Alpamayo training

What preparation you need to climb Mount Alpamayo?

Read in Telegram in English
Leer en Telegram en Español

Mount Alpamayo climbing program here

Alpamayo. Mountain - piece of art

All the climbs of the "Most Beautiful Mountain in the World" - Nevado Alpamayo are done along one standard line. There is no choice of the climbing routes on Mount Alpamayo due to the very specific relief of this mountain. The Alpamayo massif is covered on all sides with openwork snow growths and cornices, which are very fragile and dangerous for climbing.

Openwork snow cornices are a specific feature of many climbing routes in the Peruvian Andes

For this reason, the emergence of the Mount Alpamayo new routes is extremely doubtful - any attempt for the first ascent is associated with very high risks, and there are just no safe routes to climb this mountain.

Mount Alpamayo climbing route by the southwest face

The only relatively safe route option for climbing Mount Alpamayo is the Southwest Face. Alpamayo climbing route line changes according to the state of the route. The Ferrari option, mentioned in most descriptions as an Alpamayo classic route, ceased to be relevant after the accident in 2003, when 8 climbers died under a collapsed snow cornice.

The summit of Alpamayo with a cloud decoration

Now a huge snow roof hangs over the Ferrari route, which not only makes it impossible to reach the summit, but also poses an extreme danger to the entire left sector of the face.

As of 2022, ascents were done along a line marked as French Direct - about 100 meters to the right of the old Ferrari route. There is not much difference in the difficulty of the two routes, French Direct may be a little steeper at the top, but in any case, now this is the only way to climb Mount Alpamayo.

Getting to the vertical part of the Alpamayo route

The Alpamayo route category according to the French system is rated as AD+, which roughly corresponds to the Russian 4a. It is impossible to speak objectively about the real difficulty grade, since the route is commercial and popular, most of the ascents are done with the support of guides and expedition stuff as porters, cooks etc.

Relief of the southwestern wall of Alpamayo - the comb of snow flacks

In addition to the technical difficulty of climbing, Alpamayo can also have logistical difficulties associated with a large number of people who want to climb the only, rather narrow route to the summit.

However, this route cannot be called easy. Climbing Mount Alpamayo requires well-developed iceclimbing skills - this is the main requirement for the participants of Alpamayo climbing program.

The summit of Alpamayo bathing in the clouds

On the Alpamayo climbing route, there are no critical difficulties that iceclimbers face, for example, when climbing frozen cascades. Technically, there are no completely vertical sections on the Alpamayo route. The steepest part of the route - is the upper third of the wall - it is an ice or firn slope with a steepness of up to 80° and a length of no more than 100 vertical meters.

View to the east from the summit of Alpamayo

The ideal preparation for climbing Mount Alpamayo is my Ice Climbing School in Norway. A sequence of 10 days of intensive training on the vertical ice cascades gives to the participants all the necessary skills they would need to climb Mount Alpamayo. In addition, participation in the iceclimbing program allows to the participants to soberly assess their physical level, strength and capabilities, determine the direction of further training, in case of identifying its shortcomings.

In case if participation in the iceclimbing program is not available, the training can be focused on the development of the strength endurance and effective climbing technique. The result can be achieved by regular (at least 2 times a week) exercises at the climbing wall. The climbing training should be performed at a high rockclimbing gym (at least 10 m) with top rope protection. The bouldering hall will not help to solve the task in any way, but it can even complicate it if climbing bouldering you break your leg or another limb needed in the mountains. Just as ineffective for preparing for climbing Alpamayo or another technical alpine peak, is climbing classic rockclimbing routes leading. For our mountaineering task, the most important is the volume of climbing and its intensity.

The priority in the training on the climbing wall should be placed on the high volumes of climbing the routes of low difficulty (top rope). A high number of repetitions with the top rope allows you to gain the required number of vertical meters per workout. For training, you need to climb a volume of at least 300 m per one workout (2-3 hours), it is desirable to increase it to 500 meters. In the case if you climb on the 10th rockclimbing wall, it will be 30-50 repetitions.

Definitely, this preparation for climbing Alpamayo is not as effective as daily iceclimbing. However, in the absence of an alternative, it can be considered as a good preparation for the ascent.

Unfortunately, training on the climbing gym will give you the most important mountain skill - the ability to understand the quality of the ice structure and distribute the load on the support points depending on the strength and condition of the ice. Otherwise, the climbing wall largely solves the problem of lack of physical fitness.

Climbing the Canaleta, a narrow ice chute leading to the summit ridge of the Alpamayo

In addition to the climbing skills, climbing Mount Alpamayo requires from the participants to have a standard rope skills - belaying the leader (when climbing with a guide/client ratio of 1/1 or 1/2), descending the fixed rope, working at the station (self-belaying, re-fastening). When climbing with two guides, these skills are not critical.

To understand the approximate slope of the Alpamayo face - a profile view.

Middle part of the route However, climbing a route of medium technical difficulty, such as the Alpamayo route, requires experience and good physical condition. The safety of climbing Mount Alpamayo directly depends on the speed of climbing and the coordination of the group's actions. Since the Alpamayo route has a high level of objective danger, any delays on the route can lead to unpleasant or even emergency situations.

Ascent to the Alpamayo High camp 5400 m

It is also necessary to add that climbing Mount Alpamayo is very demanding in terms of acclimatization. The altitude of the High camp 5400 meters is not a critical altitude for the Peruvian Andes. However, various accidents regularly occur to the expedition members due to the underestimation of the altitude factor.

Acclimatization before climbing Mount Alpamayo

Two years in a row on the Alpamayo route there were cases of death from pulmonary edema - the most common form of acute mountain sickness. For this reason, the opportunity to get good acclimatization and do some less difficult climbs before climbing Mount Alpamayo should not be neglected - since the choice of the 5000+m routes in the Cordillera Blanca is almost unlimited.

Cordillera Blanca, Peru

The author of the text and photos, the Alpamayo climbing guide - Alex Trubachev

MCS EDIT 2023