South America, Peru, Central Peru, Tunshu Group, Cordillera Central

Publication Year: 1971.

Tunshu Group, Cordillera Central. The idle Mina Pachancoto (c. 15,800 feet) is at the end of a remarkable road which penetrates deep into the heart of the Tunshu group from Pachacayo on the Río Mantaro to the east. There are almost daily trucks to Hacienda Cochas about two hours up the valley and from there it is a long day’s walk for a well acclimatized person. The road is passable for normal vehicles as far as Verdecocha beyond Azulcocha, but the last two kilometers would require four-wheel drive. On October 30 I climbed a marble and limestone peak (c. 17,290 feet) by its northeast ridge. On top was a note left by Axel von Hillebrandt saying he had climbed it on June 30, 1967. The next day I tried to cross a pass at the head of the valley but saw steep slopes and glaciers on the southwest side. It was no place for a ropeless solo descent. I returned to Carhuacocha and went south from the road to pass Tullujuto on the east, bivouacking at Laguna Tranca on November 1. From there I walked via the double lake Surao and Jaico, Mollococha, Paucarcocha, pueblo of Tanta, Ticclacocha to the pass a kilometer east of P5010. From here I could see many of the peaks climbed and erroneously named by the Spanish expedition in their map published in the Peruvian Times of May 20, 1966, and reissued in the Revista Peruana de Andinismo, 1964-5. I walked via Piscococha, Laguna Llica, doubling back to climb an unnamed peak (c. 16,460 feet) southeast of P 5082 on the Padrecaca massif on November 4. Then I climbed over the pass between Padrecaca and Altarnio and descended via Laguna Uman and Miraflores pueblo to the Huancayo-Mina Yauricocha-Cañete road at Tinco just downstream from Alís on November 5. In Jahl’s account in A.A.J., 1968, 16:1, pp. 195-7 there appears a rough sketch map. Much more accurate is the map which appears with the expedition’s account. Münchener Anden-Kundfahrt 1967, published by the Academic Section Munich of the Deutscher Alpenverein. Cotoní is the highest peak in the Cordillera Yauyos, although the people around Ticclacocha refer to it and all the other peaks around the cirque as Ticcla. However the name Ticcla should definitely be used in referring to the mountains called by the Spaniards Pedro Acuna, San Jordi, Santa Rosa de Lima, Verdaguer and Falla. Atahualpa and Punta Margalida are really not separate peaks and do not deserve names. The Hoja Yauyos, the map of the Instituto Geograflco Militar misspells Pichahuacra. There are numerous other errors in this map.

John Ricker