Higher than the Mont Blanc

It has snowed/hailed in the night and we have a white hexagon surrounding our tent in the morning and fresh snow on the slopes across the valley.

If we can complete our itinerary today we will have several stretches that are higher than the Mont Blanc (4807m) with our highest pass at 4880m. Alain once more takes the tent to help Alice. We make an early start and we take it very slowly.

Its very strange pedalling at altitude. For Alice it is not at all as expected - there is just no power or acceleration available when pedalling despite being in bottom gear. It takes almost twice as long to go anywhere. There is a lot of dizziness/wobbliness. Even small things feel shockingly hard work and overdoing it is a very bad plan. But taking it really really slowly, one can get by.

First leg of the day is to climb past the Pastouri glacier (a tourist destination). It is very much in recession and we are more impressed by the glaciers on the opposite side of the road. We pass over a small col and are completely on our own, mountains all around, glaciers on the huger mountains. The scenery is phenomenal. Of course at this altitude it is also rather nippy. We have two more passes to reach, each a little higher than the one before.

We take a quick picnic just before the final col in a brief moment of sunshine, then round the mountain and head into the cloud. The rock is black and it is sleeting as we descend in black and white to the col on the main road. Then down in the cloud and rain until we emerge into a beautiful valley and sunshine. Here at 3950m we find a small basic and very chilly room for the night. Peru does not have heating anywhere as far as we can see.Read more