The Ascent to Base Camp
Eleven burros arrive to be loaded with our food, archaeological equipment, film
equipment, and personal gear. Once loaded, we form a train of human-burro
beasts of burden as we begin our ascent along the paths above Quilcata. The
approach to Sara Sara takes us through terraced fields of wheat and pastures of
grazing sheep and cows. Jim Underwood of The Mountain Institute, and a friend
and colleague of Johan Reinhard, draws a map in his field notes as we ascend.
The route follows a clear mountain stream up the lower slopes of Sara Sara.
The terrain is semi-arid, with blooming cacti and flowering trees offering
color to the otherwise brown and occasionally green slopes. We approach Sara
Sara from the north side, which gets sun all day. (Some of us have a tough
time getting used to the fact that south of the equator the sun lies to the
north of us.) The snow has melted off Sara Sara's north side, revealing rock
spires, or gendarmes, that stretch up like grand organ pipes toward the sky.
It takes us two days to reach base camp at 15,000 feet. Even Francisco, a
sheep that was bought in Quilcata, made it up—tethered to Genero, one of the
cooks. The ground offers us a flat plateau strewn with huge boulders and green
high alpine moss. I try not to cringe as Francisco's throat is cut and he is
prepared for dinner tonight. Johan, Jose Antonio and their
archaeological team will start carrying loads up to the summit tomorrow to
supply our final camp at 18,000 feet. "I'm convinced there's a sacrificial
mummy up there," says Johan, "because when I was up there in 1981 I found a
female Inca shawl pin on the surface.....Inca women didn't just go up there for
no reason. There may even be more than one body on the summit given the
significance of this mountain to the Inca."
Come back in the next few days to read about the team's arrival at the summit
and their first archaeological find!
The Ascent
The terrain is semi-arid, with blooming cacti and flowering trees offering
color to the otherwise brown and occasionally green slopes. We approach Sara
Sara from the north side, which gets sun all day. (Some of us have a tough
time getting used to the fact that south of the equator the sun lies to the
north of us.) The snow has melted off Sara Sara's north side, revealing rock
spires, or gendarmes, that stretch up like grand organ pipes toward the sky.
It takes us two days to reach base camp at 15,000 feet. Even Francisco, a
sheep that was bought in Quilcata, made it up—tethered to Genero, one of the
cooks. The ground offers us a flat plateau strewn with huge boulders and green
high alpine moss. I try not to cringe as Francisco's throat is cut and he is
prepared for dinner tonight. Johan, Jose Antonio and their
archaeological team will start carrying loads up to the summit tomorrow to
supply our final camp at 18,000 feet. "I'm convinced there's a sacrificial
mummy up there," says Johan, "because when I was up there in 1981 I found a
female Inca shawl pin on the surface.....Inca women didn't just go up there for
no reason. There may even be more than one body on the summit given the
significance of this mountain to the Inca."