Make your way to Lima, where you will meet your guides and teammates over a welcome dinner. Spend the night at the Lima Hotel, finishing up your preparations for the trip.
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Get ready for jagged, steep peaks, glaciated crevassed terrain and expedition climbing at 19,685 ft (6,000 meters). Journey to Ishinca Valley, one of Peru’s most famous mountaineering destinations, and conquer two stunning peaks in this women’s mountaineering tour of Ishinca and Tocllaraju! Spend your days in the Cordillera Blanca overcoming a terrific mix of trekking and glaciated terrain challenges, and push yourself on two expedition-style high camp ascents. And when you’re off the mountain, explore Peru’s cities and fall in love with the country’s colorful culture, great food, and welcoming people!
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Time for your bus trip from Lima to Huaraz. The ride will take around 8-9 hours, after which you will be transferred to the Andino Club Hotel in Huaraz, where you’ll spend the night.
Altitude: 10,000 ft/ 3,048 m
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Take the chance to explore Huaraz! This high-altitude city in the scenic Callejon de Huaylas will give you your first glimpse of Cordillera Blanca’s snow-capped peaks. After a thorough gear check, spend another night at the Andino Club Hotel.
Altitude: 10,000 ft/ 3,048 m
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After a filling breakfast in town, travel to the park for a full-day hike to Laguna Churup. This trip provides the perfect opportunity to acclimatize to the high altitude. Afterward, return to Huaraz’s Andino Club Hotel for some sleep.
Altitude: 10,000 ft/ 3,048 m
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To enhance your mountaineering skills and glacier travel experience, you’ll have an ice climbing school today at Llaca Glacier!
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After a quick breakfast, pack up and ascend to base camp. This hike is another great opportunity to get used to the altitudes in the Cordillera Blanca. Spend the night at the camp.
Altitude: 14,440 ft/ 4,400 m
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Time for a much-needed rest day! Spend the day kicking back or exploring the area around the Ishinca Base Camp. Your journey to the Tocllaraju summit begins tomorrow, so save your energy.
Altitude: 14,110 ft/ 4,300 m
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After a quick breakfast, pack up and ascend to high camp. This 3-4 hour hike is another great opportunity to get used to the altitudes in the Cordillera Blanca. Spend the night at the camp.
Altitude: 15,420 ft/ 4,700 m
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Rise early for a pre-dawn alpine start and push to the summit at 18,241ft (5,560 m). The ascent typically takes 4-7 hours. After the first hour, you will find yourself on glaciated terrain, where crampons, ice axes, and roped travel are required. The descent is much quicker, but you’ll continue all the way down to Ishinca Base Camp.
Altitude: 14,110 ft/ 4,300 m
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After the summit push, have a rest day at the basecamp.
Altitude: 10,000 ft/ 3,048 m
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You should feel well-rested and ready for some more climbs! Today’s task is to make your way to the Moraine Camp, the starting point for your summit attempt on Tocllaraju summit. Spend the night at Moraine Camp.
Altitude: 14,110 ft/ 4,300 m
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Your summit day on Tocllaraju (19,796 ft/6,034 m) begins even earlier than Ishinca—start climbing in the night and push for the summit in the early morning. The ascent should take you around 5-8 hours. Similar to the Ishinca climb, the descent is much quicker, but you’ll continue all the way down to Base Camp, where you’ll spend the night.
Altitude: 14,110 ft/ 4,300 m
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After a filling breakfast, get ready to hike out and transfer to Huaraz.
Altitude: 10,000 ft/ 3,048 m
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The trip is nearing its end. Get ready for a 9-hour bus ride back to Lima, where you’ll spend the night at the Lima Hotel.
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Time to head home! Say your farewells to your new friends—you never know, you may meet on future adventures.
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What you get in this adventure:
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- Professional guide team including expedition leader and local Peruvian guide(s)
- Transportation from Lima to Huaraz and back
- Hotel accommodation in Lima (2 nights) and Huaraz (4 nights), double occupancy
- Two team dinners in Lima, a team breakfast and dinner in Huaraz
- Meals as listed in the itinerary
- Cook, cooking equipment, and dining tent
- Team gear including four-season tents (double occupancy), ropes & snow anchors, cooking gear, team medical kit
- Donkey support to Ishinca Basecamp
- On-trail real-time GPS tracking and communications
- Entrance fee to Huascaran National Park
- Ice climbing school at Llaca Glacier
What’s not included:
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- Flights to/from Lima, Peru & airport transfers in Lima
- Meals not listed in the itinerary
- Personal backpacking & mountaineering gear including mountaineering boots, harnesses, ice axe, crampons, backpack, sleeping bag etc.
