Nevado Palcaraju (6,274m), Cordillera Blanca
Palcaraju (6,274m) is a mountain you rarely hear mentioned in the Cordillera Blanca. Although relatively close to Huaraz, it is hidden behind the front line of mountains and is the highest of the surrounding peaks in its group: Tocllaraju (6,034m), Ranrapalca (6,162m), Pucaranra (6,156m) and Chinchey (6,220m).
In August 2022 my brother Taylor visited Peru with his friend Brian and instead of going to Huascaran in an easy year, we decided to try Palcaraju. We followed the 1965 route by John Ricker and team (https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12196616802) going up the west shelves and gaining the col between the west and main peak, to try finishing on the north face. Starting from moraine camp below the Palcaraju west – Ishinca col, it went smoothly until the shelves were cut by a large bergshrund and we had to climb a hard pitch of alpine ice 4 with corn snow to top out on the serac.
By the time we got to 150 meters below the summit we were too tired and it was a bit late in the day. Instead of going back down the shelves we descended down a runnel right next to the south face and I was able to get a good look at it for one day to return.
Over the next few years I continued to look at the bergschrund at the bottom of the South face summit pyramid and saw it closing up. In late 2024 Matt Stacy sent me a photo he took of the face while on Ishinca, and it looked to be promising for the next season. Matt is an adventure photographer from the US who had been coming to Huaraz to climb for a few years, we started hanging out and dreaming of lines to climb. Brad Johnson sent me a photo of the South face from 2005 which showed a large bergschrund with many seracs hanging over it, no wonder no teams had climbed here, it used to be quite dangerous.
In late April I arrived in Huaraz to meet Matt and his buddy Dane Bramage, who were staying at Jim Bartle’s place in the city. Jim is an American who has lived on and off in Huaraz for decades, and has photographed many of the wild and remote mountains in Peru. I was acclimated fresh off an attempt to climb Nevado Huaguruncho in April, where we were hit by a storm and my client Simon was altitude sick and all imbalanced from the pills.
On May 5th we hiked the familiar trail to the Refugio Ishinca and stayed there for a night. On the 6th we made it up to the moraine camp we had used in 2022 without much trouble.
May 7th we woke up early to cross the Palcaraju West-Ishinca Col and traverse underneath the ridge with cornices looming above. Luckily we were hitting the first weather window early in the season and everything was stuck to the mountain. We made it to the entrance of the glacial basin and found a nice spot to camp in a protected area between the seracs. I even had the luxury of digging a snow cave to sleep in. Dane started to feel sick and decided to go back down and wait for us at the moraine camp.
We rested early and started the next morning at 2am. Conditions were favorable as we cruised up through the bergschrund and started climbing up and left over a few ribs of snow/ice until I recognized we were in the main runnel that tops out high on the ridge. From there we pitched out over 200 meters of AI3, but when it came to the top out, the snow became unconsolidated and very exposed.
Once on the ridge we found a flatter spot to sit and rested a minute. The final crest looked a bit exposed / dangerous and Matt decided he had enough excitement for the day and would wait for me and fly his drone while I was on the summit. Ten minutes later I was there, on the rarely climbed summit of Palcaraju, on a perfect day.
The final crest traverse turned out not to be so bad, but setting the first rappel in the snow with a stake placed like a “T” / deadman on the ridge was delicate work. I remember getting back to camp in the late afternoon and crawling into the cave after having a tea.
We woke up early the next morning, eager to get off the glacier. My left foot felt cold and I realized that I fell asleep with it outside the sleeping bag and worried a bit. Dane was waiting for us at the moraine camp, using the time to acclimate well. He would come back to the Ischinca valley and solo Tocllaraju and then Ranrapalca’s North Face in just 12 hours roundtrip from the Refugio! And without a rope!
As we made it back to the Refugio Ishinca, the Casa de Guias was having a course there that morning. One of the young aspirant guides named Josue was watching us come down with big packs and wondering what we had been up to. Fortune later had us meet while guiding on Solimana, and I could tell he wanted to learn to climb new routes as well and not just guide the normal tourism.
As I flew out of Huaraz, one peak stood out from all the others from the window of the plane, the south face of Nevado Santa Cruz (6,259m).
I looked for information on the last recorded ascent of Nevado Palcaraju and came up with nothing. An older guide from the Casa de Guias (Maximo) claims to have made the ascent with 12 people and students of the guide school at the time (around 1999 or 2000). But not one of them seem able to produce any photographs or evidence. He was annoyed that other IFMGA guides were talking about and admiring the route we did on Palcaraju, and he was saying that they shouldn’t be promoting my routes and that I am guide “on the margin of the law” because I don’t belong to their guiding association. So I decided to name the next route I did on the South Face of Santa Cruz “Illegal” in his honor.