June 29, 2017
After a nice hike up to the glacier, we enjoyed a small ride to our next camping spot.
Cycling Stats & Travel Stats
Start Point: Pastoruri Glacier Base, Ancash, Peru
Destination: Wild camp, Ancash, Peru
9.6 km, 11.2 km/h average speed, 26.1 km/h maximum speed, 1:19 time on the bike
66 meters gained, 272 meters elevation descend, 4824 meters maximum elevation
Route Description:
We left the base of the glacier and continued down the road we came in on. At the junction you turn right and start a short climb up to 4790 meters on a gravel road. Then you descend to a valley where we chose to camp again at about 4600 meters. You could easily go further but we decided to save the climb for tomorrow after our hike.
Accommodations:
There are no accommodations on this route. We camped at the base of the descent so we could have water. There is a flat spot to put tents just at the turn.
What happened…
Andrew writes: We woke up this morning. Big surprise, right!? Amanda says that every time that I started to snore last night, one of the dogs sleeping nearby would growl. They also would bark every time we moved around inside the tent. Funny stuff.
So after breakfast this morning Amanda and I decided to go for a hike. One of the dogs, who we’ve named Pisco, joined us for the walk and it was really nice. Our path took us towards Nici and Philip’s campsite, and we saw them coming up the road as we drew near. Strangely enough, it took them just as long to ride up to the glacier as it took us to walk back. Pisco abandoned us for them – maybe Philip offered to feed him??
Once we were all settled in up at the Pastoruri base camp, we hiked up to the glacier itself, which took maybe half an hour. We tried to keep pace with the octogenarian woman who does the walk daily with her dog, but we couldn’t keep up to her. It’s just so hard to breathe and walk, and chew bubble gum, and pretty much do anything at this altitude of 4900+ metres above sea level. We reached the glacier and shared some pisco with the woman, and after a few photos, we turned around. Hiking up to the glacier was kinda sad actually because of how much it has shrunk lately. Imagine a glacier graveyard….that’s what it felt like to me.
After enjoying lunch back at the base camp we set out for the short ride to the bottom of tomorrow’s climb. We knew from reading our notes that there was water and a camping spot and that the next spot would be far away. It all worked out very well.
The aerial view of our ride: