One of the most remote mountains in the Cordillera Real, Ancohuma’s challenging access makes it nearly isolated of climbers – perfect for those looking for a private moment with the mountain. For many years, cartographers calculated Ancohuma to be over 7,000 m, which would make it higher than Aconcagua, as the highest peak outside the Himalayas. Regardless of it’s altitude, there is no doubt that the Ancohuma Massif is one of stunning beauty, surrounded by incredible 6,000m. peaks.
Climbing this mountain is the “real deal”. A 5-day expedition with long days of trekking, massive peaks, glaciers that crack and tumble into lagunas, and sleeping one night on a glacier at 5,720 m with your tent crusted into the ice. What’s more, being above the cloud-valley of Sorata with stunning views of Lake Titicaca, the Isla del Sol, the sunsets up here are, truly, breathtaking.
The summit climb by Normal Route is not technical (Grade 1/PD) at 55°. What make this expedition one of the most difficult are the long days of continuous incline, and withstanding sleeping on a glacier. One should be physically fit and a strong hiker to be able to handle both the ascent and descent with mountain gear.
Leaving at 9 am, we drive 4 hours to a small hillside village above Sorata, Kholani (at 3,223 m). After a quick lunch, we hike 3 hours on a well-worn trail up to Laguna Chillata (4,219 m).
After breakfast, we hike 5 hours across rolling hills and glacier polished granite slabs to Laguna Glaciar (5,047 m) nestled between 3 converging glaciers of Ancohuma, Illampu, and Schulze, 3 massive peaks above 6000 m.
In the morning we hike 2 hours weaving across large rocks to a pass high above the laguna. We cross a short scree and loose rock slope to where it meets the Ancohuma Glacier (5,560 m). Using ice climbing gear, we weave up the glacier through penitentes 3.5 hours to reach our High Camp (5,720 m).
We wake up very early at 00:00 to start the ascent , we skirt the open crevasses to the Southwest Ridge (55°), which we scale to the summit (6,427 m) in 7 hours, we would be able to appreciate the beautiful landscape on the top. We descend back to Laguna Glaciar for the 4th night.
After a very restful night and a good breakfast, we got our things ready and went down to Kholani and return to La Paz in our private transportation.
+591 76563939
+591 76563939
altitud6000mountaineering@gmail.com
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