6805M Cordilleras Huaytapallana & Central, Peru, 2007
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● JAPANESE ALPINE NEWS 2011 TATSUOINGO (TIM) ROEGER INOUE CordillerasThe First Ascent Huaytapallana of Lopchin & FengCentral, (KG-2) Peru, 6,805m 2007 Autumn 2009 Expedition to the Kangri Garpo East Mountains, Tibet The last destination we visited in South-America was Huancayo and the surrounding mountains beside the beautiful Mantaro Valley. We – as a group of four - spent there four amazing weeks in May 2007. After arriving at Lima we went by cab to the village of San Mateo (3,100 m, S11 45 24.9 W76 17 48.5) east of Lima in the Rio Rimac valley. We had planned five days for acclimatisation hikes and climbs there. From San Mateo we hiked to the former mining settlement of Millotingo (4,123 m, S11 49 17.1 W76 14 11.8) in the upper Quebrada Parac/Pachachaca (SE of San Mateo). Only one farmer and his family live there. In the morning he picked up our luggage in San Mateo by 4WD and brought it up to the small settlement, while we were going far behind him with easy backpacks and having a fine acclimatisation day. The area of the old mine is a good place for camping. There is an even meadow, which is big enough for a lot of tents. A clear creek rushes by only a few meters below. It provides drinking water in good quality. Beside the campground meadow there are open huts, where we could cook and eat sheltered from wind and rain. Near Millotingo there are two creeks, which flow into the main valley: the Quebrada Piloranga from the southwest and the Quebrada Mancan from the northeast. The next day we went on an exploration of the Quebrada Piloranga. The purpose of this acclimatisation hike was to discover the path up to the summit of Suerococha, which is situated above this valley (It᾽s also called Tunac on the map of the pages from www.allthemountains.com). We reached a marshy meadow (4,663 m, S11 50 09.2 W76 15 48.1) at the end of the valley. In front of us was a rocky wall towered above by the Suerococha summit. The most probable way to go higher was a steep meadow to the northwest, which was flanked by rocks on both sides. After the steeper section we reached a lovely meadow (4Map-1,842 m Climbing, S11 49 route 58.2 to W Lopchin76 16 0Feng1.5) with an old hut surrounded by some unimportant heights. We decided to climb further to one ‘hill᾽ nearby. On top (4,881 m, S11 49 54.2 W76 15 53.0) we had a good view to the route to the summit of Suerococha, which laid southwest of us, especially to the part from the upper Quebrada Piloranga to a col (5,117 m, S11 50 09.1 W76 16 40.7) north of the Suerococha summit. Next day we went on a shorter acclimatisation hike. After crossing a desolate bridge behind our camp we went up the beautiful and lonely Quebrada Mancan valley. From there we had a good view to the summit of Suerococha in the distance. Before the weather got worse in the afternoon, we reached a meadow at the end of the valley (4,660 m, S11 48 49.5 W76 12 35.7). This place was only a short distance away from the summit of Cerro Shirac (5,172 m). The ascent from there didn᾽t seem to be very difficult – only some scrambling, but we had to return before getting to the top. The next day we started at five o᾽clock in the morning. Our destination was the Suerococha summit. For the first hours we followed the same way like we did two days before. Then we climbed up to the 5,117-meter-high col. There we saw a small lake (Laguna Huangro) west of the pass and a second col left behind the lake (5,212 m, S11 50 28.8 W76 17 07.9). We crossed the slopes below the Suerococha summit by going straight ahead over the scree. We reached that second col after climbing up a short and steep slope. One of us preferred to climb up the easy east ridge to the top of the 62 CLIMBS & EXPEDITIONS ● western summit of Suerococha (~ 5,270 m). The other three chose the more difficult west ridge to the main summit (5,315 m, S11 50 31.7 W76 16 57.2). The beginning was slightly snowy. Then it was mostly easy rock climbing in grade UIAA I with only a short chimney (three meters) in grade UIAA II. Sometimes the rock was very loose and the ridge was quite narrow in some parts. After those days above 4,000 meters we were well acclimatised