Hi everybody!

I'm a 24 year old guy from Holland who wants to do some mountain peaks in the Cordillera Blanca (would love to do Chopicalqui for example), some lower peaks in advance for acclimatization..

Although I did a lot of multiple day hikes in Europe, North America and South America, some easy peaks (Huayna Potosi, Cotopaxi) Im not an experienced climber.

If everybody has similar ideas/plans let me know. I'm an enthusiastic, open-minded and relaxed person who'd love to go on a daring adventure!

Cheers,

- Niek

Hi Niek,

Sorry with the late reaction, I just saw your post. Just thought I'd let you know that Chopicalqui requires a whole different level of climbing than Cotopaxi or Huayna Potosi. To get an idea, there are some great pictures of Chopi right here on SummitPost; check out this list.

Fortunately there are lots of peaks in the Cordillera Blanca that are comparable or just a little harder than Cotopaxi and Huayna Potosi. Very few of those are 6000-ers though. Obviously, conditions change over the years, but in 2011, Huascaran Norte and Tocllaraju were a bit easier than Chopi. Since Toclla is also lower, you could perhaps plan to climb that one first - after acclimatizing on a couple of 5000-ers of course. Then, if all goes well on Toclla, you've got a bit more experience and you're better acclimatized, so perhaps you can then try Chopi.

As for your time frame: Try to get there as early as possible. July is fine, August is still ok but September is normally too late. Somewhat less stable weather, more wind.

By the way, there is a chance that I will go to the Cordillera Blanca this year. I haven't decided just yet.

Cheers, Rob

Hi Niek,

I will be around Bolivia and Peru between June and July and looking to do some easy summits. Would you be available for June as well?
Give me a shout if you're still up for climbing.

Cheers,
Harry