Day 3: Alpamayo Base Camp to Tuctubamba

Hiking time: ~ 5.5 hours
Elevation gain: 560 m/1837 ft
Elevation loss: 660 m/2165 ft
High Point: Punta Union 4760m/15,617 ft
Campsite: Tuctubamba 4100m/13,451 ft

We slept in this morning and after a breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast we hit the trail around 8:40 am. We retraced our steps down the valley and instead of descending to Quishuar and continuing up the valley to Taullipampa, we took a spur trail that traversed the mountainside and brought us to Taullipampa without losing much elevation. Norah couldn’t resist the friendly cows here and took a short break with her new friend.

We had a gradual climb to the head of the valley before starting to climb in earnest to Punta Union. We all seemed to be feeling it today and it felt like a long slog up to the pass. We made it though and the views were fantastic. Despite how high the pass is (4760m/15,617 ft), there was minimal wind and the weather was nice enough we could sit there for an extended break. Beautiful spot! We were much faster on our descent and it took us only 1 hr 20 minutes to arrive at camp near the base of our pass for the next day, Alto de Pucaraju. Cesar told us this campsite was called Tuctubamba and it was nice to be camping by ourselves (most people were hiking the Santa Cruz trek and continued further down the valley to camp).

We enjoyed our afternoon tea and Norah and I roped in Toni for a game of Uno. We eventually also got Elmer and Joel in on the action and most days we would all play in the afternoon. Even though Norah and I don’t speak Spanish beyond the basic phrases and the guys didn’t speak English, we got along just fine and had a lot of fun playing. After some rousing games of Uno it was time for dinner: a vegetable grain soup and a chicken and potato dish with rice. Hit the spot. It was another pretty night with the moon illuminating the mountains and I took a few pictures before going to bed.