for the rest of our trip (another good possibility for acclimatisation could be an ascent on the Yanayana summit (5,215 m) northwest of San Mateo). We went back to Lima, where we stayed at the hotel for one night. At seven o᾽clock the following day we started onto the twelve-hour train trip on the historical track across Passo Anticona (4,810 m) to Huancayo. It᾽s advertised as the highest historical train of the world (it had been the highest train of the world before the opening of the Beijing-Lhasa-railway in China and Tibet). We had booked “Classico” tickets instead of the noble tourist class. In the evening Lucho Hurtado picked us up at the Huancayo railway station and brought us to his pleasant backpacker-hostel “La Casa de Abuela” . He is also the owner of two restaurants only a few meters away from the hostel and of the travel agency www.incasdelperu.org. ‘Incas del Peru᾽ offers two different kinds of daytrips to explore the interesting sites of the Mantaro valley: an ‘artesan᾽ circuit and a historical circuit. Next day we decided to go on the historical round trip. It was well organised; we spent a nice day visiting the ancient temples of the Huanca people in Wari Vilca and churches of the Spanish conquerors. ‘Incas del Peru᾽ also offers different treks in the rarely visited Cordillera Huaytapallana: from one to five days. The five-day trek is called ‘Camino Huanca᾽. But instead of trekking we were interested in climbing in the southern part of the range during the following days. Therefore we were brought to the pass (4,547 m, S11 57 21.2 W75 02 30.7) above the Quebrada Ronda valley by 4WD. Two young porters supported us on the way to our camp. From the pass we went north for a short while. Then we crossed a col (4,826 m, S11 57 21.2 W75 02 30.7) east of us, which marks the southern end of the Cerro Yana Ucsha ridge, which divides the Lasuntay valley from the Laguna Cocha Grande basin. After crossing the col we had a tremendous view to the glaciated summits of Jallacate Sur and Nevado Cochas, which surround the valley like an amphitheatre, and to the Laguna Cocha Grande below us. We installed our camp near a small lake just below the summit of Jallacate Sur (5,550 m) and a few hundred meters above the big Laguna Cocha Grande (4,833 m, S11 56 06.8 W75 02 35.1). It was a lovely place for three nights. Next morning we started our trial on Jallacate Sur. The southwest-ridge seemed to be the safest way. We tried to avoid the glacier in the first part of the ascent by crossing steep slopes left (west) of it. We reached the snowline before the first steeper part (4,986 m, S11 55 41.5 W75 02 54.9). Then our way led upward as far as possible near the left edge of the glacier. It was a permanent change between steeper (45° ) and flatter parts. We had to cross some bigger crevasses. At an altitude of 5,450 meter we reached a small terrace, where we made a depot for our rucksacks (S11 55 11.4 W75 02 51.6). In front of us the final summit ridge loomed up into the blue sky. Three of us tried to climb up this ridge, while I was waiting beneath the rucksacks. The ridge was steep and very narrow and it consisted of poor snow and had many cornices; we would suggest grade AD+/D-. My friends had reached a point only a few meters below the summit, before they decided to return. There was a good view to Laguna Lasuntay west of the summit. While my friends were climbing up and down the ridge, I had enough time for taking pictures of the mountains around: the typical silhouette of the Pariacacas (5,750 m) in the far distance, the Jallacate main summit (5,557 m) north of us and an unknown but attractive summit east of the Huaytapallana range. 63 ● JAPANESE ALPINE NEWS 2011 The next day two of us climbed the three summits of Nevado Cochas (5,309 m) east of Laguna Cocha Grande, while the others were having a resting day. From our camp three snow-covered summits were to be seen. We called them (from left to right) Nevado Cochas Main (5,309 m), Central (5,221 m) and South (5,178 m). The Main summit is connected with the Jallacate Sur by a long and narrow ridge. Another ridge, consisting of two partly glaciated 5,000-meter-summits, leads from the main summit eastwards. First of all we had to descent to the Laguna Cocha Grande.