On top of Illampu

Being in the mountains for over a month by now, my beard is getting wilder. Carrying a razor is too much weight, and besides, it's good insulation. After a very early alpine start, we reached the summit of Illampu not long after sunrise on a beautiful day. As you can see, I really enjoyed the sunshine, but during the descent it caused a bit of melting and as a result a few rocks whizzed by. Needless to say, we rappelled as fast as we safely could! In the background, Ancohuma looks like a nearby secondary peak. In fact, it is a massive mountain and almost 60m higher. 15 September 2009.