Cordillera Raura.1 On September 28 the Scot Frank Hepburn and I climbed the survey point Juraopata (c. 5000 meters or 16,404 feet) but its easy western slopes from the incipient mine, Uchuc Chacua, six miles northeast of Oyón in the southeastern Cordillera Raura. We noted a tiny relict glacier just below the summit. On Hoja Oyón (1969; 1:100,000) it is incorrectly called Punta Chacra. Punta Chacra really refers to the point called Cerro Jurao on the map. On the 29th storms stopped our attempt on the easy snow peak west of the mine called Huantajalla (c. 5150 meters or 16,897 feet). From Mina Raura we climbed what has been known as Patrón Norte (more correctly Patrón Noroeste). The peaks viewed from the mine at the Laguna Santa Ana should really be Patrón Noroeste, Patrón Central, and Patrón Sureste. The true Patrón Norte is hidden, connected by a col to Patrón Noroeste. The mine map gives the following heights: Patrón Noroeste: 5278 meters or 17,317 feet; Patrón Sureste: 5236 meters; Torre de Cristal: 5529 meters; and Matapaloma: 5307 meters. From this we estimate Patrón Central as 5250 meters and Patrón Norte as 5275. We then climbed the glacier above Laguna Santa Ana to the col between Torre de Cristal and Patrón Noroeste and descended via the eastern valley around Caballococha. On October 1 we scrambled up the southernmost and first of the Siete Caballos (c. 5045 meters or 16,552 feet) by its western slope and ridge. From the top we counted a total of nine peaks north from this point. One could arbitrarily list only the southernmost seven, which are the ones visible from the mine area. However the people at Chispicocha to the north still call the massif Siete Caballeros and see only the northern end of the group. Which of the nine are the real seven? On October 3 I climbed by its west slopes and north ridge the north peak (c. 16,700 feet) of an unnamed rock mountain (c.

5095 meters or 16,716 feet) west of the Torre de Cristal across the Laguna Gaiko basin. It is on the north ridge of Rumihuayin (also called “Chekchi”)2. I tentatively call it “Curpa Curpa” for the slender, bulbous, white-flower compositae, which abound in crevices and are used locally for coughs. I climbed it from the Mina Curpa Curpa at the base of Torre de Cristal. On October 4 I crossed the easy pass between Torre de Cristal and Yarupa to the Mina Raura. The weather in this late season was generally at least partly clear in the morning with snowstorms in the afternoon.

John Ricker

1 The Editor calls attention to this account which helps straighten out much of the confusion about the mountains of the Raura, a confusion which has come about to great extent by ignoring local nomenclature.

2 The Italians in 1968 brought particular confusion to the names of the region. The 18,045-foot peak north of Yarupa was called “Gervasutti” by them, although they said it was locally called “Matador”. It is usually called Rumihuayin and sometimes Chekchi locally. It has also been called R-3. P5272 on Kinzl’s excellent map, Cordillera Huayhuash, 1:50,000 is probably Pucacalle. Yanco on Soriano’s map and P 5010 on the Italian map is called Murugallo locally.–J.R.