South America, Peru—Cordillera Blanca, Taulliraju, North Face, 1976

Publication Year: 1981.

Taulliraju, North Face, 1979. On July 16, 1979 Peter Busch and I set up Base Camp in the Quebrada Jancapampa. The climb was hard from the beginning. To get out of Base Camp, we had to fix 500 feet of rope up the 2000-foot-high bluffs. We then climbed up the icefall and walked a mile and a half across the glacier to reach the peak. It took us eleven days to do this and establish and supply Camp III for a good try at the wall. On July 27 Camp III was in place and we were thankful for the first clear day so far. The next morning at 4:30 we could only see ten feet, but at nine A.M. we set out in the fog up straightforward ice climbing of 55° to 60°. Then it turned into good hard mixed climbing and finally granite, where we would have preferred EBs to climbing on crampons. We bivouacked without food, stove or sleeping bags 150 feet from the summit, but also without fog. On July 29, 1979 we overcame the usual overhanging Andean summit mushroom and reached the top (5830 meters, 19,128 feet). We rappelled all the way back to Camp III. On the descent we had a large rockfall, but luckily neither of us was hit. Then after our arrival in Camp III the mountain released an incredible rock-and-ice avalanche which completely obliterated our descent route; this was east of the prominent rib in the center of the face which we had ascended. (Though Terray’s first-ascent route started up the north face, it continued up the northeast ridge.—Editor.)

Joseph P. Bajan, Alpine Club of Canada