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American Alpine Journal
Section Climbs And Expeditions
Volume 16 Issue 2
Copyright Date 1969
Page 436
Climbs And Expeditions
Ascents in Pumasillo Group, Cordillera Vilcabamba. Our
expedition included Dick Cowan, Paul Green, Bob McKerrow, Peter Goodwin,
Mac Riding, Allen Higgins and myself as leader, all of New Zealand,
together with John Lawrence from the North Carolina Outward Bound
School, who joined us from June 8 to July 2. We established Base Camp at
feet in a valley north of the Pumasillo basin on June 2. The Indians
call this valley Río Raccachacca. (To our knowledge this valley is not
on any map.) Our chief objectives were the ascents of Cúpula and Torayoc
(called "Nameless Aguja" by Ruedi Schatz in Mountain World, 1960-61)
and an attempt on the northern approaches to Pumasillo. The following
ascents were made: Cúpula* (c. 17,000 feet), south ridge on June 6 by
McNatty, Green, McKerrow; La Aguja* (c. 17,500 feet), south ridge on
June 7 by McNatty, Green, McKerrow; Cima Rocallosa (16,810 feet), 3rd
ascent, via west ridge on June 6 by Riding, Cowan, Goodwin, west ridge
on July 15 by McNatty, Green, and west ridge on August 13 by Higgins,
Green; "Tuto Orcco"* (c. 17,000 feet), south face on July 13 by Higgins,
Cowan, McKerrow, Lawrence; Torayoc* (c. 18,000 feet), north ridge on
June 16 by McNatty, Green, Riding, Goodwin, north ridge on June 21 by
Lawrence, McKerrow, and east face (new route) and down north ridge on
July 15 by Cowan, Goodwin; Mellizos (c. 18,400 feet), North Peak, north
face (new route) on July 17 by Lawrence, McKerrow and ascent by north
face and traverse on June 19 by Higgins, Cowan; Mellizos, South Peak,
3rd ascent, via east ridge on July 14 by McNatty, Green (and 2nd ascent
of Low Peak via east face on same day); Ñu Ñu (c. 16,500 feet), both
East and West Peaks from the west (new route) on June 19 by McNatty,
Green, Goodwin, Riding; Kaiko (c. 17,500 feet), 3rd ascent, via north
ridge (new route) and traverse on June 21 by McNatty, Green, Goodwin,
from the east on July 15 by Higgins, McKerrow; Redondo (c. 17,700 feet),
3rd ascent, via west ridge on June 21 by McNatty, Green, Goodwin and on
June 15 by McKerrow, Higgins, 1st traverse and retraverse by east and
north ridges (attempting south ridge of Torayoc) on July 31 by Higgins,
Goodwin, Cowan; "Pico Ccucho"* (c. 19,500 feet), north face on June 26
by Lawrence, McKerrow; "Nevado Lazona"* (c. 19,800 feet), north ridge on
June 26 by Lawrence, McKerrow; "Nevado Reyerta"* (c. 16,500 feet), east
ridge on July 1 by Cowan, Higgins; "Pacca Orcco"* (c. 16,800 feet),
west ridge on July 18 by McNatty, Green, McKerrow; Nevado Blanco (17,790
feet), north ridge (new route) on July 20 by McNatty, Green, McKerrow;
"Pico Granito"* (c. 16,000 feet), south face on July 26 by Cowan,
Goodwin, Higgins; "Copo de Nieve"* (c. 19,200 feet), west ridge on
August 3 by Cowan, Goodwin; "Nevado Fortaleza"* (c. 19,300 feet), east
ridge on August 3 by Cowan, Goodwin. Pico Ccucho is at the junction of
the ridges from Pumasillo, Mitre and the Mellizos and Lazona lies
between Ccucho and Pumasillo. Northwest of Ccucho are Fortaleza and then
Copo de Nieve and finally Mitre. Torayoc lies northeast of Redondo.
Pico Granito is north of the pass north or Ñu Ñu. Tutu Orcco is just
west of Nevado Blanco. Northeast of Nevado Blanco lies La Aguja and to
the east of this, Nevado Reyerta. Pacca Orcco lies east of Cupula.
On
the North Pumasillo Glacier we established Camp I at 17,000 and Camp II
at 19,200 feet. We got onto the north ridge and traversed Pico Ccucho
and Nevado Lazona. Lawrence and McKerrow reached a point some 200 feet
below the summit of Pumasillo but 600 feet away in distance. They were
blocked by a huge gap in the ridge of several hundred feet; beyond there
were about five rock towers with huge, overhanging snow caps, the final
tower being the true summit. With unstable, south-facing snow into the gap we abandoned the attempt on June 27. Apart from
the climbing we filmed the first ascent of Torayoc, sketched and
explored valleys east and north of Cúpula and south and east of the
Raccachacca. We had fine settled weather during June and July but poor
weather in August when we left Base Camp on August 20. We hope to
produce a sketch map based on D.A. Mackay’s map with more detail and
local Indian names. The railway from Cuzco goes through Santa Teresa to
the terminus at Chaullay on the Río Vilcanota. From there via Hacienda
Paltybamba and Huancacalle on the Río Vilcabamba we travelled on a
well-used mule trail into a valley the Indians call Pillaupata and
ascended a high pass, which took us into the Río Raccachacca. (The
Raccachacca drains into the Vilcabamba much lower than Huancacalle, but
there is no feasible route for mules to the mouth of the Raccachacca.)
The mule trip from Chaullay to Huancacalle took a day and a half and
from there to Base Camp another day and a half. The best exit is via a
mule track south of Cúpula, which leads into the Río Sacsara and thence
to Santa Teresa. We used this route out, taking two days.
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