My first solo trip, backpack on: Montreal, Lima, then a long bus ride up to Huaraz. Four days walking in the Andes, a pass at 4,750 m, and nights in a tent watching the glaciers.
01 / 05
Leaving alone
First backpacking trip, and nobody to decide anything with. Montreal on an August morning, Lima that evening, then eight hours of bus heading inland. The road climbs, the air thins, and somewhere along the way you realize you've passed a point of no return.
02 / 05
Huaraz, before setting off
Huaraz sits a little over 3,000 m up. You stay a few days to let your body adjust to the altitude, while the snowy peaks wait at the end of every street.
03 / 05
The valley opens
It starts in a village at the end of a dirt road, where the bus drops off the walkers. The trail then climbs along a river, through brush and pasture. The last hamlets cling to the valley floor, and soon you pass more sheep and cows than hikers.
04 / 05
Up high
The higher you climb, the thinner the air and the more unreal the colours. Arhuaycocha lake, at 4,420 m, is a blue like nothing else. Then comes Punta Unión pass, at 4,750 m: two hours of walking twenty steps and stopping.
05 / 05
The nights
In the evening: the tent, the stove and the silence. The cold drops all at once when the sun slips behind the ridge. Then the sky lights up: at this altitude, with no lamp for miles, the Milky Way needs no commentary.
