Marjan Kovac and Aritza Monasterio on the fifteen-hour blast of Los Rapidos (ED, 1000m), Northeast Face-Siula Grande, Peru. [Photo] Pavle Kojzek
On July 3, Marjan Kovac and Pavle Kozjek (Slovenia) and Aritza Monasterio (Spain) climbed a new route, Los Rapidos (ED, 1000m), on the northeast face of Siula Grande (6344m). Ours was the first route in the center of the face.
We started on July 1 from base camp at Lake Carhuacocha and reached the glacier below Yerupaja in variable weather. The next day, we found our way across the chaotic glaciers of Yerupaja and Siula to the base of Siula’s northeast face at about 5300 meters. During the night the weather improved and on July 3 we started climbing at about 5 a.m. Conditions were good and we followed a line in the center of the wide face, avoiding the obvious horizontal rock barriers that give a special character to this wall. The hardest climbing was encountered in the last 150 meters, where we had to find a way through overhanging seracs via steep gullies with hard ice and powder snow. This was the only part of the climb we belayed. We reached the top at 1 p.m., then downclimbed and rappelled to the glacier. We descended the last 300 meters in the dark. Our tent had been destroyed by the wind. We took only drinks and climbing equipment and climbed the route in fifteen hours roundtrip.
— Pavle Kojzek, Slovenia