls reached the 1st rest stop, the boys were only about a half hour away from the 2nd rest stop! They were going as fast as the porters! Amazing, its like the altitude didn't affect those boys at all. Lorry talked with Tucker on the radio and told him he was to wait at the 2nd rest stop; it turned out that they had to wait for us for an hour at the 2nd rest stop, they were so far ahead.
The 2nd part of the climb was steep, straight up, with a ton of steps. Boris had given us instructions on how to breathe in the morning at breakfast: take a deep breath in through you nose, deep breath out through your mouth. This brings air in by expanding your lungs and not through the stomach. When you feel the need to stop, do the breathing the same way three times fast and don't stop for long. He also showed us how to hold our arms over our heads to try to open up the lungs even more.
I can't even begin to describe how hard this part of the hike was, both physically AND mentally. The trail was steep, the steps were uneven and some were very difficult to step up because they were so high. It was constant uphill with no leveling off so your lungs could recover. I had to stop anytime I wanted to sip water or try to eat any food because I couldn't catch my breath and walk up at the same time. It seems like I would walk a few steps and have to stop and do the deep breath thing 3 times constantly.
For me, this part of the hike was just as much a mental thing as it was physical. It was tough as you would round a corner and think you were close to the top, but once you reached the top of the section all you could see was more uphill and more steps in front of you. I had to talk myself into going to the next rock, tree, step, etc. just up ahead, then I could rest for 3 breaths then get going again. Sometimes it was only 10 feet away or maybe 10 steps. When it was really steep, sometimes I could make it only up 1-2 steps. I also had to try to only look ahead at what was immediately in front of me, if I looked to much towards the top, it got to be too overwhelming knowing how much further I had to go to reach the top.
At some point, we finally reached the 2nd rest stop where the boys were waiting for us with one of the porters. Peter and Kate had already gone ahead. Tucker and Nathan had gone so hard up most of the mountain that they were struggling a bit for the last part of the climb so they hung out with their moms for the last section to the top of Warmi Wanuska, taking it a lot slower. The third section was even steeper with lots of steps and it was hard to catch your breath and the stopping and resting were coming closer and closer together. Looking up, you could see the top, but it seemed so far away. We all went at our own pace...Lorry (and Tucker) and Sharon were close to each other, then Cynthia, then me holding up the rear behind Cynthia (and Nathan) it was kinda like this the whole four days, we'd be spaced about the same distance apart. You would never catch up with each other because it took too much energy to try to make up the distance without having to stop. If you expended too much energy, it would take longer to recover your breath, so you really did have to go at your own pace. I could look up and see where everyone was, but could never catch them. Sharon said the same thing, she would look down and see us and we were always around the same distance apart. You would end up passing and falling behind the same set of hikers who were close to you all the way up to the top. Its funny, but we all met different people on the way up, I met a woman from Chicago and some people from Argentina. Lorry said she met some people from Europe, etc. The nice thing was that EVERYONE was so nice and we all encouraged each other up the whole way. We were all in this together with the same goal in mind...
Closer to the top of the pass, you could hear a lot of yelling as those who were waiting at the top were either celebrating that they had reached the top or were yelling words of encouragement down at those of us still climbing. I could certainly feel the adrenaline going when I heard Sharon and Lorry encouraging Cynthia and me to the top. I can't even describe what I felt when I reached the top, I felt such a sense of accomplishment that I had made it. I was seriously doubting myself the day before and all the way to the top that I could make it to this point. I had conquered the mountain! We had a little high five celebration at the top, took a group shot to mark the occasion, but that didn't last long. Our fearless leader, Boris said we still had a couple hours of hiking to reach camp, but it would be all downhill. So down we went...
The downhill was much easier on the lungs, but very hard on the legs. It was steep in some areas so you had to be really careful not to go too fast. The hiking poles came in very handy for the downhills as they helped you maintain your balance and in some respect acted as a brake to stop you from going too fast. The downhill section went by pretty fast and the 6 of us pretty much stuck together the whole way down. Tucker was struggling a little during this section, he had gone through 3 liters of water and had run out, so I gave him some of the water from my Camelback so that we could make it to camp.
We arrived at camp maybe around 2:30 or 3:00pm to the applause of the porters who had set up camp. Again, they brought our bowls of water and soap to the tent so we could wash up. The hike to the bathroom was another challenge as it was so far away and we actually had to cross a little stream (thank god for waterproof boots!) and up and down more stairs just to get there. What a hassle...if I ended up having to go during the night, I was just going to go the nearest bush!
They served us lunch and we had the rest of the afternoon to rest and relax after the hard day. I can't even remember what we had that day, soup, salad and a main course. At about 5:00pm that night, we went to the meal tent for a "snack", freshly popped popcorn and hot drinks (coca tea, coffee, Milo (Peruvian hot chocolate)). Boris gave us a wonderful overview of the Inca history, I wish I could have recorded everything he said because it was so interesting.
At about 7pm, we had dinner...more soup, salad. I think we had a ginger beef and rice entree that night; that was delicious. I know we had dessert too, but now I can't remember what it was. After dinner, as we were enjoying our hot beverages, Boris gave us an overview of the next day's hike. It would be the longest day, but much easier than today (thank God!), a little bit of climbing (ugh!), but lots of downhill. It would also be the most scenic as we would be walking through a cloud forest.
I think we all went to bed relieved knowing that we had done the hardest part of the hike! I managed to take zero pictures today, so I'll post some when I get some from some of the others, I can't wait to see how our group shot at the top of Dead Woman's Pass (yes, that's another name for the top) came out...
I still didn't sleep very well this night either, I think I figured out maybe it was the coca tea that was keeping me up at night. The night was much colder at camp tonight, probably because we are at the higher elevation. Tomorrow will be better, we got through the hardest part today...yippie!
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Stats for today:
Trip Odometer: 7.07 miles
Max Speed: 16.02 mph
Moving time: 1.43 hrs
Stopped time: 6.08 hrs
Moving Average: 4.1mph
Total Ascent: 5,699
Maximum elevation: 13,794 feet
Elevation gain: 9840 to 13776 feet
Elevation at camp: 11480
The stats for today really shows how hard this hike was, my GPS only registered 1.43 hrs of hiking. I was going so slow today that it wasn't even registering most of the climbing as movement.
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