Huascaran 2020

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Jaymi
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Huascaran 2020

Post by Jaymi »

Planning a trip to Peru to climb Huascaran in Summer 2020 (with a guide :). If anyone else has any beta on this climb, I'd appreciate it!
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Conor
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Re: Huascaran 2020

Post by Conor »

standard or the shield?

There is objective danger on the standard route, which many people who climb the shield use to descend. The shield looks like an awesome route though.

There are so many cool mountains in the blanca, it would take a while for me to work my way through a list before I would want to climb huascaran (objective danger). A porter got lanched when we were there in 2018 on huascaran.

We used Hisao Morales for all our logistics planning. He can set you up with a guided group for huscar's mountain. Otherwise, the route is rather straight forward. No one can tell you the conditions until about July 2020.
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Jaymi
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Re: Huascaran 2020

Post by Jaymi »

Thanks Conor. Planning on doing the standard route. Would love to attempt the shield though I'm afraid my ice climbing skills need some more work first. Thanks again.
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Re: Huascaran 2020

Post by cottonmountaineering »

I was down in Peru in 2017 and 2018, it seems like huascaran is rarely climbed now because the glacier is so broken up. I didn't meet anyone around huaraz who had climbed it either year

IMO Go do a bunch of 5 and 6000m peaks Alpine style and then go back to town for chicken and beer in between, huascaran is a slog
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Jaymi
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Re: Huascaran 2020

Post by Jaymi »

Thanks Cotton,

Getting a fair amount of feedback that Huascaran's objective dangers are fairly high.

I appreciate the feedback.
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I Man
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Re: Huascaran 2020

Post by I Man »

I have only been to the range once, 6 years ago - so others likely know a lot more than I do.

Huascaran is very dangerous, there is no way around that. Also, in general my impression is that the CB is only getting worse year after year. When i wen in 2013, many of the route descriptions from 2009 were no longer relevant, I can only imagine how bad it is now. Climate change has decimated this range - a real shame as it is one of the most amazing places in the world. I was lucky enough to go once, hope to go back someday.

That being said, 3 of us climbed Huascaran in July 2013 and we thought it was amazing. First of all it is not as easy or as much of a slog as its reputation. For comparison we also climbed Alpamayo and Artesonraju (North Ridge) that same trip. Huascaran was less technical but not necessarily easier. It is the highest mountain in Peru and really quite high. it is a rare opportunity to get to 22K+ feet on a true snow covered mountain (unlike Aconcagua).

The Candeletta is very scary and dangerous. I would recommend moving through it overnight or VERY early in the morning and only going once. We acclimated on another peak before we went to Huascaran. We moved up to Basecamp Day 1, then C2 on day 2, then C3 above the problem area on the 3rd day and left for the summit at midnight. We were the only team on the upper mountain and it was incredible. You need to decide risk vs reward and if it is the right peak for you

Here is out write-up:
https://lostwithoutiman.weebly.com/peru.html

This is the 3 of us on the summit, my favorite picture ever of Peter (derferenced)
Peter Huascaran Summit Photo.jpg
Peter Huascaran Summit Photo.jpg (124.39 KiB) Viewed 4328 times
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Re: Huascaran 2020

Post by Scott P »

It was on my list to climb, but friends who have climbed it have told me that it is a dangerous, but not very interesting ascent from a technical or aesthetic standpoint, at least from the standard route.
According to them at least, it is the least attractive climb in the Blaca, but a lot of people want to do it because of its elevation. (Be aware though that they are very experienced climbers though, so there viewpoint on "not very interesting" from a technical standpoint is relative).

Supposedly The Shield is safer route, much more aesthetic, but much more technical as well, so you have to be an experienced climber to do that route.

The above is all just second hand information though; I haven't done more than look at Huascaran.
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Re: Huascaran 2020

Post by seano »

I was down there this past summer, and came within ~100 vertical meters of Huascaran's summit before turning around due to a whiteout. The downclimb was as unnerving as one might expect given the conditions, but taking a GPS track on the way up helped. I was going straight from the refugio, but most people seemed to be making one camp above the lower icefall hazard area (garganta?). There was a large scientific expedition there at the time, hoping to drill ice cores from the saddle and summit, so the route was well-marked, and would have been technically undemanding (by Cordillera standards) on a clear day.

I'll echo what was said above: the Cordillera Blanca, like other equatorial ranges, is being absolutely decimated by global warming. See it while you can, and don't trust old route descriptions.
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Re: Huascaran 2020

Post by Jaymi »

Thanks all for the feedback. It is much appreciated! We will see...
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Re: Huascaran 2020

Post by dereferenced »

I Man wrote: Mon Nov 25, 2019 9:40 am I have only been to the range once, 6 years ago - so others likely know a lot more than I do.

Huascaran is very dangerous, there is no way around that.
Take this guy's advice with a grain of salt, he makes everything sound more dramatic and dangerous than it really is.
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Scott P
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Re: Huascaran 2020

Post by Scott P »

dereferenced wrote: Fri Nov 29, 2019 5:44 pm
I Man wrote: Mon Nov 25, 2019 9:40 am I have only been to the range once, 6 years ago - so others likely know a lot more than I do.

Huascaran is very dangerous, there is no way around that.
Take this guy's advice with a grain of salt, he makes everything sound more dramatic and dangerous than it really is.
When it comes to Huascaran at least, everyone I know who has climbed it has said that it was dangerous. It definitely has an evil reputation, even among non-climbers.

Huascaran has killed more people than any other non-volcanic mountain, but a lot of those weren't climbers of course. Still a lot of climbers have been killed on that mountain.
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Re: Huascaran 2020

Post by dereferenced »

Scott P wrote: Fri Nov 29, 2019 7:49 pm Huascaran has killed more people than any other non-volcanic mountain, but a lot of those weren't climbers of course.
RIP whole town of Yungay.

I just moved to Washington state. Wonder how many people are going to get killed by Lahars the next time Rainier goes off.
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