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Hi!
I'm from Austria and I’m planning my first trip to Cordillera Blanca.
I would be grateful if you would post here some news about the conditions of the different mountains for 2011. And I'm also interested in the climbing-restriction of this area. - Does it still work with the UIAA membership (any new experiences)?
Thank you for your information!
Regards, Philip

phg, if you don't mind, we can also use this thread for SPer to not only get latest conditions on the mountains but also find partners or just meet up in Huaraz to hang out between climbs. I know there are a number of SPers that will be down there and it would be fun to meet up. I'll land in Lima starting June 9.

When I was down there last year, the National Park office didn't ask for my American Alpine Club membership when I purchased the Park Pass even though I did have it with me.

If going to Artesonraju area, there's a separate fee to access the area. The locals call it the "road maintainence fee". I'm not sure if that fee is legit or not but we paid it anyway because it was minimal and we didn't want to deal with the hassel.

Thank you for your answer! Sure, we can use this thread also for that.
I will be there from jule 7 to August 10.

Do you (or anyone else) know a good weather forecast for this area and how the winter was (much or little snow)?

Kevin, I see you and Philip are both heading down almost the same time as I am. What are your schedules like? I was thinking about the Ishinca valley for ~6 days or so after I arrive....

We will go to the valley with the Yanganuca lakes.
Dependent on the conditions we are interested to climb some of these mountains (after acclimatisation): Chopicalqui, Huandoy, Artesonraju

@Andinistaloco: you get a PM

What are your plans?

This year, they are enforcing the membership in your local alpine club rule for all non-guided parties. However, with some persuasion you should still be able to get a pass. It helps to mention one of the easier peaks as your objective. Good luck!

Also, for weather, this seemed fairly accurate: http://www.mountain-forecast.com/peaks/Artesonraju

I'll be arriving Huaraz July 4 and will spend most of July in that area. I'm planning to do Huascaran, and coming fresh from the Equador Volcanos, I can probably head straight to the summit. If someone wants to join me send me a PM. I want to do a few other peaks around Huaraz as well, and I'm open minded to almost anything.

My itenaray:
Equador volcanos: June 16 to July 3
Huaraz and Peru 6000m peaks: July 4 to beginning of August
Bolivia 6000 peaks: August
Macchu Pichu: September
Fly home: Sep 14

I'm presently alone for all this itinerary, and welcomes summitpost people to team up, whenever, wherever.

Cheers!
Lyngve Skrede
http://distantpeak.blogspot.com

We're there from 25th June through all of July as well, so any early-arrivals reporting back on general conditions would be appreciated from our end as well - thanks!

Here in Huaraz, June 10th. Walked to the Huscaran National Office to get a park pass and found out that they increased the fee 400%. It is 65 soles for one WEEK, not one MONTH like before. This change has been made just two weeks ago. To say that this is outrageous is an understatement. There's absolutely no way I'm returning to climb in the Blanca if this is going to stick. They ARE enforcing that rule that you must belong to an alpine club of your country. Fortunately I'm a member of the AAC. It costs more to climb in the Cordillera Blanca for one month than to visit all the US national parks for one year.

kevin trieu wrote:Here in Huaraz, June 10th. Walked to the Huscaran National Office to get a park pass and found out that they increased the fee 400%. It is 65 soles for one WEEK, not one MONTH like before. This change has been made just two weeks ago. To say that this is outrageous is an understatement. There's absolutely no way I'm returning to climb in the Blanca if this is going to stick. They ARE enforcing that rule that you must belong to an alpine club of your country. Fortunately I'm a member of the AAC. It costs more to climb in the Cordillera Blanca for one month than to visit all the US national parks for one year.

yowzers - thanks for the heads-up!

If you want to climb in the Cordillera Blanca without a guide, and you dont belong to a climbing club (like AAC), it helps if you show the Ranger Station in Huaraz that you have a SPOT. I sounds to me that all they want is some sort of insurance that you have your ¨hypothetical¨ rescue costs taken care of.
They will issue you a document that should avoid the hassle about guides once you enter the National Park.

kevin trieu wrote:Here in Huaraz, June 10th. Walked to the Huscaran National Office to get a park pass and found out that they increased the fee 400%. It is 65 soles for one WEEK, not one MONTH like before. This change has been made just two weeks ago. To say that this is outrageous is an understatement. There's absolutely no way I'm returning to climb in the Blanca if this is going to stick. They ARE enforcing that rule that you must belong to an alpine club of your country. Fortunately I'm a member of the AAC. It costs more to climb in the Cordillera Blanca for one month than to visit all the US national parks for one year.

It has been 65 Soles for one week for quite some time now.

In happier news, ladies and gents, word on the street is that snow and ice conditions are great this year thanks to above average snowfall. Word on the street means we bumped into Brad Johnson and he told us that; we're still grounded at Huaraz crankin' out red blood cells.

Thanks for this good news!

We will make a try to climb Hunadoy Norte. Anyone else?

Thanks! Thats great news