Rasac, South Face. Our United Kingdom-New Zealand expedition, Julie- Ann Clyma, Martin Hair, David Hood and I, left the Cordillera Blanca to establish Base Camp on June 8 in the Cordillera Huayhuash on Jahuacocha at 5050 meters. Hair and I decided to try the south face of Rasac and so we set out on June 10 up the valley below Rasac’s west face and over the col. On the descent a small step of honeycombed ice gave way, resulting in a blow to my mouth with the ice hammer. An L-shaped laceration in my cheek, a knocked-out tooth and broken sun glasses were patched up and although it was painful, I could carry on. We found a good bivouac spot at 4900 meters below the face. We decided to attempt a new direct line on the left of the face, left of the 1985 New Zealand and the 1977 British routes. We broke trail for 300 meters in soft snow to start up a shallow couloir. The main obstacle appeared to be two bands of icicles which crossed the face, the lower about two-thirds of the way up the route. A few reasonable pitches soon led to what constituted the bulk of the route: sustained steep climbing on good ice where it was rarely possible to stand on balance even after cutting a step. Darkness came before we could finish one of the hardest pitches of the day, a crest of nearly vertical, collapsing snow with marginal aid moves on featureless rock. We looked for a bivouac on some of the easiest angled ice of the day: 60° to 65°. After an uncomfortable night, the main problem that day was the icicle barrier. After trying one blind alley, we climbed vertical and overhanging ice to reasonable terrain. Darkness fell during two short pitches above the barrier and we resigned ourselves to chopping another ledge from the 65° slope. Technical difficulties continued on the third day but the way ahead seemed certain. After a blind alley in the flutings, we arrived at a flat patch below a huge but easily avoidable cornice. Although it was only mid afternoon, we bivouacked early. In the cool of the morning of June 14, we easily reached the summit. Looking for the normal east-face route for the descent, we mistakenly went down in the wrong direction, heading for what had appeared to be old tracks. Nonetheless, we made a safe descent of the unappealing and dangerous icefall which descends northeast from the summit and in doing so completed a traverse of the mountain by two previously unclimbed routes.

Roger Payne, Alpine Club