Leave USA for Peru (Saturday). Flights should arrive in Lima between 6pm and midnight.

Drive to Huaraz (8 hours) in our private van, where we base out of a small but beautiful hotel (10,000 feet).

An acclimatization and organization day in Huaraz.

Drive to our trailhead in the village of Cashapampa (9,000 feet). This 3 hour drive takes us through beautiful farming communities as we head between the spines of the Cordillera Negra and the Cordillera Blanca. After organizing our burros, we hike with daypacks to Llama Corral (11,500 feet), where we camp for the night.

Continue trekking past the Santa Cruz lakes until we turn up into the hanging valley that sits beneath Alpamayo. We place our base camp at treeline, approximately 13,500 feet.

Today we make a carry of equipment to moraine camp (16,000 feet), at the edge of the glacier. After stashing our gear, we return to Base Camp for one of Alfredo’s famous feasts.

Rest day in Base Camp. We use the day to review advanced rope skills, organize gear and food for the climb, and eat all of Alfredo’s creations.

Move to Moraine Camp.

Today we step onto the glacier, making our move to Col Camp (18,000 feet). Often one of the most challenging days of the expedition, we will be climbing on a broken glacier and then up as many as three two-tool ice and neve pitches, all with our full backpacks! Col Camp boasts one of the best views from a high camp in the entire world. The alpenglow that lights up the Southwest face is what inspired our company’s name!

If we are well acclimatized and strong, we will attempt the summit of Alpamayo (19,512 feet) today. The route to the summit has a 1-2 hour approach across a steep glacier before crossing the bergshrund onto the South-West Face. Then 6-9 pitches (depending on whether we climb the Ferrari or Italian Route) of two-tool (55-70 degrees) ice and neve take us to just below the summit ridge. Traditionally, a final hard, steep pitch puts us on top, where in a good year we can straddle the ridge (one foot on each side hanging over 2000 + foot faces) and work our way to the true summit. We rappel the route to descend, and then return to our high camp.

Rest day in Col Camp.

Quitaraju (19, 820) Summit Day! If we have it in us, we will have the opportunity to attempt this second peak, which shares the same high camp as Alpamayo. A short trek across the glacier and we step onto the North Face. While the face is not quite as steep as Alpamayo, it is significantly longer. The route to the summit is often 12+ pitches of two-tool neve, with the upper pitches frequently consisting of soft sugar snow fins. Since we are in the Southern Hemisphere, this face gets early morning sun, and we will need to be descending before noon, back to our col camp.

Descend to Base Camp.

Sunrise in the Santa Cruz valley finds us riding horses out the 25 kilometers to Cashapampa. Once there, our van returns us to Huaraz, where we celebrate with hot showers, a great meal, and salsa dancing at the local discotheque.

Leave Huaraz by van. Catch an evening (8pm or later) flight from Lima (Saturday).

Arrive in the USA (Sunday).