Yerupajá, Sarapo and other Peaks; Siula Grande West Face Attempt, Cordillera Huayhuash. Piet-Jan Bindt, Ger Friele, Egbert Veen and I set up Base Camp near Jahuacocha on July 1. After acclimatization climbs on Cerro México and Rasac’s east face, from a glacier camp between Rasac and Yerupajá on July 7 Veen and I climbed Yerupajá’s west face. We left camp at midnight, climbed and descended the partly bare-ice face in 12 hours, unroped, probably one of the fastest ascents of the mountain. After some days’ rest, Veen and I climbed P 5716 (18,747 feet) on the ridge north of Tsacra Grande from the east. We descended by traversing the summits in a northerly direction. Two days later Friele and Veen climbed Yerupajá Sur’s west face in one day. We walked via Huayllapa to Sarapococha in three days. Base Camp was at 4500 meters. It took several days to establish a camp on the glacier at the foot of the west face of Siula Grande; a big, dangerous sérac belt caused this delay. On July 22 Veen, Friele and I climbed Sarapo (6143 meters, 20,155 feet) by its northwest face, following a line just right of the rock buttress. The last part was difficult because of steep ice gullies and unstable flutes. On July 24 Friele and I tried the unclimbed west face of Siula Grande. We climbed the first icefield in darkness. At sunrise we reached the mixed terrain. After some desperately steep rope-lengths, some of them overhanging on ice and rotten rock, we had to give up. Pitons could not be removed because the rock loosened and whole sections fell out. We quickly ran out of material. After some eight hours we were back at the foot of the face. The west face remains one of the most challenging objectives in the Huayhuash.

Gerard C. van Sprang, Koninklijke Nederlandse Alpen Vereniging