 |
Nov. 26:
Although we did indeed get the steep climb we'd
expected, today
turned out to be a pleasant surprise. We
had climbed up to the icefield in
only two hours and then found that it was a
relatively easy walk through
the icefield (crampons helped) to reach a rocky
terrace just below the
"grass summit." This terrace turned out
to be the only place we could pitch our tents,
and then only in a row. But it had a
spectacular view, and we could look down on the
19,200' site where we'd found two more human
sacrifices in 1995. We even (during the
day) had water available from the melting ice.
We were at 20,200,' only about 200' below the
grass summit.
This summit is in reality a large area where the
Incas had made their camp
before proceeding to the summit to perform their
rituals. A vast amount of
wild grass (ichu) had been brought up from
thousands of feet below to serve
as insulation, as the ground was frozen.
Levels of grass could be seen
tied together with grass ropes. We cleared
platforms for our tents on the terrace below, and
the others returned to carry up loads tomorrow,
while Jose and I organized things for our trip to
the summit tomorrow.
|
| Climbing Ampato
at 20,000' with Hualca Hualca in
background |
Nov. 27: Thanksgiving Day, but hard to imagine it
here. While Jose took
the ridge route, looking for traces of the Incas,
I followed the edge of
the icefield below to check if any Inca objects
might have fallen down to
it. There was lots of ichu grass for a good
way...the remains of a trail
the Incas had made along the ridge? We
passed by the place where we had
found the ice maiden in 1995. It was
difficult to recognize, as the ice
had retreated and nothing looked the same except
for the gullies above.
The ice maiden had fallen down one of these
gullies and many items had been
strewn about the slope. But a cursory check
revealed nothing to us now.
To make sure which of the gullies the mummy fell
down, Jose climbed to the
top and threw rocks down the only two possible
gullies leading from the
summit ruin. This was a repreat of what I'd
done in 1995, except this time
I was able to watch from below as the rocks came
crashing down.
The other team members came, and we searched the
slopes for an hour or so
without finding anything more than scattered wood
that had fallen from the
summit with the ice maiden.
|
Ampato
summit ridge
|
To reach the summit we still had to take a longer
way around to the south
of the summit ridge and climb up from the
back. To make the descent (and
later ascents) easier, Carlos fixed a rope and it
was a simple matter to
rappel down to the north side. It was now
only a half hour walk (and
scramble) back to our camp. I wore no
crampons and only was carrying about 25 lbs, but
it was still an exhausting struggle to get up,
down and around the ice pinnacles on the icy
slope. Numerous slips left me breathless
and brought back not-so-fond memories of carrying
the 90 lb load of the ice
maiden the same route out in 1995. Tomorrow I'd
be wearing crampons and we would begin work at
the remains of the summit ruins. There was
still the
possibility that something was still to be found
in the section of the
summit platform that had not fallen. If
not, then we would search the
slope below more thoroughly, and then begin work
at the grass summit.
|
Rappelling
off Ampato's summit
|
Previous updates:
NOV.11th
NOV.24th
|
