Next season we are in for a surprise if we do not act
New restrictions on Parque Nacional HuascaranA new set of regulations for the Cordillera Blanca were published on the British Mountaineering Council Journal.
Below there are some of the most relevant regulations:
Article 7.1: Concerning the prohibition of "free entries" for the tourist activities which imply risk for the visitor: Entrance to the PNH for the practice of adventure tourism, rock/ice climbing or other forms of tourism which imply risk to the visitor shall be done through the use of tourist service providers, who are responsible for the safety and behaviour of the visitors during their stay inside the PNH, which cannot exceed thirty days.
Article 25: The Tourism and Recreation Use Plan classifies the mountains according to their degree of difficulty. This classification will be available to the public in the offices where entrance tickets to the PNH are sold. In the case of mountains designated ‘difficult’ due to circumstances of climatic variation, the guide may climb with only two people at a time. In any case it is the responsibility of the guide to ascertain the capacity of clients for this type of climbs.
We are still on time to make our voice heard. The new superintendent—
Lic. Luis Alfaro—is a very reasonable man. I already emailed him my concerns.
His email address is lalfaro@inrena.gob.pe . They are other people that is worth writing to, such as: The new chief of INRENA, Ing. Roberto Angeles Lazo rangeles@inrena.gob.pe; The chief of Parque Nacional Huascaran, Sr. Martin Salvador, mspoma14@yahoo.es. Another important person is Jim Bartle, he has written extensively about Cordillera Blanca and is the person that keeps contact with the Peruvian officials, his email address is jbarlte@terra.com.peAlso, Walter Lazo, who is the President of The Peruvian Federation of Andinismo and Winter Sports. His email address is fepadi@gmail.com
External Links
Article from the British mountaneering CouncilCordillera Blanca access threatened
Why we should care
Cordillera Blanca is one of those few places that high peaks and technical routes are readily accesible, until now. Not for nothing the best climbers come every year. Here we find routes that have not seen repetions in 10 or 20 years. In example, Renato Casarotto, the one who died on K2 in 1986, opened a line in Huascaran Norte in 1977. This line was repeated for the first time in 1998 by guys form the Czech republic. The new legislation does not allow for these type of climbs anymore.The reason these restrictions are so out of whack is because they limit the acces to technical lines and funnel everybody to the normal routes on easy peaks. Thus, creating an ecological chaos. Parque Nacional Huascaran was created to preserve the environment and these restrictions do exactly the opposite. The people that crafted the new legislation were not thinking about this. Their concern was a financial one.
There are several reasons why this legislation does not make sense. First, ecologically if these restrictions get implemented environmental degradation would be increasing. Second, by being part of the UIAA they cannot force you to hire a guide becaue if they do that UIAA would drop them. Thirdly, this legislation would not benefit all the companies involved in guiding equally companies in Cordillera Blanca.
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