Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Inca Trail Day 2
We started early with a good breakfast and commenced our walk about 7am. Marisol had estimated that we would take 4 - 5 hours to reach the top of Dead Woman´s Pass, based on our previous day´s efforts.
The first couple of hours were steady climbing, then we reached the major climbing part. The walk was mostly on paths rather than Inca steps. The last two hours were slow, but we just kept plodding on, and drank heaps of water and didn´t feel the need to stop. After three hours and 50 minutes we reached a very windy and cold peak of Dead Woman´s Pass (4200 metres) to the sounds of lots of clapping from the small group at the top of the hill, and Jamie telling us that we had another 45 minutes to go!
None of us had had any trouble with the altitude, even though Marisol assured us she was carrying oxygen just in case. We had all had very mild moments of dizziness and the suggestion of a headache, but it was almost nothing.
Unfortunately there was no view to look at, as the mist had closed in and it was raining lightly. We were still very happy to have arrived, and when Beate and Magnus arrived a few minutes later, we had a group photo.
Then came the real challenge. One and a half hours of slippery Inca steps, oddly spaced, at odd angles. Contrasting with the uphill walk, which we didn,t have much trouble with at all, and noone passed us on, we were passed a lot downhill, as I struggled with my poor balance and lack of confidence on the slippery steps. My knees sure felt it, but we got to our designated campsite (3500 metres) at about 1pm.
At lunch we had a group conference, and we decided that we would like to press on and knock some of the next day´s climbing (including the next pass at 3900 metres). I think it was an extra 6 km altogether, but a lot of up and downhill climbing.
About an hour from the finish we climbed to another ruin and got a history lesson from Marisol. It then started raining more, and the last hour was pretty cold and wet and would have been miserable were we not so pumped from the days´s achievements!
Our campsite was allocated late (because of our lastminute change of plans) so we had a pretty bad site. It was about 500 metres down a slippery muddy path to the toilets (which Pat refused to use in any case because they were so smelly). Toilets on the Inca trail were usually a hole in the ground in any case, and even with the rain we preferred to find ourselves a bush if possible! Cleaning teeth in the pouring rain out the back of the tent will be a memory that will remain for a long time!
Our campsite was at 3600 metres though, and Pat reckons we now qualify for the "mile high club".
The first couple of hours were steady climbing, then we reached the major climbing part. The walk was mostly on paths rather than Inca steps. The last two hours were slow, but we just kept plodding on, and drank heaps of water and didn´t feel the need to stop. After three hours and 50 minutes we reached a very windy and cold peak of Dead Woman´s Pass (4200 metres) to the sounds of lots of clapping from the small group at the top of the hill, and Jamie telling us that we had another 45 minutes to go!
None of us had had any trouble with the altitude, even though Marisol assured us she was carrying oxygen just in case. We had all had very mild moments of dizziness and the suggestion of a headache, but it was almost nothing.
Unfortunately there was no view to look at, as the mist had closed in and it was raining lightly. We were still very happy to have arrived, and when Beate and Magnus arrived a few minutes later, we had a group photo.
Then came the real challenge. One and a half hours of slippery Inca steps, oddly spaced, at odd angles. Contrasting with the uphill walk, which we didn,t have much trouble with at all, and noone passed us on, we were passed a lot downhill, as I struggled with my poor balance and lack of confidence on the slippery steps. My knees sure felt it, but we got to our designated campsite (3500 metres) at about 1pm.
At lunch we had a group conference, and we decided that we would like to press on and knock some of the next day´s climbing (including the next pass at 3900 metres). I think it was an extra 6 km altogether, but a lot of up and downhill climbing.
About an hour from the finish we climbed to another ruin and got a history lesson from Marisol. It then started raining more, and the last hour was pretty cold and wet and would have been miserable were we not so pumped from the days´s achievements!
Our campsite was allocated late (because of our lastminute change of plans) so we had a pretty bad site. It was about 500 metres down a slippery muddy path to the toilets (which Pat refused to use in any case because they were so smelly). Toilets on the Inca trail were usually a hole in the ground in any case, and even with the rain we preferred to find ourselves a bush if possible! Cleaning teeth in the pouring rain out the back of the tent will be a memory that will remain for a long time!
Our campsite was at 3600 metres though, and Pat reckons we now qualify for the "mile high club".
