Alpamayo Norte. On June 17 R.J. Campbell, Carson and Lynn Black and I left Huaraz for the Quebrada de los Cedros. It took us three days to reach Laguna Jancarurish via Hacienda Colcas. Leaving Lynn to tend Base Camp, we three men set out with five days of food for Alpamayo. We spent one short day going over the pass to the Kogan Glacier. After another day-and-a-half spent weaving through séracs and jumping crevasses, on June 22 we finally reached the col below the north ridge of Alpamayo. The next morning, after one pitch of steep slabby rock and two more of dangerously thin, honeycombed ice, we abandoned the north ridge for a safer alternative. We set out in the dark early on June 24 for the west face, which we climbed to just below the large crevasse that cuts the face. A traverse took us underneath the cornices of the north ridge. One lead of steep water-ice brought us onto the crest above the rotten ice formations on the lower part of the north ridge. Except for steep, bottomless slush above the rock band, we found enjoyable mixed snow, ice and rock. We spent a cold, but safe, night on the north summit, waiting for the snow on the upper ridge to consolidate enough to hold rappel anchors. Early the next morning we reversed our route.

David Bamberger, Unaffiliated