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The team has returned to the hut on Huascaran after today’s scouting mission higher on the mountain. After hearing about difficult conditions all over Huascaran this season, they anticipated some challenges, but hoped for the best. They wanted to take a look and found themselves peering at a couple of routes, which did not have an acceptable level of risk versus safety. They decided that this season on Huascaran was over for them with all of the hazards (debris, exposure, etc.) that they would have encountered regardless of route selection.

We’re glad they made what we all know is a…

Chad checked in this evening before heading off to bed after a tiring day of hiking up to the mountain hut on Huascaran. They discussed their strategy for their next summit over a delicious and well-deserved dinner. They will rise tomorrow at their leisure and have a casual morning, followed by a scouting mission up to Camp 1, where they will assess conditions and their best route option. One of their porters will likely make a carry of gear to Camp 1 as well. They plan to move to Camp 1 on Wednesday and determine the rest of their schedule…

Artesonraju was absolutely amazing and is by far one of the most incredible peaks I’ve climbed to date. Both Ben and Roman had a great time!

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Our Artesonraju team checked in this morning after having arriving back to camp last night, too late and too tired to give us a report then. They endured a very long and challenging climb during which they had clear skies, but very strong winds throughout the night and day. In the end, they all concurred that it was one of the most rewarding peaks they’ve ever been on. They are hiking out to Cashapampa and heading to Huaraz tonight. We hope to get some details and photos from them tomorrow, so stay tuned…. Congrats, you guys, on a mountain well…

The team is enjoying a mellow afternoon at Artesonraju Moraine Camp, before getting to bed early and waking up tonight for their summit bid. The route seems to be in amazing condition, and everyone is very excited to go for it! They expect to have beautiful and calm weather during their climb tonight. Wish them luck and stay tuned for stories from their climb!

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Every now and then, everything lines up perfectly on a climb. We all know the feeling – when perfect weather combines with a strong healthy team to climb a route that is in perfect condition. That was the feeling two nights ago as Joe Suntum, Larry Siu, David Strauss, and Steve McNally joined Jaime and me to climb Tocclaraju. After 4 days of acclimatizing and reviewing ice skills, we made our summit push. The route was much more challenging than in past seasons, with steep neve climbing occasionally interspersed with ice and sugar-snow serac walls. The final summit pyramid was…

The 2005 “Alpamayo and Quitaraju” Team did us proud this season. When we realized that Alpamayo was not climbable (a massive cornice overhung the SW face routes), we set a very ambitious plan for the group – acclimatize quickly on Tocllaraju and then make an attempt on the massive face of Artesonraju! We already posted a dispatch on our climb of Tocllaraju, a great day with the whole team summiting together. It was exactly what we needed to go into Artesonraju confident and strong.

And we certainly needed both for our climb. Our summit push began with a 10pm wakeup…