Oct. 23rd, 2002

Brian Grigsby

Training ascent up Juriques

This morning as a team, we began the ascent of Juriques which is a mountain near Licancabur. We began our training ascent at Inca City. This was a major trading route 500 years ago. The city had a population of about 60 people and the walls of some of the houses are still there today. They also had what was called a Coral, which was similar to a barn today.

We entered the gates of the city ruins, with history all around. This is where we will have our base camp when we climb Licancabur. Macario was our guide up the side of Juriques. The trail at first was evident, but we began to realize that this was going to be a rigorous climb. The climb was safe and slow which we all appreciated. During our ascent, we saw a Vizacacha, which looks like a cross between a rabbit and kangaroo.

Our goal for this climb was 5000 meters, which we made with no problems. Our previous training paid off as we were able to make the summit of Juriques with no physical problems.
Juriques is a tilted crater, and we reached the lower portion of that tilted crater at 5200 meters (about 17000 feet!) This height is taller than any mountain in the United States! This was a personal best for all of us.

This was one of our first successful goals as a team. We climbed in buddy pairs, and we tested all of our safety procedures that will be in effect as we climb Licancabur.