June 2001 

Trek Days 5 & 6 -- Mitacocha to Carhuacocha:   We woke under reasonably clearing skies for our hike over the next pass on the circuit -- the Punta Carhuac.  Dana and I slept terribly, and I could hardly eat any breakfast.  Thankfully the hike up and over the Carhuac pass was fairly gradual and probably the easiest pass crossing on the entire trek.  The pass was also a bit lower than the last few (15,350').  

Everyone headed up the valley to the pass fairly quickly.  Feeling really winded and pained, I dropped back and went at my own tortoise pace.  The clouds came back onto us at the pass, eliminating any views.   Nevertheless, most of the group climbed up a peak above the pass to see if there were any views.  Dana and I just blazed over and down the pass -- wanting to get down to thicker air as quickly as possible.  We set up camp on the ridge high above Carhuacocha with a view up towards the incredible hanging glaciers below Yerupaja, Yerupaja Chico and Jirishanca (which unfortunately were shrouded in low clouds).  Given the weather and my condition, we did not take many photos on this day.

The next day, I was feeling a lot better.  I slept pretty much the entire afternoon and evening, and I woke up feeling good.  Dana, however, was still not feeling 100%.  Fortunately, this was our first "rest day" of the trek.  We planned to do a day hike down to Carhuacocha, and then up to a glacial lake formed behind a huge moraine.

Dana and Nati leaving camp on Day 5 of the Trek

John coming out of the valley from Mitacocha and heading up towards Punta Carhuac.   The high ridge near Cancanampunta Pass in the background.

Looking out over the end of Laguna Carhuacocha up towards the back of Yerupaja.  Our campsite was well above the lake, with this view.  On our rest day, we hiked down to the small stone house (tiny rectangle at far right of photo), then across the marsh until we reached the moraine.  We climbed steeply up the moraine to get above the glacial lake.  The moraine wall can be seen as the horizontal black line just below the three avalanche cones in the center of the photo.

Pete (with tripod), Jill, John and John at camp on a stormy morning before departing for our dayhike.  The clouds and fog part very briefly to reveal the saddle between Yerupaja (left) and Yerupaja Chico.

Pete (foreground) and Jill (distant red speck on ridge) at the top of the steep moraine.

Looking down to the glacial lake (Laguna Gangrajanca) from the top of the moraine.  During our stay at Carhuacocha, we heard huge avalanches pouring off of Yerupaja down onto these avy cones.

Group shot on top of the moraine (L to R:  John, Keith, Jill, Pedro, Val, Rich)

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