Alpine Climbing

After 3 days of rest and a bit of a storm in basecamp, the team began its move on Chopicalqui. Chopicalqui, at 20,848 feet is one of the biggest peaks in the Americas, and a true expedition peak. Climbing it entails placing three camps, carrying big loads on a big glacier with loads of crevasses, and wild summit day climbing on a knife-edge ridge, steep ice faces, and a double corniced finish. 

We just got word that the Pisco/Chopicalqui team is settled in at Pisco's Cave Camp. They've spent the last 2 days acclimatizing in the Llanganuco Valley below the peak, going out on day hikes and doing skills training. Today the team moved up to the grassy hanging valley immediately below the moraine and glacier of Pisco's South Face. The group is strong and enjoying good weather. Tomorrow they'll do another full day of glacier skills practice before moving up to their high camp at the edge of the glacier in preparation for their summit push! Stay tuned....

For the fourteenth year in a row, Alpenglow's guides will be leading groups on the peaks of the Cordillera Blanca of Peru. The season begins tomorrow with lead guide Jaime Avila meeting the Pisco and Chopicalqui group in Lima. These two peaks are a great next step to our introductory high altitude climbs. Each of the mountains require three camps as the team moves up from the green valleys to the moraines and ultimately onto huge crevassed glaciers. Pisco is first, famous for its stellar views of the entire Blanca range. Stay tuned for dispatches from the mountain!

Alpenglow's owner, Adrian Ballinger, will be presenting a slideshow this Thursday, January 27 at 7pm at the Sawtooth Ridge Cafe in Tahoe City, CA. Please join us for this free show benefiting the High Fives Foundation. More details Below:

Adrian’s slideshow focuses on Ama Dablam (22,349′), the “Matterhorn” of the Himalaya, the most popular expedition peak in the Himalaya. Adrian will discuss the mountain, the climbing, and his recent efforts to clean up the peak and camps after decades of discarded fixed lines and trash, overcrowding impacts, as well as human waste issues.