While I fell to the floor at negative 20 degrees Celsius at 3am to throw up my entire “breakfast” which was only two cups of water grabbed from a river, I realized that it wasn't going to be easy. If I wanted to get to the peak of Vallunaraju, which is one of the tallest mountains in Peru (5,800msl) everything wasn't going to be flowers and happiness. To be realistic, if I wanted to get anywhere near its summit, I was going to go through really hard obstacles and force my body to the limit.
As I dragged myself up the mountain with every inch of strength I had left, I realized how similar is climbing to real life. You need to have the strong mentality and the passion to go through the hard shell to get to your higher potential and reach your goal. Only 20 people went to this trip, in the first days at the city of Huaraz at 3,300msl you could see that clearly everybody was eager to get to the peak and had set it as a goal. It’s like when you ask someone in my class if they want to get into a top university, they will clearly say “Yes, why not” but few really make it. But you could clearly see the cheap talk and lack of grit from some people, since from the fifteen that went on the trip only eight made it to the “Morrena”, or the base camp. At the camp, which was nearly at 5,000msl, every single person started to feel sick; the high pressure and the low temperatures made us feel that our heads we going to explode. The next dawn, only six made it to Vallunaraju’s summit. These six, including myself, really set the bar to what being persistent looks like. Because we all felt like crap, yet we chose to persevere the harsh conditions and have a strong mentality about the goal we had set.
When I came back from Huaraz I started to reflect if I was setting my body to the limits as I did in Huaraz. Was I achieving my dreams and goals? I somehow felt I was similar to the 7 people who stayed at the first camp. Was giving my 100%? But after some weeks from the trip I noticed that I was achieving higher standards and even though I was feeling more “pain” every day. Vallunaraju had stretched my mentality of pursue to a whole new level. Because in real life the summit would be something different like a 6.0 as OLA average or getting into my dream university. As you get to the top you will also see on your side a three thousand meter fall and on your back a 9 hour walk. The only difference between the summit and achieving a goal is that in real life you can continue going higher.
As I dragged myself up the mountain with every inch of strength I had left, I realized how similar is climbing to real life. You need to have the strong mentality and the passion to go through the hard shell to get to your higher potential and reach your goal. Only 20 people went to this trip, in the first days at the city of Huaraz at 3,300msl you could see that clearly everybody was eager to get to the peak and had set it as a goal. It’s like when you ask someone in my class if they want to get into a top university, they will clearly say “Yes, why not” but few really make it. But you could clearly see the cheap talk and lack of grit from some people, since from the fifteen that went on the trip only eight made it to the “Morrena”, or the base camp. At the camp, which was nearly at 5,000msl, every single person started to feel sick; the high pressure and the low temperatures made us feel that our heads we going to explode. The next dawn, only six made it to Vallunaraju’s summit. These six, including myself, really set the bar to what being persistent looks like. Because we all felt like crap, yet we chose to persevere the harsh conditions and have a strong mentality about the goal we had set.
When I came back from Huaraz I started to reflect if I was setting my body to the limits as I did in Huaraz. Was I achieving my dreams and goals? I somehow felt I was similar to the 7 people who stayed at the first camp. Was giving my 100%? But after some weeks from the trip I noticed that I was achieving higher standards and even though I was feeling more “pain” every day. Vallunaraju had stretched my mentality of pursue to a whole new level. Because in real life the summit would be something different like a 6.0 as OLA average or getting into my dream university. As you get to the top you will also see on your side a three thousand meter fall and on your back a 9 hour walk. The only difference between the summit and achieving a goal is that in real life you can continue going higher.