There was really only one reason I wanted to climb Copa and that was because there is a hot spring in Marcara, the access town. Oh yeah, one other reason was because it probably has the most beautiful ski descent in all of the Blanca, especially with a fresh foot of pow for the first 200m!! I was very tempted to stop on my way to BC and soak in the springs but I knew this would potentially kill all my motivation. Instead I decided I´d treat myself if I summitted, kind of a reward. So for the next three days of suffering all I could think about was 110 water.
It was raining and hailing at BC but I wasn´t too concerned because this is pretty unusual in August for the Blanca. I packed up and headed to a high camp at 5200m thinking the weather would chill out, and it did. With the rain at BC came some significant snowfall on the summit and the next day was followed with nothing but blue. Fresh pow is great for skiing but lousy for climbing. The last 150m of climbing took me about two hours....ten steps, rest....ten steps, rest...I thought post-holing in Colorado was bad, try it at 20,000 feet, ouch! This was probably the hardest I´ve been challenged physically in my life, thank God for that hotspring down in Marcara to keep me motivated. Ten steps...hotspring....ten steps...hot spring. I summitted around 10:38, around 10:38, not that I was counting. The ascent took 7:38 but I took an hour break to wait for the sunrise because, I´ll be honest, I was lost. The sun guided me for the last few hundred meters and I skied down to high camp in 52 minutes, I packed it all up, and skied the remaining 150m couloir back to the moraine.
Unfortunately at the bottom of the couloir, there was an awkward class 5 downclimb move. The stance was too awkward...I clicked out of my skis, established a safe stance, and hucked the boards down the moraine. It was a pretty hard thing to do emotionally, but there was no way for me to get my pack off and strap them to it where I was, it was the safest option. I picked up the pieces and parts of my skis scattered around the moraine because of the sentimental value and I didn´t want to litter. I packed up BC and walked the ten miles back to Marcara, shared some Caldo de Gallina with my Arierro and caught some sleep.
The next morning the hot springs in Marcara seemed just a little hotter than they had the three previous times I had visited. Hope all is well wherever you are.
The photo previews show up upside down but when you click on them they should be right side up, don´t ask me why.
