Ausangate Trek – Day Three (by Jess)

We started our day shrouded in mist. The glacier that hugs the cliffs of Ausungate was hidden from us, but we could hear massive chunks of ice falling off of it. It had rained for most of the night and by the time we started walking it was beginning to snow. We had two passes to cross today, the second being the high point of the trek. All the way up to the first pass the cloud cover remained. The thought crossed my mind at one point that if I wanted to I could just walk off into the mist and never be seen again.  Five people opted not to carry packs today. Gary encouraged us to hand them over to the porters and horses if we felt in any way inclined to do so. It was probably a good thing that people did, because the second pass was quite the long haul. We descended off of the first into this beautiful, lush, green glacial valley. At the head of the valley stood Ausungate and the other surrounding mountains were red. (They reminded me of the hills outside of Lima, Wyoming). The problem with our steep decent into this beautiful valley was that we had to climb back out again. On the way up my legs felt on fire and I could have sworn my backpack was make out of lead. We got passed by all the cooks, porters and horses before we got to the top. But getting to the pass was well worth the prize. We had breathtaking views of all the surrounding mountains. The clouds lifted for just long enough to treat us with quite the eye candy. Ausangate’s climbing route begins at that pass and for a split second we could see the false summit. A massive 20,000 ft snow clad mountain (Santa Catalina) rose with intimidating grace and power just behind Ausangate. When I looked back the way we had come I was just as impressed. Smaller, yet jagged, jet black peaks stood like the teeth of a savage animal. The harsh black was accented with the red of the lower mountains. A turquoise lake sparkled in the sunshine two thousand feet below. Clouds swirled in and around us, tickling our faces with their cool kiss. The words majestic, beautiful, magnificent…don´t even begin to do the Andes justice. There are no words for this place. No mere words can describe the silent overbearing power of the mountains. You have to come here to know what I mean. I tote around my camera, snapping shots here and there pretending that they are going to look something like what I am actually seeing. But a picture doesn´t tell you of the silence. A picture can´t describe the perfect snow crystals that stick to my eyelashes and melt on my nose. A picture can´t explain the feeling, or lack there of, in my legs. And yet all of these things are the reason I took the picture in the first place. I have lost myself here. And I am discovering a new me. Mountains have always been considered sacred. And Ausangate is the most sacred of mountains to the Peruvians. It symbolizes pilgrimage and purity. People come to the mountain for renewal and a new beginning. That is what I need right now.  I want to be washed clean of everything that is troubling me. The stark reality of the mountains is doing that for me. I am currently sitting, well more like crouching on a rather uncomfortable rock. It is moss covered and wet. But I am above our camp and looking down a very beautiful valley onto yet more mountains. A good sized creek is rushing down the mountain off to my left. It tumbles, laughing, over the rocks. It is grey and cloudy from the glacier that is feeding it just above my journaling spot. On the hill side opposite me I can just see the top of Santa Catalina. A glacier coming off of it is melting into a massive cascading waterfall. The horses for our group are slowly munching their way up a ravine. From here I can count eight of them. They won´t get much farther– their ravine tops out in a cliff. I need to find a new rock before I am permanentely moulded to this one.

Advertisement

~ by thelinkschool on February 1, 2009.