Chinchey, Pucaranra, Peak in Cayesh Group, San Juan. Our expedition consisted of Richard Dietz, David Neff, Ben Pfeiffer, John Spezia, Gordon Thomas and me as leader. On June 16 we located Base Camp on a small grassy pampa at 14,000 feet at the head of the Quebrada Tulparaju. On June 26 we established Camp II on the saddle between Chinchey and Pucaranra. On June 27 we picked a route through the lower crevasses, then almost directly up the center of the west face of Chinchey to the notch between the north and south summits. The crevasse which turned back climbers several years ago was well covered and all six of us reached the summit at 2:30. We left a four-foot-deep trench in the deep snow of the upper 50° face. On July 3 Neff, Spezia and Pfeiffer returned from Camp I to the saddle, where they climbed to 18,500 feet on the north side of Pucaranra’s east ridge, which connects it to Chinchey. A snow cave was constructed on the 50° slope. The next morning at 5:30 they climbed through a difficult rock band and then up the east ridge, keeping on the north slope. Snow conditions were good. Reaching the east summit, they climbed the ridge to the main peak, arriving at three P.M. Most of the descent was in the dark with headlamps. They got back to the snow cave at three A.M. We believe this to be the first ascent of this ridge. On July 9 we moved Base Camp to a pampa near the junction of Quebradas Tulparaju and Cayesh. We carried five days’ provisions up the Quebrada Cayesh to a small mossy area under a waterfall on the main cliff band. We followed an old Indian trail, switch-backing twice, to camp at a small ruins area. On July 10 we kept on the Indian trail to surmount the cliff bands and followed the trail up the west edge of the glacier to the base of Maparaju. We went onto the glacier and climbed by an obvious route the farthest south peak (c. 17,000 feet) in the Cayesh group. On July 11 Neff, Spezia and Pfeiffer traversed around the shoulder of San Juan, through major crevasse problems, traversing below the southeast face to arrive at a saddle at the base of the south ridge. They spent an uncomfortable night in a snow hole. On the 12th they climbed the south ridge of San Juan, encountering no great difficulties except for one high-angle lead with an 80° ice chimney, which they stemmed for 15 feet. This was a new route.

Gary L. Clark, Washington State University Alpine Club