Alpamayo, Southwest Face

Arrival in Huaraz, 3052 m, after the long road up from Lima. First night at altitude counts as work: hydrate, walk slowly, sleep long. Equipment laid out and checked against the E-05 list. P-03 reviews the acclimatisation schedule — three days here before the valley. No shortcuts on this one.

Acclimatisation walk above the town toward the Pitec road head, touching 3900 m on open puna slopes. Quenual trees, dust, dogs. Pulse rates noted in the log at each rest. Down to Huaraz for the afternoon. Soup, coca tea, early bed. The body files its complaint and adapts.

Full acclimatisation day to Laguna Churup at 4450 m — steep, with a fixed cable on the slab section. An hour at the lake watching the light move on Churup itself. Descent unhurried. This is the last test before the Santa Cruz valley; everyone passes it or the schedule changes.

Deliberate rest at 3052 m. Duffels packed for the burros, ice gear checked a final time — screws, pickets, the second tools. Market run for fresh food. P-03 briefs the fluted face from photographs: the runnel line, the bergschrund, the descent. Legs up. Tomorrow the valley begins.

Drive to Cashapampa and into the Santa Cruz gorge on foot. Steady mule-track climbing beside the river to the meadows at Llamacorral, 3760 m. Tents up by mid-afternoon, kitchen tarp rigged before the rain arrives. First night under canvas. The valley walls already hint at what stands behind them.

Up the valley past Ichiccocha and Jatuncocha, then the side path climbing north to Alpamayo base camp at 4300 m. The southwest face appears in the final hour — fluted, improbable, exactly as photographed. Camp on grass beside the moraine stream. Condition report radioed down to Huaraz. All quiet.

Load carry to moraine camp at 5000 m, three hours on loose blocks with the glacier’s snout creaking to the left. Platforms cut, gear cached, the route to the col inspected through the long lens. We sleep here tonight — thin air, thick bags. Logistics now measured in litres and hours.

Through the bergschrund zone and up fifty-degree snow to the col between Alpamayo and Quitaraju, camp at 5400 m. Two tents on a cut ledge, anchored to buried pickets. The face stands one rope-length away, its runnels clean. Water going down by the litre. Alarm set for midnight.

Away at 01:00. The French Direct runnel gives eight pitches of firm névé and ice, sustained at sixty degrees, belays on screws and flukes. Summit ridge at dawn; the top, 5947 m, at 07:20. Rappel the line on v-threads, back in the col tents by noon. D grade, honestly earned.

Col camp struck and carried down through the moraine to base camp at 4300 m. The face already looks different — finished with, filed. Long afternoon of tea, sorted hardware, wet ropes drying on the boulders. Appetites return at altitude minus sixteen hundred. Burros arrive tomorrow at first light.

Down the Santa Cruz valley in one long push to Cashapampa, then the road back to Huaraz at 3052 m. Hot shower, real chairs, the expedition ledger closed over dinner. E-05 complete: eleven days, one summit, no incidents. The southwest face goes back on file where it belongs.