On July 26, Luke Bird and Pete Takeda completed the first ascent of the west face and ridge of Nevado Tinki (a.k.a. Tinke, 5,450m, 13°45'7"S, 71°11'14"W) to its summit.

We arrived in the area on July 13, first acclimatizing by bolting some new sport routes on the overhanging limestone of Pitumarca, southeast of Cusco. We then traveled to the village of Pacchanta with local climber Rodrigo Mendoza and visiting climber Stuart Hoegh (USA), who had separate climbing plans.

The unclimbed direct line up the north face of Ausangate was our initial objective. In May, Mendoza had sent us a recent image showing the face covered with snow and ice. Whether this coverage would have been stable enough to safely climb is debatable, but by the time we arrived, the face presented rotten ice and exposed, loose rock. Given the sun-ravaged, north-facing aspect, and the rapid deterioration of glaciers and snowpack in Peru due to climate change, the north face of Ausangate may never come into condition.

Mendoza and Hoegh departed within a few days, but not before all three Americans were stricken with giardia. We stayed in Pacchanta and spent five days recovering. During that time, Bird felt well enough to take a hike and spotted a promising rock face on the western aspect of Tinki.

On July 25, we hiked to Tinki in two or three hours, unburdened by gear as we’d arranged to have our packs brought up by a local man on a dirt bike. We camped below the west face. The next day, we began our climb of the rock face—perhaps 400m in height—carrying full bivy, ice, and rock gear. The terrain was easier than expected and comprised mainly fourth-class climbing with several steps up to 5.7–5.9. The face looked and felt like folded igneous rock—quite hard and compact, with distinct bands of color and composition. We stayed on the slabby, center-left side of the face, avoiding the steeper right side.

After climbing the rock face, we switched to crampons at the juncture with the upper west ridge, then climbed into the night up 400m of steep snow to reach Tinki’s summit (800m, ED- 5.9 80°). We bivouacked below the top, intending to link Tinki with the summits of Nevado Caracol (5,625m), Concha de Caracol (5,640m), and Puca Punta (5,740m) the next day. However, Takeda’s back pain negated this plan. [Editor’s Note: The first enchainment of the latter three peaks was thought to have occurred in 2013 (AAJ 2014). However, unreported until now, New Zealand climbers Russell Braddock, Colin Brodie, Phil Castle, and Phil Grover appear to have completed this east-to-west enchainment in 1981.] We descended south via two rappels from above the col separating Tinki and Nevado Caracol and then walked south down the glacier before entering a gully running due west to our camp.

In retrospect, the west face of Tinki could be climbed easily in a day, especially if one were unburdened by bivy gear. The right side would yield some hard climbing on steep and featured rock. A route of this type points to future possibilities in the area.

— Luke Bird and Pete Takeda, USA