New climb on Peru’s Nevado Sullcon Sur by Steve Meder, Edward Saona

44-year-old Steve Meder, native from France and resident in Peru for many years, and 38-year-old Edward Saona from Peru chose a relatively unknown objective, Nevado Sullcon Sur in the Central Cordillera of the Peruvian Andes. Located only 130km from Lima, a 6-hour drive is needed to reach Yurac Mayo (4300m), where the road finishes and the trekking begins towards Base Camp, situated close to the Sullcon glacier at an altitude of almost 5000 meters.

After an acclimatisation and reconnaissance trip to the area in July which resulted in an ascent of the North summit of Sullcon (5500m), the pair identified their next objective, the virgin South-West Face of the mountain’s south summit.

On the 9th of August the pair began to climb the 700m high, mixed and iced wall that provided interesting and sustained climbing past good ice and rock, estimated in the region of M5 mixed and WI3+. After having climbed for 10 hours they reached the summit ridge and summited at 17:30, enjoying the beautiful view over the Central Andes as the sun set over the Pacific Ocean.

Meder and Saona descended from the summit by night via the Normal Route passing the North Summit (5500m) and the central glacier, and reached Base Camp after a 17-hour push. In the words of Meder they were "filled with joy after having experienced these these incredible moments in the Inca Empire now known as Peru."

Cara Suroeste Directa is only the 4th ascent of the mountain. The first ascent was carried out in 2001, and further ascents were carried out in 2010 (South ridge of South summit and first South-Central (5617m) - North summit traverse) and 2014 (Camipollitos Justice for all via the North-Central-South summit).

According to Meder, the area is enchanting and rarely visited, where the feeling adventure is still intact. All the surrounding mountains are higher than 5000 meters and, with very few routes and ascents, the resulting exploration is both fun and pioneering.