Peru

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I did four trips to Peru. In July-August 1996, I climbed Alpamayo with Mark Houston and Huascaran with Kathy Cosley in the Cordillera Blanca. In June-July 1997, again with Kathy and Mark, we planned to climb Yerupaja in the Cordillera Huayhuash and Salcantay in the Cordillera Vilcabamba. But the dangerous conditions on Yerupaja and the more difficult than expected route on Salcantay led us to turn back before reaching these summits. In 1999 I also did a solitary 3-week trek in the Cordillera Vilcanota South-East of Ausangate. In 2003 I returned to Huaraz and did a trek around the Cordillera Huayhuash with my son.

Map of Peru.

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Cordillera Blanca (1996)

Cordillera Huayhuash (1997)

Cordillera Vilcabamba (1999)

Cordillera Huayhuash (2003)

Cordillera Blanca

Map of Cordillera Blanca area.

Alpamayo

Topographic map of Alpamayo area.

Approach of Alpamayo from the South

In front of Alpamayo with Mark. The Ferrari route goes to the left of the rock in the middle of the face.

The Ferrari route viewed from the top

Mark on top of Alpamayo talking to Base Camp.

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Huascaran

Topographic map of Huascaran area.

General view of Huascaran North (left) and South (right). The highest summit is Huascaran South. The saddle between the two peaks is called Garganta

High camp on Huascaran, just below Garganta

Navigation among seracs on Huascaran

On the cold South summit of Huascaran with Kathy

Cordillera Huayhuash

Topographic map of the Northern part of the Cordillera Huayhuash, with Nevado Yerupaja.

The main street in the village of Llamac at the North end of the Huayhuash

Limestone rocks in the Huayhuash

North (rock) and West (ice) faces of Yerupaja

Base camp of Yerupaja near Lake Jahuakocha

High camp of Yerupaja, with beautiful Jirishhanca in the background

Over the past 20 years, the smooth West face of Yerupaja has become a broken field of seracs. The view on the left is from a postcard taken 15 to 20 years ago. The photo on the right shows the normal route under the col, in 1997

Seracs on Yerupaja

On a promontoire on the North ridge of Yerupaja with Mark. The peak behind us is Jirishhanca. Yerupaja Chico is in the right corner

Rappeling down from the Nortkh ridge of Yerupaja. I first took the photo in the middle (with Kathy waiting at the end of the rope). Then I lowered down the camera to Kathy who took the picture on the right. The picture on the left was taken later and shows the face we were descending.

Cerro Mexico is a 5,000m rock peak north of Yerupaja. We climbed the nort-west ridge (on the left in the photo), a fun, but exposed class 4 climb with many loose rocks. Mark at the top (right photo).

Cordillera Vilcabamba

Scenery of the Vilcabamba

Three different faces of Salcantay, from left to right: South-East, South, and West

From left to right: our route on the West face (the green square indicates the high camp), the ridge where we turned back (at least 500m under the summit), and this same ridge shown with a red square from the South-West