Homage to Chacraraju   51279
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Labels

1 Chopicalqui, 6356
2 Yanapaccha 5361
3 Huascaran Sur, 6768
4 Col, 6010
5 Huascaran Norte, 6605
6 Chacraraju E, 6001
7 Chacraraju W, 6112
8 Huandoy, 6395
9 Nevado Piramide, 5685
10 Nevado Paron, 5600
11 Nevado Milliraju, 5500

Details

Location: Alto de Pucaraju (4640 m)      by: Pedrotti Alberto
Area: Peru      Date: 23-07-2019
Who are those wonderful mountains that sometimes appear in the SW, I was thinking during the last days of the Alpamayo - Santa Cruz trek. While there, I did not realize how far and how high they were. In particular, I did not recognize the Huascaran, which from this side looks so different from its known aspect from Huaraz. But my attention was fully captured by that incredible two-summit mountain, a sort of Schreckhorn with a dramatically improved Lauteraarhorn nearby.
Only later, after crossing the Llanganuco and seeing sceneries like the one portrayed in N.26027, I had everything clear. That was the Chacraraju, literally, the "mountain similar to a ploughed field", by far the most difficult of all the 6000 m summits in the Andes.
As I learnt later at home, this double mountain is tightly bound with the name of a single mountaineer: Lionel Terray. The climbing parabola of this man developed for 18 years, from the second ascent of the Eigerwand in 1947, until a fatal fall in the Vercors.
In 1950, together with Rébuffat, he saved the lives of Herzog and Lachenal, who were returning badly frostbitten from the summit of the newly-conquered Annapurna.
In 1952 he was in the party of Guido Magnone which realized the first ascent of the Fitz Roy in Patagonia. Then, instead of going home, he continued northwards across the Andes, also summiting the Aconcagua, and then joining in Peru two Dutch guys who were his usual clients. He guided them to a first ascent of the Huantsan, highest summit of the southern Cordillera Blanca - find it, equally impressive, either in N.26195 or in N.26074.
In 1955 he was one of the first two men to stand on the top of Makalu, 8463 m. In the reconnaissance of the previous autumn he had also secretly performed a secret first climb of the nearby Chomo Lonzo, 7804 m.
In the Huantsan adventure of 1952 he had been enchanted by the Peruvian mountains, so he was delighted when in 1956 his two favourite clients employed him as a guide for two ascents in the region of Cuzco. But, when the Dutch clients went home, he joined a team of other professional French climbers to attempt what, since the time of the Huantsan, had become his main dream, namely Chacraraju. They we able to climb the highest, West summit, but it was there that Terray developed a new dream, that of ascending the East summit, who looked even more challenging (still today it is rated ED+).
So, in 1962, after co-leading the first ascent to the 7710 m Jannu, the most difficult Himalayan peak climbed at the time, he was back to Peru, together with Guido Magnone, to conquer the "impossible summit", which required no less than 2000 metres of fixed rope.
Then, in 1964, came the conquest of the rock and ice pyramid of Mount Huntigton, in Alaska, before the death in the "innocuous" Vercors.

Position: -8.91780 -77.55399
Larger: https://bit.ly/33a5YUx

Comments

Incredible Mountains 
Chacraraju looks a little like Dents du Midi²
2019/11/03 01:52 , Matthias Knapp
Also consider Nanda Devi - Nanda Devi East...
We are mentioning several candidates to the title of "most beautiful mountain'... Another one, the Artesonraju, is hidden in the right corner of the picture, you guess its flank looking carefully behind Millisraju.
It will appear in a variation on this theme shot a few minutes later, wider and with less clouds.
The most spectacular moment, however, had been a few minutes earlier. Unfortunately, the camera battery had abandoned me right in that moment, and I needed some time to find a new one. Consider that every night I had sub-zero temperatures also inside the tent, so the early morning was not the best time for battery performance...
2019/11/03 10:40 , Pedrotti Alberto
Da hast Du recht Matthias und die Dent du Midi kann sogar noch 5 weitere gleich hohe Spitzen bieten, da kann der Chacraraju nicht mithalten.
2019/11/03 12:55 , Günter Diez
In pictures, description, and my imagination, your South American and Himalayan series are blending. Cheers, Martin
2019/11/03 18:39 , Martin Kraus
It's getting better and better :-)
2019/11/04 09:13 , Jens Vischer

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Pedrotti Alberto

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