DAY 12 – Move to Camp 3
The day started as usual–cheese quesadillas, a cup of hot chocolate, and salami with assorted cheeses for breakfast. Afterwards, we loaded up and began the arduous climb to Camp 3. Spirits were high!
Elevation gain kicked in right out of Camp 2, with 1,500 more feet to climb over the next mile and a half.
The porters, who started shortly after us, quickly caught up and passed on by—making it all look so easy.
The loads these guys would carry up day after day was so impressive. Talk about being in shape!
My load wasn’t too shabby, but obviously didn’t cruise like those arrieros did.
Lots of climbers headed up the mountain today with the same summit plan in mind.
The trail just zigzags up this west facing slope.
Camp 3 at 19,700 feet, also known as Cólera.
Took us over 3 hours to get here… 1.4 miles and 1,534 feet of elevation.
We celebrated today’s accomplishment with the typical fare: cheese, crackers and assorted meats.
We were also told there was no wi-fi above Camp 2. To our surprise, Camp 3 did in fact have coverage!
We posted quick updates to our social media feeds, prepared our day packs for the morrow, and got to bed not long after dinner. The weather forecast remained perfect which locked in our plan to go for the summit. Alarms were set for 4am with the intent to be on the trail by 5. It was GO-TIME baby!!!
