New climb on Nevado Cashan in Peru dedicated to Carlos Suárez

On July 26th and 27th, Alex Úbeda and I opened a new route on the northwest face of Cashan (5,686m). After a mandatory acclimatization phase at Alpamayo (5947m) and a rest day in Huaraz, we headed toward Cashan.

The Pou brothers had told us about the rock quality of this face and the possibilities it offered for opening new routes. On the 25th, we headed toward the Rajucolta Valley with our taxi driver, Eli, and Wilder, who was going to help us carry our gear up to base camp. We had hoped to start climbing that same day or at least get a good look at the face to know where to plan our route, but we made a mistake on our approach and ended up ascending the wrong way. It took us more than six hours to reach base camp.

We set up camp on the moraine, on top of the only "flat" rock we saw. We scanned the wall for a while in the last light, unsure of where to draw the line. There was rockfall right where we were supposed to descend, and this worried us a lot. We had something to eat and went to bed feeling a bit discouraged.

On the 26th, we set out for the wall rather early and without high expectations. We had a good view of Seba Pelleti's route, the route put up by the Pou brothers, and the route climbed by Mike Bowyer and Tom Schindfessel, which went far to the left. We quickly detected our line; obvious dihedrals marked the path forward.

Alex exclaimed, "Manolo! We've got a highway all the way up, let's go!" Motivated beyond belief, I put on my harness and started on the first pitch. I climbed 60 meters until I was below the dihedral system. It was incredible to be climbing at 5,200 meters with only a fleece jacket on. The fourth pitch has the first difficulty of the route, a sustained and technical 7a dihedral. We were amazed by the quality of the rock on these first pitches.

After this pitch, we traversed 60 meters over easy terrain with some loose boulders to find another cracked dihedral. An entrance with a small overhang gave access to another beautiful dihedral. I climbed 40 meters and saw that a few meters above, I could see a ledge. I used the little gear I had left and rigged a belay, another 60-meter pitch. The shade had already reached us, and the temperature dropped significantly. Alex climbed quickly, we fixed the rope, and went down to the tent.

On the 27th, we got up at 4 a.m. Jumaring the 240 meters we had climbed the day before was more difficult than expected. We reached the 5th pitch just as the sun began to hit the wall. Alex continued with the 6th pitch, trending to the left. We had to climb 65 meters until we reached a ledge to set up a belay.

Pitch 7 is the key pitch of the route, and the most spectacular, beginning with some dihedral steps leading to a airy traverse with a blind crack that's impossible to protect. I began the traverse and spent a good while looking for a way to climb it, but at one point, due to the impossibility of protecting it, I had to hang and use the drill to access another overhanging dihedral. This gave access to a slightly sloping crack where I set up a belay, again with spectacular rock quality. This appeared to mark the end of the difficulties, and so it was. Alex managed to climb it free while seconding, despite carrying a fairly heavy pack. We believe it's 7a+. Another 60m pitch led us to a ledge that gave access to the summit of the wall. We did two more pitches via the ledge, graded IV and III ,to reach the snow at the top of the wall.

We named the route Carlos Suárez in honor of the Madrid climber who inspired us with his climbs. We believe it could become a classic on the wall due to the logical nature of the route and the quality of the pitches.

- Manuel López, Spain