Japanese Expedition to the Cordillera Vilcanota. We organized our mountain climbing and scientific Japan Peru Andes Expedition with six Japanese members: Dr. Yoshifumi Takeda, leader, Itaru Nishimura, subleader, Masahiro Ohe, Kenzo Agata, Keio Takeuchi and Yukishige Horiuchi. Leaving the road at Tinki, across a pass we established Base Camp near Punca-Cocha, southwest of the main peak of Ausangate. It was very difficult to find the route from Base Camp to our advance camp because there was such heavy snow on the glacier and icefall. Ohe, Takeuchi and I climbed Ausangate South (20,340 feet) on August 14. We had experienced hard climbing in snowstorm with thunderbolt. On August 16 Nishimura and Agata climbed the peak (20,375 feet) between the south and main summits. This was an unclimbed peak, as was the south summit. Being unnamed, we called it Pico de Arroz ("Rice Peak"). We moved Base Camp from the southern to the northern slope of Ausangate, east of the summit and near Azul-Cocha. We tried E-21 (18,535 feet), east of camp, Riticyac, which lies between Campa I and Campa II, and the northeast ridge of Ausangate’s main peak, but we couldn’t succeed. However, we have experienced heavy snowing in every day with thunderbolt.

Yoshifumi Takeda