Nevado Chicon, southwest face of central peak and traverse

Peru, Cordillera Urubamba
Author: Sergio Ramírez Carrascal. Climb Year: 2014. Publication Year: 2015.

In early June, Phillip Moser and Chris Romeike (both from Germany) started their ascent of Nevado Chicon (5,526m, a.k.a. Ch’iqun) from the small village of Munaychay (ca 3,300m), located in the Chicon Valley above Urubamba. They made two trips with loads to an advanced base camp (ca 4,900m) on the moraine under the central glacier on the west side of the Nevado Chicon massif.

After one day at high camp they began their attempt to reach the central peak (5,490m) via a shadowed snow and ice couloir that rises almost to the height of the summit. They climbed 400m of steep ice steps and snowfields up this southwest-facing couloir to join a narrow ridge leading toward the central summit. After climbing much loose rock and snow along the ridge, they reached the central summit around 7:30 p.m. It was late and they decided to bivouac slightly north of the summit (ca 5,486m).

With the sunrise they continued traversing north along the loose and dangerous ridge to reach the north (main) summit of Nevado Chicon around 10:30 a.m. They descended the north side of the peak and then traversed around the massif by crossing the northern glacier. They named their route Via del Corazon (550m, TD+ WI4 M5).

Sergio Ramírez Carrascal, Peru, with information from Phillip Moser



Media Gallery