South America, Peru, Cordillera Blanca, Chopiraju Oeste, Kimarumi

Publication Year: 1978.

Chopiraju Oeste, Kimarumi. On June 24 Jeff Lee, Merle Wheeler, Pat Weidman, Dick Webster and I entered the Quebrada Quilcayhuanca and set up Base Camp at the opening of the Quebrada Cayesh the next day. On the 26th all but Jeff began a climb of Chopiraju Oeste (17,962 feet). It was to have been an easy, straightforward ascent of the west ridge. Because of an unusually dry season, the ridge was so broken by crevasses that we dropped over to the north side and spent a long day in more technical climbing than we had anticipated. By nightfall we were still a few hundred feet below the top and bivouacked. Next morning we reached the summit at nine. Our total time on the mountain was 37 hours. This may have been the first ascent of the north face. On June 30 all but Weidman climbed Kimarumi (17,910 feet), also known as “Minas.” We attempted the west ridge of San Juan but were frustrated again by crevasses. We finally tried a northern ridge which would have placed us high on the west ridge, but bivouacs would have been necessary and so we backed off. On July 4 Weidman, Webster and I made another ascent of Kimarumi. We moved our camp to the base of the col between Chinchey and Pucaranra. On July 13 we made an attempt on the upper south ridge of Chinchey. We traversed from the col to the south ridge and climbed to within 200 feet of the summit but were turned back by cornices. Two days later we climbed the northwest face but were hit by a whiteout, snow and hail at 20,200 feet. We spent the remainder of the day feeling our way out.

Curtis W. Stark