Huascarán, West Ridge. Although our party made the first ascent of the west ridge of Huascarán, we can not claim that this was the climax to a long-maturing plan. When seven of us, ranging in age from 35 to 49, left Vancouver on June 1, we simply wanted a higher peak than we could find in North America without the fuss of a Himalayan expedition. We could theoretically reach the base of Huascarán in two days from Canada. We had toyed with a look from the northeast but on arrival decided to follow the usual Garganta route. The party included Fips Broda, Ralph Hutchinson, Scipio Merler, Robert Paul, Bernhardt Segger, Dave Wessell and me. We left the village of Musho (10,000 feet) on June 5 and in five hours were at Base Camp at 13,800 feet on the normal route. Camps were set up at 15,000 feet, at the edge of the glacier, at 16,500 feet and 17,400 feet. During this process, I took Paul to the valley for medical treatment when he showed signs of pulmonary oedema, and Hutchinson escorted Wessell down to Base. Both were given oxygen on the mountain. Travelling light, Broda, Merler and Segger made camp on June 13 on the floor of a large crevasse at 18,600 feet, using a fly over snow walls. Above 18,000 feet the snow was so unconsolidated and the going so slow that they decided to try the narrow, steep west arête rising directly above them. They left at dawn (six A.M.) on June 14 with bivouac equipment. The route started a little north (left) of the ridge among large ice blocks. They reached the knife-edged arête at 19,400 feet and followed it, occasionally traversing right into a steep triangular snow face. Above 20,000 feet they traversed left, using a number of screws in a 170-foot couloir before returning to the ridge and 45° ice. Darkness caught them at 21,200 feet and they hacked out platforms. Temperature was just below 0° F. with a brisk breeze. At dawn on June 15 they resumed. The going eased off and they trudged through deep snow to the summit at 9:30 on a perfect day. Considering the arête too steep to descend, they moved to the north of it, which involved several long rappels from aluminum T-bar stakes. Meanwhile Hutchinson and I had followed them up to camp at 18,600 feet and felt rather disconcerted to find the sleeping bags there, but no sign of life. At 2:45 we saw the summit trio descending the maze of ice blocks about 1000 feet above us and were able to help with shouted directions. We were all safely back in the valley two days later.

Paddy Sherman, Alpine Club of Canada