- Sodas & alcoholic beverages
- Trekking snacks (bars, trail mix, beef jerky)
- Single supplement — let us know upon booking if interested
- Medical, travel, and rescue insurance (rescue insurance is mandatory)
- Gratuities for expedition leader and local guides & staff — optional
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This tour is challenging and you need to be in excellent cardio shape to attempt it, but it is a fantastic objective for the emerging high altitude expedition climbers.
Daily mileage ranges from 3 to 8 miles, with anywhere between 2,000 and 4,000ft of ascent.
Training is essential for safety, success, and enjoyment—this is not a climb to tackle with untrained legs! Take responsibility to be physically and mentally prepared for the challenge; your training program should be started well in advance of your trip. Not being prepared can affect the whole team, and put yourself and others at risk. Plan to be in your very best physical condition before departing for this expedition.
Focus on endurance and strength training. Hiking on steep, hilly terrain as often as possible is the best simulation for mountaineering. Carrying a pack during these hikes will pay the most dividends in preparing for a climb. The more you put into your training program in advance, the more you will be able to enjoy yourself during the ascent.
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This is a demanding high-altitude mountaineering expedition. While you do not have to have prior mountaineering skills to join this expedition, you do have to be in excellent cardio shape and able to hike for 6-8 hours per day with a 40-lbs backpack without feeling utterly exhausted afterwards.
Previous backpacking experience is highly recommended. Newcomers will get to develop and solidify their glacier travel skills and gear usage on the Nevado Ishinca prior to getting into position to summit Tocclaraju. Tocllaraju is a challenging climb that includes both complicated glaciated terrain and several sections of steeper angle snow climbing.
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Many climbers are able to summit Ishinca & Tocllaraju without medication, but if you haven’t been to 20,000 ft before, there is no telling how your body will react to extreme altitude. Our bodies’ ability to acclimatize is mostly determined by genetics, and the best predictor for your ability to acclimatize is prior performance at high altitude.
If you’ve not yet been above 14,000 ft, read the following paragraphs carefully.
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- The higher the altitude, the less oxygen is in each lungful of air due to lower partial pressure. Less oxygen obviously affects the way our body works. It does not matter whether you are fit or not—altitude sickness or Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) can strike anyone. There is no real predictor for who will be susceptible, other than your personal history at altitude.
- The risk of AMS is significantly increased by ascending too quickly. If you suffer from AMS to a degree that is judged to be dangerous by your guides, you will need to descend on their orders without room for argument. Descending is the only reliable cure for AMS; the quicker you descend, the less likely you are to advance from AMS to potentially fatal HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema) or HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema).
- Treatment of AMS is rest, fluids, and mild analgesics: aspirin, ibuprofen, or acetaminophen (paracetamol). Improvement usually occurs in one or two days, but may take as long as three or four days. Descent is also an option, and subsequent recovery should be quite rapid.
There are medications that can aid your body in acclimatization, specifically Diamox (acetazolamide). While your guides typically do not recommend the prophylactic use of Diamox, the elevation profile of the Ishinca & Tocllaraju expedition is such that starting a Diamox regiment 1-2 days prior to your arrival in Peru may be beneficial, particularly if you…
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- know that you are prone to adverse reactions to altitude
- have never slept above 10,000ft before, or
- are traveling to Peru from sea level.
Diamox takes ~24-48hrs before it starts helping your body compensate for the effects of high altitude, which means that you need to start taking it with sufficient lead time. Diamox is also a diuretic—you’ll have to be extra careful about hydrating. Diamox is a prescription drug. Please consult with your physician whether the use of Diamox may be advisable for you!
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Both peaks are glaciated and require roped travel with ice axe and crampons.
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- While challenging, Ishinca‘s normal route is mostly at low to moderate angles which makes it beginner-friendly and a great learning peak. Summit day on Ishinca’s is usually 6-8 hours long.
- Tocllaraju entails much more complicated, steeper terrain and a longer route to the summit. A successful climb of Tocllaraju requires building on the skills you learned on Ishinca, plus excellent cardio fitness and speedy progress on the mountain. A summit day on Tocllaraju typically entails 12+ hours of continuous effort.
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In addition to your expedition/mountaineering backpack, you should plan to bring:
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- A large, sturdy duffel bag that will serve as your donkey bag; it needs to be large enough to fit your ice axe, mountaineering boots, sleeping bag, sleeping pads and all other upper-mountain necessities. A size XL or XXL Base Camp Duffel Bag from The North Face, or another brand’s equivalent is recommended. These bags are handled rough and will be subject to copious amounts of dust, dirt, rain and snow. A sturdy, waterproof leather duffel is preferable.
- A small town bag for any extraneous items that you may want to leave at the hotel in Huaraz
The lighter you pack, the more fun you are likely to have on the trail!
