Page 32 - 2000 AMA Summer

Lowland Fling
By Maj Cath Davies
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O n 1 July 1999. the 52nd The flight to Peru was via Lowland Regiment was Miami, from whence the expe­ formed, with companies affili­ dition leader’s rucksack was ated to The Royal Scots, the sent to Panama (sounds like Royal Highland Fusiliers and Lima, I suppose) which meant the King's Own Scottish spending an extra day in the huge, frantic metropolis that is Peru’s capital city. It was unan­ imously agreed that crossing tion to carry out high altitude the 6 lane principal streets there was the most dangerous
Borderers. To start off the new Regiment in style, it was decided to mount an expedi­
m ountaineering in the Cordillera Blanca, part of the Andes mountain range, in Peru. This was to be followed by a trek in the mixed cloud- forest/high grassland terrain of the Inca Trail, finishing up with a visit to Machu Picchu.
A team of seven, reflecting cap badges across the Regiment, was selected. It was led by Maj Cath Davies, with CSM Arthur Neil, Sgt Gibby Anderson, Sgt Dougie Byrne and CpI Derek Scally. all of A (Royal Scots) Company, and 2 Lt Taylor of C (RHF) Company. Re Kennan. a member of the KOSB detach­ ment of C Coy was the final team member.
thing we did in Peru.
Having recovered the rucksack, we moved up to Huaraz, the main town in the climbing region. From here we undertook an acclimatisa­ tion climb on a mountain called Pisco, some of us reaching 4800m, others suffering altitude sickness in varying degrees and not getting quite so high. Pisco also happens to be the national drink, so we sampled some on our return.
We then trekked in some 14 km (with the help of donkeys to carry the kit) to a high camp
Sgt Dougie Drown takes a break during the ascent of Ishinca.
Second rope party crossing a snow bridge on Ishinca at 5000m
on Ishinca, a 5530m or 18000
peak which was to be our main
climb. After a rest day of
eating and packing and a
forward route recce, we set off
at 4am the next morning. We
kitted up at the edge of the
snowline and daylight saw us
ascending the steep snow
slope to the first col. There we
met the sun and stopped to
remove warm clothes and slap
on sun screen. We also got a
good look at how steep and
long the next slope was! The
whole team eventually
summitted in the early at 4am to climb it. Not only afternoon, a great achieve­ were they back in time for the
ment given that all apart from donkeys, they were back in
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the expedition leader were novices, and were back in high camp at 4pm. It had been a long, hard day, during which everyone had had to dig deep. Therefore a well satisfied team moved down the next day to the Ishinca base camp to wait for the donkeys, due the day after at midday.
However, on the way Maj Cath Davies spotted a 5420m peak, Urus, just asking to be climbed, so next morning she,2Lt Gary Taylor and Re John Keenan left
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