Going into this trip we knew San Antonio Pass would be a highlight and man, did it deliver. What an amazing day and definitely one of the best of the trip. Day 8 was another slight variation on the traditional route, or at least it was the route less traveled. It seems standard the organized tours do a side trip up to San Antonio Pass, retrace their steps back down, and continue through Quebrada Huanacpatay to Huayllapa and beyond. We instead chose to cross San Antonio Pass directly down to Cutatambo.

The trail up to San Antonio Pass was just across the valley from our campsite. There is no official trail marked on the map, although it might as well be since we followed a well established trail up to the pass. It was a steady ascent and the final push was steep without switchbacks. The landscape was such that we could not see anything on the other side until we reached the pass and BAM, the amazing view presented itself all at once. Absolutely stunning! And as if that wasn’t cool enough, Victor led us up the short scramble to the west of the pass for even better 360 degree views. Most of the passes we previously visited had been windy and cold and we didn’t stay long; we got lucky today because there was no wind and it was absolutely gorgeous. We stayed for nearly two hours at the pass marveling at the mountains, glaciers, and turquoise lakes.

We decided it was time to move on (the promise of another fantastic viewpoint didn’t hurt) and we set out to descend from the pass. Looking down it looked a little intimidating - very steep scree slope - but we descended with care and it wasn’t too bad. There appears to be a route to the right and I can see how it would be tempting to go that way, but Victor led us down the scree slope to the left where we found a trail that led us to another stellar viewpoint with a more direct view of Laguna Jurau and the mountains Sarapo (6127 m/20,102 ft), Siula Grande (6344 m/20,814 ft), Yerupaja (6617 m/21,709 ft), and Carcinero (5960 m/19,544 ft). Northwest of Laguna Jurua we could see Sarapococha, location of the famous “Touching the Void” story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates (they were climbing the west face of Siula Grande).

We had another lengthy break at this viewpoint. We really could have sat there all day but eventually made our way down to our campsite at Cutatambo. There really was no trail we followed; we picked our way through the bushes and dirt (we were very dirty by the time we got down). Earlier that morning our new dog friend Huayhuash had set off with another group and we were wondering if we would see him again. From a distance we could see a dog hanging around our camp and when we got closer we realized it was Huayhuash. He was more trusting today and we could actually pet him. We had another relaxing afternoon and early night after dinner. Terrific day!

779 m/2560 ft ascent
814 m/2670 ft descent
High Point: Short scramble on San Antonio Pass 5079 m/16660 ft
Camp at Cutatambo 4265 m/13990 ft