Footwear
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- Warm, crampon-compatible, full-shank insulated leather or synthetic mountaineering boots; single or double
- Mountaineering gaiters
- 3x mid-weight or thick wool socks
- 3x think trekking socks
- Approach shoes: light hiking boots or trail runners
Equipment
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- 65l+ backpack
- (1) straight shaft ice axe & (1) ice tool
- Crampons
- Mountaineering or rock-climbing harness
- Three locking carabiners & two non-locking carabiners
- Tube-style belay device
- Daisy Chain or PAS (Personal Anchor System)
- 6 metres (20ft) of 7mm prusik cord
- Climbing helmet
- Trekking poles
- 0F or warmer sleeping bag
- Sleeping pads
- 3 liters water capacity
- 1x sturdy trash (contractor) bag
- Headlamp & spare batteries
- Glacier glasses
- Ski goggles
- Pee funnel & pee bottle — optional
Attire
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- Warm down jacket with hood
- Hardshell (GoreTex) wind- and waterproof shell jacket
- 2x Fleece or synthetic mid layer
- Long-sleeve sun hoodie
- Second long sleeve base-layer top
- Short-sleeve baselayer top
- Softshell climbing pants
- Hardshell (GoreTex) pants
- Fast-drying base layer bottom
- Lightweight liner gloves
- Warm base layer gloves
- Insulated, GoreTex gloves or mittens
- Buff
- Sun hat
- Wool or synthetic beanie
- Short underwear & sports bra x2
- Down pants for camp — optional
Miscellaneous
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- 2,500 calories of your favorite hiking snacks
- Small personal first aid kit (ibuprofen, blister care)
- Basic repair kit: paracord & duct tape
- 4-5 ziplock bags
- Sunscreen & lip balm with SPF protection
- Toothbrush & toothpaste, plus any other personal toiletries you need
- Toilet paper (in ziplock bag)
- Hand sanitizer & face mask
- Cash for guide tips & incidentals
- Ear plugs and/or eye mask — optional
- Battery pack & charging cords — optional
- Journal & pen, or book, for camp — optional
Rentals for most mountaineering equipment (such as boots, helmets, ice axes, crampons, harnesses or sleeping bags) or can be obtained in Huaraz without much difficulty. If you are planning on renting any items, please note that upon booking.
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On the way to basecamp, you’ll have donkey support, which means you’ll only carry a light pack (15-20lbs). The most weight you’ll have to carry is on the two days when you move to your respective high camps for Ishinca & Tocllaraju, where donkeys cannot travel. At that point, you’ll be carrying all of your personal gear including climbing gear, mountaineering boots, and your sleeping bag which can easily amount to 40lbs.
It is possible to skinny your weight above basecamp by securing additional porter support. Let us know if you’d like to discuss details and cost.
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Group sizes and pricing:
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- For this tour, the max guest-to-guide ratio is 3:1.
- A minimum of 3 participants is required for the tour to run, with a maximum of 8 participants per tour.
Mountaineering tours of Ishinca & Tocllaraju can be arranged for larger groups. Contact us to make arrangements.
Min. age requirements:
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- If you are older than 18, you’re good to go.
- Minors may be permitted to join the tour on a case-by-case basis.
If your group has mountaineers under the age of 18, contact us prior to booking to make arrangements.
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Private trips are possible to arrange! Even if the displayed dates don’t work for you, please contact us—we’ll work with you to arrange a trip for you and your group (even co-ed is possible in this case).
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To get to the Cordillera Blanca in Peru, most people fly into Jorge Chávez International Airport 10 minutes away from Lima. From there, you can take a bus, taxi, or shuttle to Lima.
Once you and your guide agree on the details of your itinerary, your guide will suggest the best place to meet, which will usually be over dinner at the Lima Hotel. From there, you’ll head to your tour. The guide will choose the appropriate terrain dependent on conditions and the mountaineering ability of the group.
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Generally, Peru is safe to visit. Like all countries, it has some bad neighborhoods, crime and political instability. However, there is no need to be concerned about political unrest.
Peru has a lower murder and overall crime rate than the US, yet make sure to take standard safety precautions—don’t leave your belongings unattended, avoid venturing solo after dark. You’ll find that Peru is overall very welcoming and tourist-friendly.
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We highly recommend that you cover all your bases with both medical and travel protection. To make your booking and traveling experience as carefree as possible, simply choose Redpoint—the official 57hours insurance partner!
Redpoint tailors their protection packages for adventure travel, offering a comprehensive travel program, even in remote locations. Trip cancellation, natural disasters, pandemic coverage, medical evacuation, primary medical expenses—regardless of the travel interruption that may happen, Redpoint will have you covered.
Once your booking is confirmed and your trip is paid in full, you will be offered to purchase Redpoint’s protection. If you need any help or require more information, let us know and we will be happy to help!
Please note that for this adventure, personal rescue (evacuation) insurance is mandatory and needs to cover altitudes above 14,000ft as well as helicopter evacuations. Medical and travel insurance is strongly recommended.
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