In January 2013, Santiago Zuluaga and I achieved the first ascent of the remarkable hanging glacier on the northeastern aspect of Pan de Azúcar (ca 5,120m). This route is easily visible from the lake of La Plaza and had seen a couple of previous attempts.

We reached the base of the mountain late on January 26 after a lengthy trek, and after resting briefly we set off at midnight to begin our climb. Low on the route we encountered an ice ramp followed by a large, vertical rocky band (5.9). Gaining the hanging glacier proved difficult, but we managed to surmount it by sunrise. After this we climbed moderate but sustained snow and ice fields, with some vertical sections (AI4). We reached the broad and relatively flat upper glacier by climbing through a band of seracs. The sun began to set as we climbed the last meters up the ramp leading to the summit of Pan de Azúcar. After summiting we headed west down easy glacial terrain to complete a traverse of the mountain.

The total effort lasted 45 hours round-trip, including 18 hours on the wall. We named our route Corredor Tropical (450m, TD 5.9 AI4). The climb is unique for Colombia as it presents a multi-pitch, very steep ice climb in a tropical mountain area, where the attention is usually centered on ascending rock walls.

Julio Bermúdez, Colombia