Bikepacking the Peru Great Divide & Beyond – The Prologue

Words & Photos: Adrian Crampton

I have just quit my job. And that begs the question, what will I do now? Naturally the answer to that question is, you guessed it, bikepacking. To lay it out simply, here is the plan. In June, my co-conspirators David, Robbie, and I will undertake the two-wheeled adventure of our dreams in Peru, and maybe Bolivia, depending on how fast we pedal!

Our trip will be two months long and will begin in Lima, Peru. We will take a bus to a Huarez, a mountain village in the Cordillera Blanca range, and from there venture southwards to the Bolivian border and perhaps into Bolivia itself. Along the way, we will discover the day-to-day reality of long-distance bikepacking all the while lapping in the mountain scenes, the 5000 metre passes, the remote Andean communities, and so on and so forth. But truthfully, we don’t know how far we will get, nor do we know for sure if we will make it all the way to Bolivia, nor, come to think of it, do we know if we will even make it five minutes before something goes catastrophically wrong. But that's what makes it an adventure. If the chances of a ‘negative’ outcome were zero, then so too would be the possibility of a challenging, unplanned, dramatic, dangerous or downright stupid moment, or multiple such moments.

To understand the origin of this undertaking, we must journey back into the past, to roughly six months ago. Picture a dreary, rainy October day in Wellington, a Sunday. I woke up, opened the blinds and soaked in the view – that being a deeply uninspiring and yet all too familiar scene, a Wellington special if you will, complete with wind, rain and no end in sight, displayed right in front of me like an older sibling blocking the doorway, aware of my plans and committed to getting in the way. At that moment, I thought to myself ‘hmm, maybe I won’t go mountain biking today’. I decided then that I would crack out the sewing machine, and get to work making my bikepacking gear. At that point, I didn’t know what I was making the bikepacking gear for. Well, bikepacking of course, but I had no plan to go bikepacking in the works. Only some X-Pac fabric, a somewhat unreliable sewing machine, and an impulsive desire to make the gear for some hypothetical adventure in the future. An adventure half obscured behind the inescapable shadow of work and other life commitments, and yet visible nonetheless.

Fast forward to January 2026, and myself, David and Robbie find ourselves deeply absorbed in bikepacking conversations. The appeal of an overseas trip struck a chord with us all, and ideas for where to go were thrown around liberally. It was like a flick had been switched. We shrugged off the rational considerations that might have subdued our motivation, got to work persuading each other of the best ideas, the best places to travel to on two wheels. The Celestial Divide in Kyrgyzstan was a front runner for a while, but then we stumbled across the Peru Great Divide. The appeal of this route was readily apparent. It offers incredible, remote mountain terrain, a new corner of the world to experience, and plenty of flexibility in terms of modifying the route to suit our adventurous desires. Just perfect, we thought. Robbie would be able to put his Spanish speaking skills to the test, sharpened as they are by Duolingo, and David and I would get to witness that in all its glory, and hopefully pick up a thing or two ourselves. And just like that, what had been a lingering idea in each of our heads, gnawing away at our imaginations, became a verbalised plan, an expression of a shared desire for two-wheeled travel if you will. And before long, it became real – a commitment sealed by the buying of flights to Peru. Preemptively and impulsively making the bikepacking gear was a good call, it appeared.

It should be acknowledged that while high-altitude bikepacking might be a completely new endeavour for us, spending time outdoors is not as much of a foreign concept. All three of us are fortunate enough (or unfortunate, depending on your point of view) to have spent time outside, walking around the Southern Alps, battling through West-Coast scrub and braving the elements as we so often capitalised on the limited and often dubious weather windows between work, lectures, uni assignments and the like. If it wasn’t already obvious, we know each other from university. Myself, David and Robbie (and our Friend Oak, who deserves a special mention here) flatted together in 2024.

David testing out Ground Effect’s Solaris Sun Hoody in the harsh Australian sun
while atop a climb in the Arapiles.

If I were to introduce David, I would have to begin with his implacably calm, almost frustratingly chilled-out, approach to the outdoors. Having belayed him on many a climb, his composed style never ceases to impress. A visual designer by training, and a DOC ranger by trade, David is typically found in an aesthetic outdoor environment, whether at work or not. By day, his specialities include possum trapping, trad climbing and pistol squats. By night, he is most content with a hot drink in hand, pouring over a map, attempting to piece together the most visually pleasing route through the hills. With an impressive array of adventures under his belt, David has always demonstrated a high level of commitment, consistency and intentionality to his outdoor pursuits.

Robbie doing the same with his Solaris on a Fiordland multi-pitch.
Who says rock-climbing isn’t good cross-training for bikepacking?

Turning now to Robbie, his journey began on the slopes of Mt Taranaki, where he navigated his way to the finish line of more than a few adventure races growing up, all the while developing a solid foundation of skills and aptitudes for the outdoors. When the map, compass, crampons, helmets, harnesses and bike shoes come out, Robbie’s all on it. Robbie is also a DOC ranger, and has a degree in Ecology and a passion for conservation. And to top that off, Robbie can always be counted on to bring the vibes. With a hungry appetite for banter and the ability not to take things too seriously, Robbie is excellent company when the going gets rough. As the primary instigator of this bikepacking trip, Robbie has played the main role in bringing it to life.

And that leaves me. I was raised in a family of outdoorsy folk, surprise surprise. Growing up, my siblings and I were constantly shepherded on by our parents, dragged along tramping tracks, up and down hills and such. While initially the method for motivating us on such endeavours consisted primarily of bribery, with food, we eventually got a taste for it ourselves, no pun intended. At a certain point, coercion and tantrums became a thing of the past, and, fast forward a few years, I started going on trips with the likes of David and Robbie on my own accord.

With introductions made and our plans outlined, it feels fitting to round out this article by reflecting on what we’re hoping to get from the trip. Personally, this trip comes at a moment of flux for me. I have graduated uni, started and finished my first proper job, and I will embark on this trip with no clear plan as to what comes after it. While this is daunting, it is also exciting. I hope to use the time away from work to reflect on where I’m at, and what my priorities are moving forward. For all three of us, simply being in the position to go on this trip is a real privilege. At a time when things seem only to be getting more uncertain, and more expensive, to travel around the world simply to go bikepacking is an opportunity that isn’t lost on us. So to conclude, we hope to come away from this trip to Peru having satisfied our itch for a challenge, and with a greater sense of confidence moving forward in terms of what we do next. And, if we can do all of those things while also experiencing a new place, culture and language that’ll be pretty epic.

A special thanks to Ground Effect for helping us out with some kit, including wet weather gear, sun hoodies, etc. These things will no doubt be used a lot, and we are looking forward to trying it all out!

And Ground Effect looks forward to the trip notes and pics which we’ll share in due course. As luck would have it some more keen lads are heading to Kyrgyzstan and plan to regale the Ground Effect Blog of how it goes.