TripReport Cordillera Blanca | 6,000 meter peaks in Peru by snowboard - Part II

The past six days in the Ishinca Valley have taken their toll on our bodies. As we have been at altitudes of between 4,300 and 6,000 meters throughout and have not been able to get a good night's sleep, we are happy to "only" be at an altitude of 3,000 meters when we return to Huaraz. First of all, we have to eat all the nutritious and greasy food our stomachs can hold. Then we sleep for a comfortable twelve hours. Surprisingly quickly, we feel regenerated again and plan our next trip on the second day after our return. Of course, we want to take advantage of the stable weather and our good acclimatization.

This year, the glacier tongue does not have a comfortable ramp of snow either, only steep ice.

As we are well informed about the conditions (Casa de Guias: "You don't need ice axes at all for Nevado Copa."), we only have a minimum amount of ice screws with us. This makes it difficult to secure the one length. It wouldn't be advisable to put a lead fall into our 6 mm thick static rad line anyway.

Somewhat exhausted from the arduous ascent, we finally pitch our tents at 5,200 m. A small pond has managed to survive between the glacier slabs, so thanks to the water filter we are at least spared from melting snow. The sunset at the moraine camp is magnificent. However, it gets cold quite quickly, so we crawl into our sleeping bags.

Excited, we set off the next day at 8am on our tour towards the northern summit of Nevado Copa. At least that's what we think, because according to our book, this is supposed to be the left of the two visible peaks. After a few hours of climbing over flat glaciers and huge crevasse zones in icy cold winds - according to the weather forecast, there should actually be almost no wind - we reach the ridge at an altitude of over 6,000 meters and discover that the summit we are aiming for is just a simple elevation in the ridge.

We therefore continue towards the southern summit, which seems close enough to touch from our vantage point. But appearances are deceptive, because it is even further than we thought. As the main summit would only have been around 30 meters higher and we would have had to complete a long traverse, we decide to call the pre-summit "Copa Centrale" and descend from an altitude of 6,153 m - our first descent from a 6,000 m peak! By now it's lunchtime and the west-facing slopes offer wonderful firn. The almost 1,000-metre descent is a real treat and is probably one of the longest descents possible in Peru.

Back at camp, the shock: Dominik's tent is no longer in its original place. The wind has blown it away along with its contents (sleeping mat, sleeping bag, provisions). We immediately go looking for it, as it's already too late to descend and the three of us in the remaining two-man tent with just two sleeping bags would be a bit cozy. Fortunately, after a short search we find it in a crevice 100 meters further down and are able to retrieve it. The outer tent is a little torn and the poles are slightly bent, but otherwise the tent and its contents survived the flight just fine. Lucky again!

We first try a gully further to the left, but the entire gully is more brittle than our ascent option. So we have to climb back up another 150 meters with heavy backpacks, which saps my last bit of strength. In the end, we abseil down our ascent variant at rather dubious belay points. After four abseils, we are finally back on reasonably safe ground.

My exhaustion and illness become more and more noticeable, so that both my cell phone and a pole break in no time at all. Paul comes to my aid, relieves me of some of my luggage and brings me a rescue dose of Inca Kola.

On arrival at base camp, we see that another group has also arrived in the meantime. We experience the contrast to our walking style: for a single guided group of two, there is not only a large number of tents (several sleeping tents, a cooking tent, a food tent, a toilet tent), but also the associated "staff" (guide, several porters, cook). We are glad that we had complete peace and quiet on the mountain in the previous days and fall into the tent exhausted after this crazy day. Due to a fever, I hardly sleep at all during the night and am really looking forward to a proper bed in Huaraz.

Manuel and his donkeys pick us up on time the next morning, so we return to the valley weakened but at least with light luggage.

3rd trip: Chopicalqui (6354m) - 4 days - without skis and without summit success

Back in the valley, a flu-like infection catches up with us, so we have to take it easy for a few days. For our last destination, the Chopicalqui, other mountaineers advise us not to take our skis and snowboards with us due to a lack of snow.

As our return flight approaches, we are forced to set off for our last summit destination without winter sports equipment and still somewhat weakened. However, we are not completely without winter sports equipment after all, as we decide against renting dilapidated mountain boots and instead decide to simply use our ski and snowboard boots from the glacier onwards.

After the first night at base camp, Paul decides to head back to Huaraz. Dominik and I continue via the moraine camp (5,100 m) to the high camp at 5,500 m, our highest sleeping place during the trip. There we are looked at a bit strangely for our choice of footwear.

Once again, we rely on tips from other mountaineers. The day before, it took them 17 hours to hike from Highcamp to the summit to Highcamp. We leave our tent at 1 a.m., as we also have the entire descent to base camp ahead of us.

Far too early, we reach the key point at over 6,000 meters above sea level. It would be necessary to switch to rope protection here. With ice-cold fingers and toes and in the pitch dark, we don't want to risk frostbite and decide to retreat. We were mourning the loss of our snowboards the whole time anyway, as a short bad weather front had dumped 30 to 40 cm of powder snow a few days earlier.

The slopes are wonderfully hilly ski terrain with a few steep steps. However, you would have to abseil down one step. After the long descent, we return to Huaraz the following day and take the night bus directly to Lima in the evening. We use the last day there for some sightseeing and a round of surfing before our return flight the next morning

We leave Peru with a few kilograms less body weight, slightly exhausted but happy about the adventures we have experienced over the last 3.5 weeks! ¡Muchas gracias y hasta la próxima!

Further information

In the Cordillera Blanca, a satellite phone, snow anchor and water filter are part of the basic equipment. There is no organized mountain rescue or helicopter service. In the event of an accident, the local mountain guides organize a rescue on foot via the Casa de Guias, which can take some time. Good equipment and defensive tour planning are therefore advisable. It is also difficult to get reliable information about the current conditions early in the season.

These vary greatly from year to year and depend on the snowfall during the rain season. During our trip in May/June 2024, we unfortunately had an exceptionally poor snow year. The glaciers were bare below around 5,200 m and many crevasses were wide open. The past 2025 season, on the other hand, was again exceptionally snowy, which probably made for much better (skiing) conditions. The glacier melt is omnipresent and usually makes the tours and approaches more difficult.

Easy ski tours in the Cordillera Blanca include the Nevado Pisco (5,752 m), the Nevado Vallunaraju (5,686 m) and the Nevado Ishinca (5,530 m). For lovers of steep face descents, there are a number of beautiful destinations, including the famous south-east face of Artesonraju ("Paramount Pictures" mountain). The north faces of Ranrapalca and Quitaraju can also be skied in suitable conditions. There is also some potential for first ascents. For steep face descents, however, as in other places, the conditions must be right, which is unfortunately rarely the case in the Cordillera Blanca.

Moving pictures of the trip can be seen in the following video: