BURSTSpanish climbers Eneko and Iker Pou and their Peruvian partner Micher Quito have established two new routes on the northwest face of 6,162m Ranrapalca in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca, first climbing the face in 2023 and returning this year to open what they describe as their hardest route among the 22 lines they have established in the range.
In late August 2023, the trio made the first ascent of Ranrapalca’s northwest face, climbing free and in alpine style. They named the 1,200m route Ya Pe’ Cholo, graded 6b/80 degrees. The Pou brothers had first seen Ranrapalca the previous year while climbing with Quito on Urus, where they opened Hanan Pacha and Emmoa. They identified a possible line on Ranrapalca but were uncertain whether they could climb a route that was so long, vertical and complex at an altitude above 6,000 m.
This year, Eneko and Iker Pou returned to Ranrapalca with Quito during an expedition in which they had already climbed Alpamayo. In the final days of the expedition, the three established their second new route on Ranrapalca, naming it Bonus Track. The new route climbs 1,060 metres of the northwest face at WI7 M6 6c. The Pou brothers describe it as the hardest of the 22 routes they have opened in the Cordillera Blanca.
The trio climbed Bonus Track in alpine style over three consecutive days, spending two nights suspended above the face. The route gains more than 1,000m through sustained rock, ice and mixed terrain. In several sections, the climbers made short rappels to find usable crack systems.
Conditions were difficult throughout the ascent. Long, hard pitches followed one another with little rest. During the first bivouac, an unexpected snowstorm arrived after 12 hours of continuous climbing, forcing the climbers to shelter inside a crack.
“The first bivy was the toughest,” the brothers said. “Caught in an unexpected snowstorm and exhausted after twelve non-stop hours of moving, we took shelter as best we could inside a crevasse. We woke up soaked and shivering from the freezing cold, but we summoned our energy and kept climbing. At least during the second bivy it didn’t snow, though we had to sleep sitting right on the edge of the precipice.”
They spent the second night sitting on the edge of a drop. On the third day, they remained exposed for more than three hours beneath unstable seracs before reaching the summit plateau in thick mist. The overall push lasted five days, with daily climbing periods of eight to 13 hours. The climbers slept only three or four hours per night.
Watch their footage from Bonus Track below.
Bonus Track
The post New WI7 Alpine Climb Opened on Peru’s Ranrapalca appeared first on Gripped Magazine.