Helancoma, Huamarypayoc, 1981. Cordillera Urubamba. On March 13, 1981 Tom Hendrickson, leader, Nan Starbuck-Boardman, Wendy Weeks, and I entered the Cordillera Urubamba from the village of Tostayoc on the main Cuzco-Quillabamba road. We established Base Camp across from the beautiful pyramid peak of Cucullani. After a day of reconnaissance we were able to move up and establish a snow camp at 16,120 feet on the Helancoma Glacier. On March 15, 1981 we climbed a gentle “look-out” peak, very close to our camp, with an altitude of approximately 16,500 feet. We later found out that the local name for this peak is Chaipiurco. On March 16, 1981 we climbed to the summit of Helancoma (5212 meters, 17,100 feet) which we found marked by an aluminum wand. (The Scottish expedition of 1964 called this the northeast summit of Huacratanca—as described in The Andes are Prickly by Malcolm Slesser). From the summit of Helancoma we could see a slightly higher peak to the south. We attempted a ridge traverse to this peak but turned back due to lack of time. The 1964 Scottish expedition had also tried this traverse, had gotten farther than ourselves, but were also turned back, in their case, “by a great gap.” We came down off the mountain to our Base Camp and on March 17, we hiked over two 15,000-foot passes to the other side of Helancoma where we established a second Base Camp at Chaipiurco Pampa. From Chaipiurco Pampa, in approximately five hours of climbing, we successfully reached the summit we had seen from Helancoma. It was in fact higher than Helancoma (5273 meters, 17,300 feet) and was unmarked by wand or cairn. The locals from the collection of houses in Helancoma Pampa (just below Chaipiurco Pampa) call this peak Huamarypayoc. As pointed out by Evelio Echevarria in his “Survey of Andean Ascents 1961—1970,” the Huacratanca peaks offer a confusing situation. Apparently the Huacratanca northeast peak has also been called northwest in other sources by members of the same expedition. (Echevarria records the 1964 Scottish ascent as being the Huacratanca northwest summit). John Ricker (A.A.J., 1971, p. 410) reports climbing a peak “east of Helancoma and considerably lower” which he calls Huacratanca, East Peak, also locally known as Sayhua Oreo. Ricker guessed the mountain to be 5000 meters (16,404 feet). The Polish Mountaineering Club reports (A.A.J. 1975, p. 173) that three of their members climbed “Helancoma Norte (17,717 feet)” on September 13, 1973, and the next day four members “traversed the two Huarcratanka summits (17,470) from south to north.” Echevarria also points out that it has not been determined exactly what peak was ascended in 1953 by the Ghiglione-Marx party. It is my conclusion that there are two separate peaks—Helancoma, which was positively identified by the people living below the mountain in Helancoma Pampa; and Huacratanca, slightly to the south of Helancoma, and known to the locals as Huamarypayoc. Although Echevarria records the 1964 Scottish climb as being the northwest summit of Huacratanca, in fact they would have climbed Helancoma (probable first ascent). The Poles would have a second ascent, and ourselves a third.The Poles definitely seemed to have traversed Huacrantanca or Huamarypayoc. We would be credited with a new route (possible second ascent) on this mountain. Ricker’s information is confusing because Huacratanca or Huamarypayoc is definitely higher than Helancoma, and the mountain Ricker climbed was “considerably lower” than Helancoma. Perhaps Ricker climbed Chaipiurco.

John E. Saunders, Alpine Club of Canada