From July 3 to 6, Basque brothers Iker Pou and Eneko Pou, alongside Micher Quito from Peru, completed a difficult new route up the southeast face of Nevado Copa (6,188m). Named Puro Floro, the 1,000m climb featured mixed climbing difficulties up to M7 95° snow, with some A2.

On July 4, the team approached the wall in darkness from a high camp at 5,000m, then climbed for 12 hours to reach a small, exposed bivy ledge about halfway up the face (5,640m). They reported it was their only option, as “the wall was so vertical that we hadn’t seen another spot like it the entire way.” They slept tied in and, with light sleeping bags, endured a miserable night, “moving our fingers and toes to avoid freezing.”

On the 5th, the climbers woke at 8 a.m. and soon began climbing, hoping to summit and then descend that day. The terrain remained very steep, but near the top of the wall they encountered more ice and began to move quicker. The trio reached the summit ridge at 5 p.m., after climbing 19 pitches over two days, still facing a long slog to the summit. Tired and cold, they decided to stop and bivouac at around 6,030m. Without tents, they dug a shallow cave and huddled for warmth, sharing their last packet of soup. While trying to shelter their stove from the wind, Iker Pou burned part of his sleeping bag.

They began the next day at 5 a.m. and summited at 8:15 a.m., then descended the normal route on the opposite side of the mountain, reaching the base at 5 p.m.

The team wrote, “Each of us had lost four kilograms.... But all the suffering was worth it, because we completed our best route in mountaineering to date…. We’ve previously climbed significant routes in this range, but the number of difficult pitches, the two bivouacs during the ascent, and the altitude of this mountain made this climb very special.”  

       —Pete Takeda, AAJ, with info from the Pou brothers and published reports

Editor's Note: Puro Flora is the first route completed up the main southeast face of Nevado Copa, comprising the left side of the broad south cirque. In 2007, Oriol Baró, Jordi Corominas, and Enrique “Kikon” Munõz made a one-day ascent of a mixed line to the right of Puro Flora, Mostro Africano (800m, ED Scottish V/6), more in the center of the cirque wall (see AAJ 2008). They bivouacked atop the ridge at ca 6,050m and descended from there, without going to the summit. In May 2024, a French team climbed the direct south face of Nevado Copa—see report here.