Expedition Amazon – The Trek to Ausangate | National Geographic

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Thomas Peschak] At least you got some horses, eh?

[Narrator] 30 horses and llamas, 60 bags of gear, 1,500 pounds of food, and 15 guides and porters.

[Spanish] All needed to install a weather station 20,000 feet above sea level.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Tom Matthews] The air is very thin.

[Thomas Peschak] Gasping for breath...

[Otto] Aye, aye, aye.

[Baker Perry] It's incredibly taxing on our bodies. - Go behind the expedition and see just what does it take to get to the top.

[♪ upbeat music playing]

[Christina] Good morning.

[Baker Perry] Hey, Christina.

[Christina] Hello.

[Baker Perry] How are you?

[Baker Perry] I've had the fortune of working in the Andes for nearly my whole life. And so I've seen some pretty dramatic changes in glaciers. My name's Baker Perry. I'm a climate scientist, and I'm leading this expedition to install a weather station near the summit of Asumgate.

♪♪

Asumgate is the highest peak in the Southern Andes of Peru. And it's one of the main sources of the Amazon River. We have a big team going up, not only of guides and porters, but also of the scientists.

- As part of the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Amazon Expedition, the team's goal is to figure out just how fast the glaciers are receding and how that affects the rest of the Amazon basin.

[Tom Matthews] The glaciers are really critical suppliers of fresh water to the communities downstream. So what we could do here might have really big impacts in terms of better understanding water security.

[Baker Perry] Tom has this incredible ability to sort out the details, troubleshooting some of the many challenges that present themselves.

[Tom Matthews] Building weather stations or installing them isn't easy anywhere. There are dozens and dozens of components. Each component has its own set of wires. Then you've got to program the computer, send that to the data logger.

[Narrator] The team practices the complicated build every chance they get.

[Tom Matthews] When you go to altitude, it's a different game entirely. Our minds don't work as clearly, so we need to have everything planned out in a really regimented way. We also train people we're moving with, so the porters here or the Sherpa on Everest, so that they know what to do too. And in the worst case scenario, if I don't make it, if Baker doesn't make it, they can probably do the install by themselves. That's how we work. And right now I've got my fingers crossed that I'll be feeling okay in just over 24 hours from now.

[Baker Perry] It's so exciting to have Ruth a part of the expedition as well. She's doing some incredible work with the Andean bear.

[Ruth] Now being high in the glacier, I think it's going to give me a full perspective of the area.

[Baker Perry] She's a National Geographic Explorer. She grew up in a community not far from Asungate as well. - Ruth may be local, but summiting a 20,000 foot mountain is not her expertise. And she's not alone.

[Thomas Peschak] Once again, I'm asking myself, what on earth is an ocean photographer doing at almost 6,000 meters or more than 18,000 feet? ♪♪ I'm a photojournalist spending 396 days in the Amazon basin. I'm completely out of my depth. I'm incredibly comfortable on boats. Underwater...Give me a white shark any day of the week in a mountain like this. But working on glaciers and climbing on ice? Those are skills that I had to learn incredibly quickly.

[Ruth] It's going to be a big challenge. Yes. Looking for here is a completely different environment I've been working with, just to see the ice wall. - Walls of ice - some over 600 feet in length await the explorers. Both need a crash course in ice climbing.

[Otto] How do the crampon's feel, Ruth?

[Ruth] I really like it here. I love mountains. I'm still feeling good with the altitude.

[Thomas Peschak] Now imagine doing this with gloves, at night. It's also tiring. It's not just the technique. It's just you're huffing and puffing, on nothing. It looks a lot easier than it actually is. Actually ice axe in the left, eh? Dominant hand on the... jewel mark, yeah. Deep snow, eh? What do you do with the ice axe when you walk? Walking. Yesterday I was super confident. And today, I mean, I was out of breath on a 20 foot ice wall, that's maybe 56 degrees. Aqui?

[Guide] Dancing, dancing.

[Thomas Peschak] Yeah, okay.

[Ruth] It's really complicated, wow. The ice, oh yeah, that's something very new. For me, the first time that I'm using crampons and harness and this big boots, but I think I will be ready to go to the summit now.

[Thomas Peschak] For the record, I have no business being above eye cap. I mean, that's like on video, for the record. Nah. Especially not at night. Down is always easy. ♪♪

[Tom Matthews] In the glacier, how do you avoid the crevasses? Can be 30, 40 meters deep and they're covered in snow. It's super important to work with the local people when we do this kind of work.

[Otto] Ciao, Adrian.

[Tom Matthews] Adrian was our lead mountain guide. He's the local expert.

[Baker Perry] He has such positive energy.

[Adrian] Hasta mañana!

[Otto] Hasta mañana!

[Baker Perry] And so he has just been an instrumental partner.

[Adrian] Yeah.

[Baker Perry] And then we have two of the cholitas escaladoras for logistical support, Zenobia and Cecilia.

[Cenobia] Muy fuerte!

[Tom Matthews] So we're relying on their climbing expertise. If they weren't there leading us, then the science wouldn't get done.

♪♪

[Baker Perry] Bienvenido! Welcome to Asungate!

[Ruth] It was a very tough day. We've been hiking since 8 a.m. I'm quite used to high mountains, but this one was very tough.

• You want the inside or the outside?

• I want this side.

• You want the inside?

• Yeah.

[Narrator] After hiking for six hours, the expedition carves out camp on the sloped mountainside for a few hours of rest. They'll set off again at midnight for the summit.

[Baker Perry] Still relatively early in the day. And it's hard to not enjoy the views you see around you as well. It's a pretty awesome part of the world.

[Thomas Peschak] Cold! This has been the most humbling photographic assignment experience of my life. But it is my job to bring back photographs and stories of what I see and what I experience. And to get people to care so much that they will actually go out of their way to help. ♪♪

[Tom Matthews] I maybe got a few hours off and on, so looking forward now to getting on with business. Yes.

[Baker Perry] Slept pretty good for a couple hours. Though, I think Tom has some high altitude flashless emissions right now (laughs).

[Adrian] In a few minutes we'll start climbing. Yeah, whew. - After ascending 7,000 feet to reach high camp, the team needs to climb over 2,000 more to reach the summit plateau. At this elevation, it's no easy task.

[Baker Perry] This is a much more technical climb than even Everest.

[Tom Matthews] It's really steep. It's the hardest part about climbing Ausangate. - And every step will be in the dark. If the team succeeds, this will be the highest weather station in the tropical Andes. But making it to the summit is up to their training, a little luck and Ausangate.

[Guide] Vamos, vamos!