Cordillera de Huayhuash

Perú

Junio 2019

instagram / vsco / tumblr  

The next mountaineering objective was situated in the Huayhuash range. After studying the snow and ice conditions on Jirishanca we realized that our proposed Cassin or Czech - Slovak Routes on the W and SW Face of Jirishanca were impracticable due to the massive bergschrunds, some 40m wide and the lack of good quality ice. We decided to attempt a climb on Yerupaja Grande 6617m via the SE – ridge. From Laguna Jahuacocha, 4100m, we skirted the lake until we reached the entrance of the swale between the south lateral moraine of Solteraocha and the southern slope of Jauacocha Valley. A faint climber’s trail rises through the swale and becomes narrow as it contours several hundred meters above the lake.  There were many dangerous and exposed spots until the path turned steeply uphill and gained a plateau at 4500m.  Our heavy packs made this ascent quite difficult. From here, we crossed a few boulders and climbed the crest of another lateral moraine towards the SE. We set camp at around 4840m, 200 meters north of a banded rock formation. From this spot we admired the fragmented Tam and Yerupaja West Glaciers as well as the surrounding peaks: Rondoy 5870m, Jirishanca 6162m, Mituraju 5750m, El Toro 5830m, Yerupaja Chico 6089m and Yerupaja Grande 6617m. Early next morning, we continued up the moraine, hitting the snowline at around 5000m. After crossing a few crevasses, we entered the open Yerupaja West Glacier. The west face of Yerupaja was full of seracs and bergscrunds including a massive one that was crossing the entire face. We climbed up the saddle between Seria Norte and Yerupaja through some dangerous penitentes and crevasses. In the saddle we realized that we were actually standing on a massive cornice. Moreover, the entire SE ridge was full of terrifying cornices on both sides. These seemed very unstable and made us turn back to the col and set camp at around 5600m. The idea of a SE ridge ascent was abandoned.

Approach route to Yerupaja. Photograph taken from Rondoy Pass, overlooking Laguna Solteracoha. Photographer: Sorin Rechitan

Yerupaja seen from Rondoy Valley. In the foreground, interbedded shale, limestine and sandstone. Photographer: Sorin Rechitan

We left camp around 04:30, on the August 27, carrying climbing, bivouac equipment and food and started to zig zag between the seracs. We chose a fairly direct line on the west face situated between the SE ridge and 1950 American (Maxwell and Harrah) route. There were sections of overhanging ice, massive crevasses and even a small incident where I was almost killed due to a TV size block of ice that dislocated along with my left hand ice axe. Fortunately, my partner was aware and secured me tightly, eventually managing to reach the edge of the serac. At noon, we reached a point at 6250m marked by a massive bergschrund. We looked for a safe ice bridge to cross for more than 2 hours, but soon realized how much the mountain conditions have changed since the last party had been here in 1998. Moreover, due to the extreme afternoon heat, snow and ice was melting fast and avalanches were roaring down the face every 10 minutes. We realized the dangerous situation we were in and decided to abseil into the bergschrund and wait until the evening when temperatures drop and the snow freezes again. We stayed 7 hours in an ice cave, bivouacking on a platform deep into the ice. Sometimes, small avalanches were coming through the small hole above us. Around 20:00, we got out of the crevasse and scanned the bergschrund again for a safe spot to cross. Unstable ice bridges, brittle and overhanging ice and icicles, fatigue and bad weather forced us to abandon our ascent. We rappelled down the face using the snow anchors that we brought as well as Abalakov threads. After 18 hours we were back in our tent, extremely tired. We estimate the difficulty of our route to be: TD+/ED1 with AI5+ sections, 60-100° inclination, 950m level difference in total, of which we managed to climb around 600m.

Sergiu and Yerupaja West Face. Photograph taken from Yerupaja West Glacier at approximatively 5500m. Photographer: Aurel Salasan

Climbing Yerupaja West Face. Sergiu Jiduc. Photographer: Aurel Salasan

Yerupaja South East Ridge Seracs. Photographer: Sergiu Jiduc