Updates from the Field: Alpamayo 2024

Alpamayo is truly the mountaineer’s mountain. It’s big, it’s remote, it’s technical, and it is aesthetically stunning. A massive white, fluted pyramid makes up the main portion of climbing on the peak, and the views of the Cordillera Blanca from High Camp are unmatched. Our team is currently set to go for a staggered summit push, with some team members going up tonight (July 8th) and others tomorrow (July 9th).

Organize and Acclimatize

To kick off the expedition, we spent a few days organizing and acclimatizing in Huaraz, where we accessed the trail to Laguna Churup (14,600’/4,450m), a beautiful high altitude lake. From Huaraz, we drove a few hours to the trailhead to Alpamayo in the village of Cashapampa. From there, we wound through the Cordillera Blanca past the Santa Cruz lakes until reaching the hanging valley beneath Alpamayo. There, we set up our base camp at 13,500’/4,115m.

Climbing Higher

From base camp, we spent a day moving supplies up to Moraine Camp (16,000’/4,877’) and returning to base, where we rested for another day afterwards. Then, we moved up to Moraine Camp and spent a night there before moving to High Camp, or Col Camp, at (18,000’/5486m).

Typically, we go right for the summit the day after moving to Col Camp. However, weather and other climbers on the route led us to decide it was better to hold fast and wait it out. The route up Alpamayo is steep and exposed, and it’s not a place we want to get stuck beneath parties that might be moving more slowly and/or sending debris down the flute.

As of today, July 8th, 2024, we are hunkered down in High Camp and planning to go for the summit in groups over the next two days. Stay tuned for further updates.

100 Percent Summit Success!

We are thrilled to report 100% summit success on Alpamayo! On July 9, Rhonda, Sorah, and Laurent reached the summit with Alpenglow guide Mike Pond. On July 10, Manisha reached the summit guided by Tico Morales. The entire team has now descended from the mountain and are on their way to base camp, where they’ll rest another day before heading out of the mountains and back to Huaraz.

Interested to climb the most beautiful mountain in the world? Click HERE to schedule a call with our team, and read about the mountain firsthand from the perspective of our International Client Manager, Griffin Mims, who reached the summit of Alpamayo in June 2023.