Thanks for the replies.
Hi there, I've done a shortened version of the Huayhuash plus other treks and climbs out of Huaraz.
You'll love the Huayhuash, fabulous territory.
If you want an absolute top line guide pm me and I'll give you details.
Not planning to use a guide roysta but I might PM you with a few questions anyway.
Hey Drew, will be interested to follow this, my partner and I are planning to make a trip to South America next year, and both of those walks are in the itinerary! We'll hopefully have a few months there, so hoping to get some time in Patagonia etc as well. Will be interested to hear of your experiences, we're planning on going independent as much as possible too. What gear are you planning to take?
Lucky you, a few months sounds great. I've done a bit of walking in Patagonia and it's amazing. I'll probably post a trip report (assuming it happens!) so hopefully I'll hopefully have some good info for you.
Gear choices are what I'm struggling a bit with. The only thing giving me some doubts about doing it independently is the possibility that it will be too cold for our gear, and that warmer, rented gear would be heavy and make it too hard to do by ourselves. Most trip reports from a similar time of year suggest that we should expect warm days (like up to 20C) and overnight temps of 0C to -10C. Quite a range!
I have a -11 sleeping bag, but not a warm enough mat. I'll either buy a warmer mat or rent a foam mat to supplement mine. I'm a cold sleeper but I think that on really cold nights I'll be fine with a thermolite liner, all my clothes and a nalgene hot water bottle if needed!
My partner's bag is -8, but is getting old so has probably lost a few degrees. Her mat is warmer than mine but possible still not warm enough. She's a warmer sleeper than me but this bag might be pushing it. I've read that a -18 bag is recommended! Sounds like overkill, maybe from people who've never considered wearing clothes to bed.
I have a Mont Moondance 2 tent that is solid and certainly up to the task, but a bit heavy and very cramped for long cold nights in the tent (pretty short daylight hours). I recently bought a Tarptent Stratospire 2 (partly with this trip in mind), which is much lighter and more spacious, but not as solid in winds (I haven't used it much yet so don't really know). Also, I got it with a mesh inner, so it might be a bit cold...
We're planning to dehydrate most of our meals for the walk at home, which should save us a bit of weight over buying food in Peru.