18.07.2018
Given the names of the peaks in the vicinity, I think we need to re-name this one “Camelid Ridge,” which would be WAY more apropos (and evocative) than “Alpaca-via-Zupjok” ;) I’ve been keen to return to the Coq after aptly-named Needle Peak last July so this one one quite obvious, despite the lack of info online. The rewarding nature of the route is two-fold: a) beyond Zupjok Peak (the first), it’s largely an undulating ridge walk, which in itself is very scenic and very rewarding regardless of where you turn around or if you intend to summit any/all of the peaks; and b) the ridge is peppered by a string of aforementioned peaks that could add more challenge, distance, variety, and technical bits as you like. As we were pressed for time, we only trundled the ridge a bit beyond Zupjok before we had to turn around, but this wasn’t terrible disappointing as it was spectacular, though I’m sure the views would only improve from Llama onward, which is a pretty easy, rather flat “peak” and definitely doable if you have a full day. Vicuna is undoubtedly rather technical and maybe a bit intimidating, and Alpaca/Guanaco would definitely add hours to a round trip. The trail itself is a bit vague, and the “white sign” as referenced on here as marking the trail head is nowhere to be seen. We just walked west past the snack shack and kept our eyes right until we saw an opening with a fluttering pink ribbon marker just beyond which is a concrete avalanche cannon placement. The first bit is an old access road through beautiful mixed forest for about 2.5 km until it reaches a stone cairn at which the trail heads off westerly until starts to climb the ridge leading up to Zupjok. We were a little confused as our actual path diverged from the red line on our downloaded Maps 3D map, but the trail was quite obvious and marked with ribbon (we saw no other trails) so we carried on. The climb is then rather relentless as there are no switchbacks, and it’s not heavily trafficked (we encountered ZERO other hikers – another delight) so it's a bit vague here and there, but if you keep an eye out you’ll spot the faded and often fallen ribbons (we wished we had brought a fresh roll of tape), you’ll achieve Zupjok from where the continuing ridge becomes very obvious toward the string of peaks. There is a lightly visible path from here, and we tried to keep to it as not to trample the alpine veg (only heather was blooming presently), but it’s hard to get lost at this point. We were lucky to have a very clear and breezy day, which keep the heat and bugs at bay (though they were hungry). We yearned to carry on to Llama, but were not dejected to turn around, but rather keen to return and explore further along Camelid Ridge another day ;)
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