Taulliraju’s Southwest Face

Michael A. Fowler, Alpine Climbing Group

OUR TEAM WAS composed of Michael B. Morrison, Christopher Watts, Anita McKee, Michael F. O’Brien, Dr. John English, John Zangwill and me. A two-day approach brought us in early May to a perfect Base Camp at 13,125 feet in the impressive Quebrada Santa Cruz, dominated by Taulliraju looming above the Punta Unión Pass.

We decided to attempt Kurikashajana as a convenient medium-altitude training peak. After a bivouac at 16,400 feet, we headed up the unclimbed south ridge. Lack of acclimatization, soft snow and bad weather discouraged us from going beyond the south summit.

After four days we turned to our chief objective, Taulliraju’s southwest face. Morrison, Watts and I were to try the east buttress of the face whilst English and Zangwill opted for the west buttress*. The weather was bad and the latter team hardly went beyond the foot of their spur. We managed to climb six pitches on the east buttress after a common start with Nicolas Jaeger’s route. (See A.A.J., 1979, page 232.) After a day’s climbing in very dubious weather, we had to admit defeat and return to Base Camp.

Unfortunately we had seemed totally incapable of climbing as a rope of three. After much heart searching, only Chris Watts and I returned for a second attempt the next day. Our line was almost entirely to the left of Jaeger’s route. Starting at the toe of the spur, we climbed a rock pitch to gain prominent snowy gangways on the south side of the spur. We followed these over several steep sections for a couple of pitches until it was possible to trend leftwards, away from Jaeger’s route, to gain the snowy crest of the buttress, where we made out first bivouac. We ascended the very soft snow ridge mainly on the left (west) side until we could traverse left for 60 feet to gain an icy couloir leading up to the end of the snow ridge. Above this, the angle increased and very steep rock grooves, trending slightly right for two pitches, led to an ice patch where we hacked a ledge for our second bivouac. On the third day we continued just to the right of the crest up very steep mixed ground until, after four or five pitches, this line ended in very steep blank granite walls. Further progress without bolts appeared impossible but by following a thin horizontal crack leftwards on aid for 30 feet, we crossed a vertical wall to the very crest of the buttress. We were lucky to find a crack left of the crest which gave us an aid pitch to gain the obvious snow band at two-thirds height, where we bivouacked for the third time. The intimidating next band had only one weakness, a prominent 80-foot icicle which gave some exciting climbing leading to the final ice slopes, up which we continued for two pitches for our fourth bivouac. Above this, vertical climbing on extremely rotten ice enabled us to pass a rocky cliff on the left, before traversing right over uniquely Peruvian ice formations to join the southeast ridge just below the summit (5830 meters, 19,128 feet), which we reached at noon on the fifth day, May 26.

Due to our having hardly any equipment left, we were forced to down-climb the top two grade-5 pitches, and then about 20 rappels and one more bivouac on the same site as our second night saw us back on the glacier at the foot of the base.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team, Mike Morrison, Mike O’Brien and Anita McKee, climbed Millishraju II (5500 metres, 18,209 feet) from the northeast on their second attempt on May 22 whilst John English and John Zangwill were defeated by dangerous snow formations on the unclimbed south face of Rinrijirka. McKee, Morrison, O’Brien, Zangwill and English also had the misfortune to be stopped on the ordinary route up Huascarán by a 40-foot vertical ice wall for which they had not brought enough equipment. (This line of ascent is frequently an easy walk.)

Summary of Statistics:

Area: Cordillera Blanca, Peru.

Ascents: Taulliraju, 5830 meters, 19,128 feet, new route on the Southwest Face, May 22 to 26, 1982 (Fowler, Watts).

Millishraju II, 5500 meters, 18,049 feet, from the northeast, May 22,

1982 (Morrison, O’Brien, McKee).

Personnel: Michael B. Morrison, Christopher Watts, Anita McKee, Michael F. O’Brien, Dr. John English, John Zangwill, Michael A. Fowler.

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*Climbed by Italians in 1980. See “Climbs and Expeditions” section in this Journal.