Type: | Ice, Alpine, 2000 ft (606 m), 8 pitches, Grade III |
FA: | David Sharman, August 14, 1991 |
Page Views: | 1,097 total · 12/month |
Shared By: | Ryan Marsters on Jul 26, 2016 |
Admins: | Tony Yeary, MAKB |
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Description
This is a fantastic, rarely-traveled route on Shaqsha's west face which involves weaving through seracs and crevasses.
The route differs slightly nowadays from Johnson's book. Rather than traversing the face and taking the ridge, it is recommended to traverse most of the face and then simply topping out via the upper face to avoid poor rock and tricky seracs. It is highly recommended to scout out the route and take some decent route photos the night before the climb.
From camp, follows abundant cairns along the rocky ridge and path of least resistance with a bit of class 3 until reaching a prominent rock tower. Bypass on left, dropping around 50 ft, until one can gain the tongue of the prominent west glacier. Follow the glacier up until you can traverse above the complex lower glacier and below Shaqsha's west face (cross quickly as this probably has the most objective hazard of the day).
Find obvious weaknesses up the north/left side of the west face until you can traverse back right/south. A few pitches should take you to the summit, with careful route-finding around various crevasses.
Glaciers change, but we encountered several moderate to steep ice/snow steps, numerous crevasse crossings, and a couple near vertical steps up to brief AI3.
The route differs slightly nowadays from Johnson's book. Rather than traversing the face and taking the ridge, it is recommended to traverse most of the face and then simply topping out via the upper face to avoid poor rock and tricky seracs. It is highly recommended to scout out the route and take some decent route photos the night before the climb.
From camp, follows abundant cairns along the rocky ridge and path of least resistance with a bit of class 3 until reaching a prominent rock tower. Bypass on left, dropping around 50 ft, until one can gain the tongue of the prominent west glacier. Follow the glacier up until you can traverse above the complex lower glacier and below Shaqsha's west face (cross quickly as this probably has the most objective hazard of the day).
Find obvious weaknesses up the north/left side of the west face until you can traverse back right/south. A few pitches should take you to the summit, with careful route-finding around various crevasses.
Glaciers change, but we encountered several moderate to steep ice/snow steps, numerous crevasse crossings, and a couple near vertical steps up to brief AI3.
Location
Start at the dirt road to the cemetery in Olleros. From Huaraz, it was about 70 soles and 40 minutes one way. Hike up the dirt road, occasionally shortcutting switchbacks, until the grass slog up to the ridge. It was a 4.5 hr hike for us with mules to camp at around 16K. Plenty of great spots.
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