South America, Peru—Cordillera Blanca, Puntancuerno

Publication Year: 1983.

Puntancuerno. Our expedition was composed of Bernardo Davila, leader, Augusto Ortega, Jorge Pinatte, Ricardo Colonia, Alfonso Estremadoyro, Juan Miguel Alba and me. We placed Base Camp at 13,775 feet on the shores of Yuraccocha on August 14. We made a high camp at 18,375 feet on August 18. To reach this camp we had to climb the very crevassed, dangerous glacier. There were six vertical walls from 35 to 65 feet high. On August 19 we made a summit attempt that failed some 500 feet from the summit in bad weather, which we experienced 80% of the time we were there. On August 20 Ortega and I made rapid progress halfway up the summit ridge, thanks to the ropes we had fixed the day before. From there on, the ridge was even more difficult. The cornices were highly unstable. One particularly difficult rope-length was a vertical traverse where we climbed between the rock and ice. At four P.M. we surmounted the last great cornice, which was the summit.

Américo Tordoya, Club Andino Peruano