Corax - Saulnier

Page Type Page Type: Route
Location Lat/Lon: 27.769°S / 68.78°W
Additional Information Route Type: Mountaineering
Additional Information Time Required: Expedition
Additional Information Difficulty: PD on high altitude
Sign the Climber's Log

Approach

Long version here.

Short version:
Bus, rented vehicle or hitchhike Villa Union - Vincina - Jagüe.
Rented vehicle or hitchhike to Refugio Veladero.
Rented vehicle or walk the rest of the way to the peak.
A vehicle will take you to Caldera del Inca and if you walk, follow the rough jeep tracks to where they end.
Walk from the Caldera's right/west side towards the Pissis massif. Pass Bonete Grande and walk over three passes ranging in between 5400 and 5600m. Cross the valley at the foot of the massif and put up a BC at the first larger snow fields.

Route Description

Route to the summit; Pissis...The route

Keep directly at the point that looks highest, as Pissis East II is located very close by.
The first part from BC is very easy walking on almost level scree. Walk over the first ice field. Here it starts to get steeper and the average is probably about 35 degr to the first ridge. The steepest parts may be 45 degr.
We choose to head for the huge ice and snow field a bit to the left of the direct route towards the peak. This is probably the best way if the snow isn't too deep as the rocky sections are quite bad with large, loose and sharp rocks which are very frustrating to negotiate.

The snow gets steeper the higher you get and when we were there, also deeper. When you're almost at the same level as the steep rock face on your right, had towards the foot of it. It's possible to continue straight up the snow field/glacier but then you're in for some steep climbing in the end and if the snow is deep there may be very hard going.

When below the rock face; watch out for rock falls. Easily avoided if you stay a bit out in the snow as the rocks stops dead when hitting the crusty surface. Some parts of the rocky part leading to the saddle can be tricky if you don't choose your route carefully.
When at the saddle head towards the icy slope on your left. If you want a less steep ascent of it, head further on the saddle.
When at the top of the ridge, you'll see two nearby summits. The right one is a couple of meters higher and has a cairn.
From this summit you can see the other two high summits of the Pissis massif. As you can see there are no way to determine which of them is the highest. Officially, Pissis East II is the third highest, three meters short of the main summit and two meters lower than its twin sister some hundred meters away to the east.

More information in the caption of the photo!

Essential Gear

Crampons is not 100% necessary, but is of great help.
Snow shoes can be useful, especially if you want to stay on the snowy parts as long as possible.
Walking poles is almost essential.
Some may want to rope up going over the snowy ridge after the saddle in between Pissis East I and II, but the difficulty can be avoided if you head further to the north where it isn't so steep.

Warm and windproof clothing is a must. High quality glacier goggles as well.

The name of the route

It is not often you make a new route on a peak and therefore we decided to give it a very original name - our family names :-)
My company on the climb was Nadios/Saulnier

We thought about another name but they all sounded stupid, pretentious, boring or all of the above. One day we may come up with a better one.

Ascents

Pissis East II has only been climbed once before we summited it. We made a first from the south. Jonson Reynoso made the first ascent from the north and he at that time also climbed Pissis East I.
As far as we know, Pissis has only been climbed twice from the south before our ascent. Those times the main peak was climbed.


Parents 

Parents

Parents refers to a larger category under which an object falls. For example, theAconcagua mountain page has the 'Aconcagua Group' and the 'Seven Summits' asparents and is a parent itself to many routes, photos, and Trip Reports.