Andes Expedition

Quietly, your team passes by the festival site and up to the snow line, where cattle and sheep are grazing, unattended. Looking around as you climb, you notice there are many reminders that mountain people once lived and worked higher than they do today. Walter points out what he calls a "chullpa." This is a towerlike tomb made out of stone. Your heart falls when you find evidence that it has been ravaged by greedy hands in search of valuable items. Is your team too late? Have the grave robbers already gotten to the Ice Mummy?

You are amazed at the array of structures you find up to an elevation of 18,000 feet (5,500 meters). These include dwellings, walkways, and rock paintings. By far the most impressive thing you see, though, is the abandoned terracing system ancient inhabitants engineered. Built into the steep mountain slope are terraces, or steps. The terraces are layered, first with large stones, then smaller stones, then soil. This design keeps the soil moist. Stone walls hold the soil on each terrace in place, preventing erosion and providing a flat surface to farm.

Upon closer inspection, you notice that an irrigation canal once fed the terrace in front of you. It is now deteriorated and crumbling into pieces. You wonder why this system isn't used anymore, especially after witnessing the trouble farmers are having on Huascarán today. Is it because the knowledge of how to build and use irrigation systems has been lost on this mountain? In some parts of the Andes, actually, these terracing systems are being fixed and put back into use. You are left to wonder whether this terrace will once again be used.

Suddenly, you hear some rocks sliding down the mountainside off to your right. You know that Huascarán is an extinct volcano, with no eruptions on record, but still the thought of hot lava crosses your mind. Then you recall an excerpt from a book you read before you left the United States by Jim Bartle, about an earthquake that took place on May 31, 1970:

The most shocking catastrophe was the burial of the beautiful city of Yungay and 18,000 of its inhabitants under a massive landslide falling from the rock face of the north peak of Huascarán. The earthquake immediately shook loose slabs of rock from the entire rock face. Carrying with it much of the ice and snow above it, the rock crashed onto the glacier below and formed a muddy mass which hurtled down the valley at speeds up to 300 kilometers per hour. The only survivors were 240 people who ran up a hill to the cemetery behind the town. Today, a new Yungay stands a kilometer to the north. All that remains of the old Yungay is a weed-covered field with scattered crosses and monuments, the cemetery with its white Christ figure, and four palm trees.

As your team waits out the rock fall, ducking behind a ledge, you begin to think about how the lives of the people who live on and around Huascarán compare to your own life. Have you ever experienced anything like this in your own hometown?

You finally make it back down to Camp 2. Some team members head off to collect water from a nearby stream that will need to be boiled over the fire before it can be used. You help prepare dinner. In addition to the wild edibles collected by Walter, you'll be eating the freeze-dried meals you purchased before the expedition. When you pull these meals out of your pack, one of the guides explains that the Incas were the first people to freeze-dry potatoes, taking advantage of the intense sun and cold on mountains. As darkness falls, everyone retires to the tents for a little journal writing and a lot of sleep!