The southwest face of Pumahuacanca (5,563m, 9°35’9”S, 77°19’51”W) is a mostly rocky wall on the east side of Quebrada Rurec, about 4km southeast of Cashan. It likely has seen a handful of ascents on its most accessible slope and first ascent route, the northwest face (AAJ 1970), as well as on its northeast face (AAJ 2013). We hiked into the valley with our climbing partner Micher Quito and cameraman Alex Estrada (both from Peru) at the end of June, making a camp 500m above the valley floor at 4,700m.

On July 1, we left our tent at 5:15 a.m. It was a cold morning, and the central weakness on the southwest face was coated in snow and ice. We climbed consecutively for 12.5 hours, encountering all the climbing disciplines—exposed and difficult mixed climbing, steep ice, and some pure rock—before reaching the brief, moderate summit snow slopes. At 5:45 p.m. we raised our arms together on the summit.

With barely a few minutes of light, we decided to descend the opposite, northeast side of the peak, downclimbing at first with axes and crampons, then making some rappels in approach shoes below the snowline. By 3 a.m. we had exhausted our headlamps and decided on a brief but cold, open bivy on a grassy slope. At dawn, we realized we were barely 50m from a ramp that would lead us to the safety of the valley. We arrived on the valley floor at 7:30 a.m. on July 2. We called our route on the southwest face One Push (1,000m climbing distance, M7 85°).

— Iker and Eneko Pou, Spain