Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25240
raff. The bus station looked like a military compound, probably due to the lingering memory of the Shining Path guerrilla s, the ultra militant and violent rebel group active in Peru until four years ago After eight hours on a bus, we caught our first sight of the mountains. 13,000 feet, high in the mountain plains, the 20,000 foot peaks looked like gods sitting on thrones. They were pure white apparitions that hovered above us in majestic silence. Cameras flashed in the bus and there were murmurs of awe. Huaraz, a mountain town that lies at 10,200 feet, is the perfect point from ich to access the Cordillera Blanca. In contrast to the silence of the mountains, Huaraz is a bustling town of 80,000 people. I have never seen so many taxis and ues of bright orange, purple and blue, the traditional Quechua colors that dominate Acclimatization is the most important component in any high-altitude dition. At 18,000 feet there is half of the oxygen available in the air than there at sea level. A person dropped on the summit of a 20,000-foot peak, like nraju, without acclimatizing wouldn't last long before going unconscious and hen expiring. We planned to acclimatize by going to successively higher elevations ach day and then returning to sleep where we were comfortable. In this way, we I s of gear between two base camps, an exhausting and utterly boring process, we we could prepare for the dangers we would face on Artesonraju. We figured iets ranged vegan to flaming carnivorous and everyone ifferent food at altitude. I like GU, Snickers and beef jerky. Ptor Ii fruit and Chinese herbs and thinks sugar is death. You begin e the problem. After four hours we came up with a master list, ivided into groups and headed to the markets. To deal with nguage barrier we soon developed our own version of Spanglish, mix of English and Spanish that left the older Quechua ckling with laughter. After playing hackey sack with some local kids to journey, we were ready to return to the base camp. As we Lake Paron toward Artesonraju I caught my first glimpse of mountain. At first glance the southeast face appears vertical. Yikes! s my first thought. The postcard I had bought the day we we needed four days to acclimatize, one day to summit, and one day to go all the way out. That only left a single day to play with. The first thing we had to do was buy food for the group. If you think organizing a family picnic is hard, try buying food for eight in a foreign country. Our Id train our bodies to survive on less and less oxygen. By ferrying our mammoth I Huaraz definitely did not do the mountain justice. When I saw th ming, white 60-degree face against the bright blue sky, I kn we were witnessing the sublime. But doubt immediately filled I as I imagined myself jump-turning down the mountain, a shi worked its way up my spine until the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. We set up advance base camp in a thicket of jungle-like es, which gave us some protection from the wind and sun. It w,,<:r-----~ relaxing place to deal with our various ailments. Kris and I both n"r1I """'f'-J:!'''' 24 hour flu, Rob had managed to swallow some benzene