Last year we were told by the travel agency that there is large crevasse bellow the summit and it is not safe to continue all the way to the top.
For those of you who have been there last year and are familiar with this problem - would you mind to help me.
How far bellow the summit is this problematic area ?
Are we missing a .... if we decide to undertake this climb and due to this crevasse do not make it all the way to the top?
thank you.

Hi Boleslav,

As of August 2010, the crevasse is very close to the summit. Maybe 5 or 6 meters (?) below. I made the summit on my trip. As I crossed the crevasse via a snow bridge the bridge broke. It took us an hour to get back across. I wrote a trip report that you might enjoy checking out. Sorry that the pictures of the crevasse are not great.

http://www.summitpost.org/yanapaccha-2010/656822

Next to the crevasse there's a nice plateau area, I had my summit picture taken there as it was very cold on the top and I didn't want to take my camera out. If there's some new snow this year you might be ok getting across. I think it's worth climbing even if you don't cross the crevasse. It's a nice quick mountain and more interesting/difficult than Pisco.

Let me know if you have other questions.

Allan, I am have read your report, thanks for taking the time to write it.

How difficult technically is the climb? All we have done so far was not really technical, we always had a guide with us
(Pisco, Ishinca, Vallunaraju).

So if we get to the crevasse and do not feel it's worth the risk are we missing a lot since we would be so close to the top?
I am not sure how I would react if the bridge broke under me even 3 feet would be a lot not to pee in my pants

Boleslav,

From your list, I have only climbed Pisco. Pisco is long because of the moraine but the rest of the climb is easy, yes? On Yanapaccha it is much more technical than Pisco, but not bad if you like to climb some ice pitches. I think there were about 6 pitches of ice, but I don't remember any really being vertical. I did some vertical ice when I was slightly into the crevasse but that was it. I had a guide with me.

Yeah, if you would be really afraid to fall into a crevasse then you might not want to try to climb down into one onto an ice bridge!

Also note that the hike into the lake at the base of Yanapaccha will take some effort. It's a lot of up and down without any elevation gain. I went up Yanapaccha fast and should have hiked out the next day instead of the same day.

Sorry, forgot your question on if it's worth it without going to the top. Sure, I would go up there again even without doing the top. It's a nice mountain. When I did it, we were the only 2 people up there that day, which was cool.

Alan,
thank you. Your info is very valuable!
Do you remember the approach from the road to the camp, how many hours of walking was it. If I recall from what we were told the donkeys can not make it so you carry all the climbing equipment and camping gear on your back?

The hike in is about 2hrs, and yes they don't bring the donkeys. You could always hire an extra porter to carry your gear though. It's a nice hike on a narrow single track trail with a great view of the valley and the mountains on the other side.

Boleslav wrote:Alan,
thank you. Your info is very valuable!
Do you remember the approach from the road to the camp, how many hours of walking was it. If I recall from what we were told the donkeys can not make it so you carry all the climbing equipment and camping gear on your back?

It depends on which camp you are going to start from. Where we camped is not accessible for burros, so we used porters to carry the gear; probably three or so hours of hiking in. That route starts higher up on the road and leads to a camp the allows access to the glacier at a higher location, which probably reduces the amount of crevasse field that you have to cross.

Hi Buz,

Thanks, I forgot to mention that there is a route that some take from the opposite side of the glacier (I assume, as I don't know where it is exactly).

I think you are referring to the same route that we took. We hiked in from a corner of the road just up from the trail to Chopicalqui base camp. The camp was by a small lake. As far as I know, this is the approach that most people use.

Last year there was no snow in during the snow season, and there was minimal glacier to deal with. There were quite a few crevasses on the climb though.

albanberg wrote:Hi Buz,

Thanks, I forgot to mention that there is a route that some take from the opposite side of the glacier (I assume, as I don't know where it is exactly).

I think you are referring to the same route that we took. We hiked in from a corner of the road just up from the trail to Chopicalqui base camp. The camp was by a small lake. As far as I know, this is the approach that most people use.

Last year there was no snow in during the snow season, and there was minimal glacier to deal with. There were quite a few crevasses on the climb though.

Yes. The route that we took and the camp that we used are the same. Some people hike up from Cebollapampa to a camp below the end of the glacier. That could easily be done by burros, but I don't think they would carry loads up the route that we did. Getting burros to the trailhead would be another problem with using them on that route. I suppose you could drop the gear off at Cebollapampa and have the burros take it up from there while you hiked in from that bend in the road higher up.

The year that I did it there was a good bit of snow to deal with; we were postholing on the way down once we got below the steep slopes. Our route going up on the lower part was determined by avoiding crevasses and we had one that we had to jump just before starting the steep section.

Interesting Buz, completely different conditions from last year. It will be interesting to hear what the snow season has been like down there this year.

albanberg wrote:Interesting Buz, completely different conditions from last year. It will be interesting to hear what the snow season has been like down there this year.

The snow had a crust on it, so we didn't punch in going up, but we did coming back down - your steps have less impact going uphill than they do going downhill. The pace was a bit too fast for me and I'd end up tripping and practicing my self-arrest technique. We would have got down faster if we had slowed down a bit; but I did get to practice the self-arrest.

thanks guys for great info!

Don't hesitate boleslav, this is the view you'll have on a sunny day, despite the fact that it's only a few meters below the true summit

http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspac ... 696545.JPG

Two more pics of what is discussed about. Taken early june 2010.

http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspac ... 712130.JPG

http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspac ... 712131.JPG

Gido wrote:Don't hesitate boleslav, this is the view you'll have on a sunny day, despite the fact that it's only a few meters below the true summit

http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspac ... 696545.JPG

Two more pics of what is discussed about. Taken early june 2010.

http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspac ... 712130.JPG

http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspac ... 712131.JPG

Great photo of Chacraraju!

Too bad we don't have a page on it, but the stupid unwrittten rule that one has to climb it before they can make a page on it prevents it.