Ranrapalca NW Face climbed in Peru by Pou brothers & Micher Quito

After establishing new climbs on Nevado Huamashraju Este in 2021 and on Urus Oeste and Pumahuacanca in 2022, Basque alpinists Eneko and Iker Pou have once again teamed up with Peru's Micher Quito to complete another new climb in the Peruvian Cordillera Blanca. The trio have now breached the hitherto unclimbed NW Face of Ranrapalca, the 6,162m peak first climbed by the Germans Walter Brecht, Siegfried Rohrer, Karl Schmid and Hans Schweizer in June 1939 via the NE Ridge.

The Pou brothers and Quito had noticed the face last year while ascending Nevado Urus last year and actually made a quick attempt, but were thwarted due to difficult conditions. This season the trio managed to forge a line up the 1200m face, past one bivouac and difficulties estimated at 6b, 80°.

Writing about Ya Pe' Cholo after the ascent, the Pou brothers explained "It was a hard, exposed and very long climb. Hard, because climbing such a huge wall with about 20 kg on your back multiplies the difficulties by four. Exposed, because being at the end of the season and with the heat that it has been this year, the rockslides and ice that fell around us were constant. And long, because with a 900m void and more than 1,000 m of climbing, this northwest face of Ranrapalca is one of the largest we have ever climbed."

The trio banked on their previous experience together for the successful ascent. Eneko climbed the first nine pitches on day one while the other two hauled the gear and after 13 hours on the go they reached their bivy. He explained "The place was cold, uncomfortable and dangerous (continuous rockfall throughout the night) more than 500 meters above the ground, suspended over a small eagle's nest. In the morning it was terrifying to climb some grade sixth pitches with the thermometer several degrees below zero and the weight of our backpacks." Iker led all pitches, until close to the finishing slabs were Quito took over. "We needed relief because we were both very worn out. We encountered several large crevasess on the upper slopes that we had to bridge by wading or jumping over. The help of our Peruvian partner was essential to avoid falling into them. He is used to this type of terrain that we don't have at home." The trio summited at 4:15 p.m. and 15 minutes later they began their descent. "We knew we had to move fast because we had to make several vertical rappels and then we had to cross a glacier full of hair-raising crevasses."

Tragedy almost struck on the last abseil when Eneko was struck by rockfall, luckily though this proved far less serious than they initially feared at 2:00 am they returned to the safety of the Giordano Longoni bivouac.

Links: FB Hermanos Pou, La Sportiva, Petzl