Jagged Horizon

Miscommunication Can Lead to Worry

rokikjagged — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 03:25:08 +0000

My last call to a friend before heading back to meet beardy Nick, was that we would be back in Chachapoyas in two weeks. The police where I left the car were also informed that I would be collecting it in two weeks. Nick and I got back in two weeks,… just, but it was two weeks.

Back in Chachapoyas our first thought was food and big plates of it. Anything that didn’t involve rice or porridge. Switching on my cell phone I realized there were other things to do first. Call people.

There were three messages from one very good Peruvian friend and the worry in his voice was so obvious. I called him to let him know we were okay. Another friends wife broke into tears on hearing me speak. It was apparfent that they really had thought we had had an accident and would never be seen again.

Talk about guilt, yet it was a miscommunication. I would never want to be in the situation my friends found themselves. On hearing that we were alive I could hear the joy and at the same time they wanted to hit me…. that would have been okay with me.

So why write this nearly three months later. It came into a conversation yesterday, people still talk about me and Nick being lost in the mountains.

A Tale of Two Stoves

rokikjagged — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 00:36:25 +0000

Nothing beats a hot plate of food at the end of a hard day hiking as the temperature drops and night falls. Locals use firewood to make their pot of rice where as we use a stove. On our trips we have used a Trangia and a MSR Dragonfly. The first has a very basic alcohol burner and the latter a multi-fuel pressurized burner. Taking two stoves is extravagant yes, but as the Trangia has two small pans and fits together nicely it works for us. On top of that Nick (he wore the chef cap) can be cooking rice on one stove whilst cooking cecina (beef jerky) on the other.

: MSR Dragonfly with Trangia pans

The MSR has given us some problems, due to dirty fuel here in Chachapoyas. Before leaving on the first mini trip we gave the thing a complete overhall using the MSR service kit – and it worked well for two cups of tea and then started to playup again. That is another reason we were glad to have the Trangia with us as we then just cooked with that instead.

On the Big Trip we took benzene for the Dargonfly. This is very clean, but reading about benzene you don’t want to be cooking inside your tent with those fumes. The other problem with the MSR is the noise. I got to admit that sometimes the roar of the stove has been a welcome sound as you know you will get a warm drink inside you very soon. Most times that sound like a distant tornado destroys the mountain silence.

The Trangia is so simple it is beautiful. Easy to light and nothing to go wrong. It is quiet and you can cook undercover without worrying you are damaging your health. This is why the Triangia is guaranteed another trip and the MSR Dragonfly will be listed on ebay.

Nick leaves Chachapoyas

rokikjagged — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 17:39:49 +0000

Nick has just got on the bus to start his hardest trip yet – the one back to Blighty. Being a giraffe his legs don’t fit well in Peruvian bus seats, and he has a 24hour ride. The question is how soon will it be before he returns to Chachapoyas? Looking at these pictures below, I cannot imagine it will be long…….I hope so. This has been a packed 9 weeks, which has been so good for the soul (and not too bad on the knees). Those terraces further in the distance are calling for yet another Jagged Horizon adventure.

At the start it was tough carrying all that flapjack.

Nick taking photos early one frosty morning

Maybe not a happy memory - lack of calories causing Nick to lick an old soup packet.

Not caused by a fire on a distant hillside.

Plants of the Jagged Horizon

rokikjagged — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 03:16:58 +0000

Is it a sign of maturity, when you find yourself noticing other things apart from the hardest way possible to get up and down the hills? Maybe it was just the time of year and the incredible weather we had, but we started to see those bright colourful things people put in gardens to make them pretty. Yes there were times when we wondered if we could eat those as well, but the beauty of some of them restrained us and we stuck to Bilberries. Unfortunately I have no idea what these plants are, please let us know if you recognise any.

The Tin of Beans

rokikjagged — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 04:57:44 +0000

Handsome Rob

Nick — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:47:52 +0000

Just a very simple post, mainly for Rob’s mum. A nice portrait of her son looking a bit like his dad.

and another one I took a few weeks ago… just to show he’s not always photogenic!

After the Storm (in my belly)

Nick — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:59:36 +0000

The old blog has taken a snooze over the last few days. The plan was to eat eat eat and get my belly back. I eat one meal, and contract one of those horrible tummy bugs that I presume from the symptoms is most likely mild salmonella. I have plenty of time (in the bathroom) to contemplate such a ludicrous name for a vicious bacteria, because I love salmon.

Anyway, I’m now yet another 5kgs lighter and have enjoyed the privelege of watching Rob eat to his hearts content while I nibble on plain boiled rice and sip herb tea.

