Today I'm recovering from 7 days of hiking and climbing in the Cordillera Blanca, just NE and E of Huaraz, and I only had one day of marginal weather. Apart from that, sunshine every day, with almost invariably cloud buildup around the higher peaks during the day.
During this period, I climbed Vallanuraju, Maparaju and Huapi. Conditions on Vallanuraju and Maparaju were excellent. Hard snow early on, only a rather thin top layer getting softer by noon. However, on the SE side of Huapi I encountered deep powdery snow, which slowed me down tremendously. I still don´t understand how such loose powder manages to cling to such a steep slope, but it did. After a very slow traverse to a more S-facing part of the slope, I found slightly more consistent snow conditions and managed to get higher. In all, it took me three hours to get to the summit from my high camp, instead of the one hour I had expected.
I heard that Huascaran is expected to be in good shape by July, so I´ll definitely want to have a go at it - in fact, I want to climb both Sur and Norte. Anybody else with plans in this direction? I´m thinking the second half of July.