BURSTFay Manners and Marco Malcangi arrived in Peru with the goal of exploring the mountains of the Cordillera Blanca and skiing some of its big terrain. After acclimatizing near Huaraz through hiking and climbing at Hatun Machay, they teamed up with Peruvian guide Cesar Vicuña to get a better understanding of the range and its conditions.
Their first objective was Vallunaraju (5,686 m), which they skied as an acclimatization lap and to assess snow conditions. During the approach, however, they spotted a line from the col between Ranrapalca and Ocshapalca. The route combined a steep, heavily crevassed lower glacier with a large upper face leading to a snow-covered summit. Vicuña said the line had not been climbed since 1980, when a team of four Swiss alpinists completed the ascent.
After several days of positioning themselves on the mountain with the help of Vicuña and others, Manners and Malcangi set out for the summit. Starting at 1 a.m., they climbed through the night, navigating hazardous crevasses, crossing fragile snow bridges, and ascending steep ice and exposed terrain before reaching the summit.
They then skied the route from the summit to the glacier, linking roughly 900 metres of continuous skiing. They named the line Acceso Momentáneo (“Momentary Access”) to reflect the glacier’s changing conditions, which had kept it inaccessible for years. The descent earned a 5.1 E3 grade. Remarkably, Manners, now regarded as one of the world’s most creative big-mountain skiers, only learned to ski in 2016 after moving to Chamonix.
The post Mega New Ski Line Opened in Peru Down Steep Glaciers appeared first on Gripped Magazine.