On June 20, Germans Florian Hill, Robert Rauch and Stefan Berger climbed a new mixed route, Chamaka, up the south face of Serkhe Khollu (5546m) in Bolivia’s Cordillera Real. Numerous new routes were established in South America in May and June. [Photo] Florian Hill
Late this spring, various teams from Italy, Germany and Peru established at least six new routes in Bolivia’s Cordilleras Blanca and Real, and in the Central Range of Peru.
Three Italians–Andrea Di Donato, Roberto Iannilli and Ivo Scappatura–climbed two new routes in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca during May. They established El Sueno de los Excluidos (max VII/VII+ [5.11a] A2, 1440m) on the southeast face of Nevado Shaqsha in the Quebrada Rurec Valley. Requiring four full days of climbing from May 11-17, the route follows a sequence of slabs and crack systems leading up to an arete, and then exits on what the team believes to be a virgin peak, which they called Punta Giampiero Capoccia (5040m).
Two other Italian expedition members, Luca D’Andrea and Massimo Massimiano, established La Teoria de la Gota de Agua (max VII- [5.10c] A2, 800m) on Nevado Shaqsha’s south face on May 18. The route follows the first 300 meters of El Sueno de Los Excluidos before veering onto the south face. D’Andrea and Massimiano battled wintry conditions on the upper 500 meters.
Vicunita, Manon Dos and Suiricocha, Central Range, Peru, showing the new routes put up by Sophie Denis and Beto Pinto Toledo. [Photo] Sophie Denis
Sophie Denis and Beto Pinto Toledo went on a seven-day climbing blitz in Peru’s Central Range, putting up new routes on Suiricocha, Manon Dos and Vicunita. The team first established Everything is Possible on the north face of Suiricocha (5495m). Nine pitches long, the route features 80-degree loose rock and fractured ice. Next, Toledo and Denis climbed three pitches up 70- to 80-degree snow on the west face of Manon Dos (5500m), naming their route Beyond Survival. They then put up a steep mixed route that was seven pitches long on the west face of Vicunita (5538m).
In Bolivia’s Cordillera Real, Florian Hill, Robert Rauch and Stefan Berger climbed a new mixed route that they named Chamaka up the south face of Serkhe Khollu (5546m). The Germans stood on the summit after navigating brittle rock under the shadow of rapidly melting seracs on June 20. The route follows a discontinuous ribbon of ice, 3 meters wide and averaging 80 degrees, that meanders through brittle rock under the shadow of rapidly melting seracs where “falling is not an option,” Hill said. The team reached the summit late in the day, eight hours after they began. Chamaka was climbed in preparation for a larger objective: a new route on Illimani, the highest peak in the Cordillera Real.
Sophie Denis on the summit of Suiricocha (5495m) after completing nine new pitches to the top of its north face. [Photo] Beto Pinto
Robert Rauch, Florian Hill and Stefan Berger on the summit of Serkhe Khollu. [Photo] Stefan Berger