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Mate de coca is just one kind of tee among the others, regardless of the name. And it goes well with bread or by itself on a hot day. Most of the members of the expedition spent July in Cordillera Blanca, Peru. Despite the thin air and steep snow and ice slopes all summited one or more 6000m peaks, e.g. Tocclaraju, Chopicalqui, Artesonraju and Alpamayo. For some the local diet caused extra action in the form of stomach problems but all recovered quickly and were ready to action according to the plan.

Acclimatization was started in the town of Huaraz, 3000m above the sea level. The few days there were spent by trekking in altitudes between 3000-4500m and getting to know the local tourist spots. After that everyone headed to the valley of Ishinca in 4300m. It was used as a basecamp to reach the trekking peaks of Urus Este (5420m, F) and Ishinca (5530m, F). Finally the main target of the valley, Tocllaraju (6034m), was summited. Either via normal route in Northwest Ridge (AD) or West Face (D).

Again it was time for couple of days rest in Huaraz before the group splitted into smaller groups heading to three different valleys targeting to summit Chopicalqui via normal route on Southwest Ridge (6354m, AD), Artesonraju via normal route on Southeast Face (6025m, D) and Alpamayo via French Direct route (5947m, D/TD). After summiting these we returned to Huaraz for couple of days and then back to LIma and home. One month in Cordillera Blanca felt like couple of weeks.