South America, Bolivia, Cordillera Quimza Cruz, Condoriri Group, Various Activity

Climb Year: N/A. Publication Year: 1998.

Condoriri Group, Various Activity. Slovenes David Podgorelec and Aleš Kovac from the Kozjak Maribor Mountaineering Club spent a week at Condoriri in 1997. On June 28, they attempted Aguja Negra (5280m) and got to the breche on the eastern arête, within 100 meters of the summit, before backing off due to bad rock and lack of acclimatization. On June 29, the two climbed Pequeño Alpamayo (5370m) via the southwest face direct (D+, 55/70° with the final three meters at 95°, 150m). Descent was made via the normal route. On July 1 they climbed Ala Derecha (5482m) via the southeast face (D 70°, 700m), a possible new route. The pair started directly over seracs because the snow in the couloir was awful and headed up to better snow. The route starts to the right of Ala Derecha and to the left of Huallomen (Wyoming). On July 3, they climbed Piramide Blanca (5230m) via a possible new route on the west face (D+ 75°, 250m). They followed the snowy diagonal from right to left and then a 50-meter couloir to the arête left of the summit. Snow conditions were not good, with the last section being soft cornices.

Italians Marcello Sanguineti and Alessandro Bianchi put up a hard new route on Wyoming (a.k.a. Huallomen) on Condoriri on August 19 that they named Sognando un 8000 (Dreaming an 8000er) (TD+ 90°, 350m). The pair approached via the normal route to Pequeño Alpamayo until they were below the southwest face of Wyoming. They crossed the bergschrund and went up the snow slope (60°, then 65°, then 70°) to reach, after 150 meters, a narrow rock band which was crossed with difficulty (80°). Another 80 meters of snow at 60-65° brought them to the base of the obvious couloir. The first part went with sections of 75 to 90°. This brought them to the base of a narrower goulotte that ended in a snow and ice cornice. They therefore went left up through mixed ground and a chimney at IV+ that brought them to the top. They descended off the back to the col on the normal approach to Pequeño Alpamayo.

Pico Schulze (5943m) stands northwest of Illampu across the high camp above Aguas Calientes and was first climbed in 1928 by Erwin Hein (Germany), Alfred Horeschowski, Hugo Hoertnagel, and Hans Pfann (Austria) via the Northwest Face route. The mountain has been climbed from three sides, with the south face having the hardest routes. Anyone climbing Illampu can see Pico Schulze, but due to its sub-6,000 meter height, it tends to be ignored in favor of its higher neighbor. An Anglo-Belgian pair of John Walmsley and Jean-Marc Dunstheimer traversed (AD+ 55°, 343m) the peak on September 3. From base camp, they climbed up onto the south ridge, meeting it at the point marked 5765m on the DAV map Cordillera Real Nord Illampu. They passed the rock section and followed the knife-edged ridge to the summit. From the summit, they descended north to reach a flatter area and then rappelled one or two ropelengths rightward down one of the rocky couloirs to reach the lower snow slopes. They then followed a ramp back down to the base camp glacier.

Yossi Brain, United Kingdom