Onto the trip, starting from the point Rob left me at Map Rock Pass.

Well. It was an odd feeling watching Rob slowly make his way back towards civilization, an ever-diminishing pole-wielding figure gradually merging with the vastness of the mountains. That feeling lasted 2 1/2 minutes. the next was one of pure elation! Now don’t get me wrong, Rob is my best mate and we are effectively brothers from different mothers, but there’s something wonderful about realizing you are the only human in an enormous wilderness… a true wilderness. I had been a tiny bit apprehensive the day before wondering what might happen if I sprained my ankle, met a bear or ran out of flapjack. But not any more. In fact I now had enough flapjack for 2 people for 20 days! For just me! And bears schmers.

Ankles? Who needs ’em, and we’ve all seen Touching the Void.

So there I was, not even bothering to monitor Robs progressive disappearance but unpacking all the food for a good assessment of how long I could REALLY survive if Rob decided he couldn’t come back. I figured about 3 months, and then I’d have to reluctantly haul my skinny behind back to the world of noise and stink (the latter being very subjective!)

This is me having counted the flapjacks and positioning my sleeping bag diagonally across the entire tent interior…

Happy happy me.

The next few days I spend mapping and photographing things in the area, from 6am til 6pm wandering the mountains and forests in beautiful sunshine. Heaven.

Base camp sits right under this mountain below… 300metres of rock that goes straight up! (and so presumably can also come straight down.) But what a place. A pool of water sits under a rock 20 feet from the tent, so cooking is easy. The only disadvantage of such a camp site on a pass at 3700 metres is the wind that shakes and rattles the tent through the night. But throughout history humankind has sought out the advantages of a high perch for their camp over the wind issues because the views are stunning (ie good for spotting enemies) and the commute to work is likely an easy downhill start (my own theory!)

And so for 4 days I commute down the hill and do my work, aswell as going to seek the odd sleek peak for a sneak peek (as a photo geek).

We call this tiny promontary The Diving Board, and nearly 1000 feet below is the tent. I could have got back to camp in 7 seconds.

The OTHER view from up here however, is THIS! Which is why we christened it Jagged Horizon…

The next day? It rains and then rains more. I partake of a wee shot of rum with breakfast, don the old poncho, (sounds like a character from a Robert Rodriguez movie… Don the Old Poncho) and plan to spend most of the day mapping in the forest and beneath the limited shelter of cliffs. Some of the cliffs reveal the presence of carnivores which is always exciting. I enter the rest of the caves and overhangs machete in hand, feeling machete-macho and naively believing that an infuriated 200kg bear will actually give a damn what his next meal is wielding.

"I'll grind his bones to make my bread!" he boomed as I ran for the beanstalk!

Rob’s Return (the forgotten post)

Nick — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:04:31 +0000

The day Rob is due to return, I schedule myself some time off to do a bit of laundry. The basic idea is that if Rob does not come back then I will have had a recuperation day before the big push to a new base camp carrying 40kgs. If he does come, then I will have had a day off anyway for the not so big push carrying 35 kgs… and I won’t stink quite as bad.

Look Mum!

My mother would be quite thrilled to know that I washed a full set of clothes in hot water and then gave myself a rather chilly sponge bath. Hygiene, so important for helping prevent infection and keeping the spirits up. (I didnt wash again for another 16 days)

We’re Back!

Nick — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 05:09:08 +0000

I’ll be incredibly brief as it’s midnight and we’ve been eating all day to replenish lost bellies. We both have beards for the first time ever. We both weigh the same as we did as teens. We didn’t kill each other (well not quite!) And lastly, it was a truly amazing adventure so keep checking the blog as it will be updated rapidly!

We took ourselves extremely seriously for the ‘explorers with beards’ photos…

Rob looks like he just stepped off Everest...

Nick looks like he just stepped off a soccer pitch...

Rob isn't smaller, he's just further away.

: As high as we could get (legally).

So please stay tuned and we’ll keep things flowing with stories of Beards, Berries, Bears and Bush fires (oh and of course the archaeology!).

Return to Cavey Nick

rokikjagged — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:14:06 +0000

Back to the Jagged Horizon tomorrow. Everyday since returning to Chachapoyas I have looked to see what may be happening there weather wise and it has appeared unsettled. Pangs of guilt for leaving my buddy up there. Anyway got a few goodies to take back up to Nick who will no doubt have a long flowing ginger beard by now and I am looking forward to going to a place “away from it all”.

Tooni has totally grasped the way to her man's heart.