Spaniards claim two new climbs and one first free ascent in Peru

Iker Pou and Eneko Pou recently returned from a successful trip to Peru where with climbing partners Manu Ponce and Pedro Galán and the cameraman Lina Schütze and Luis Rizo they forged two new routes in two completely contrasting environments. The first route ascends to the left of the Gocta Falls in Amazonia and in its 185 meters Yaku Mama breaches difficulties up to 7a+.

Given that the rock quality above the upper fall was deemed dangerously poor, the Basques suddenly had more time than expected and so they decided to head to the Quebrada Rurec valley at 4200 meters of the Andes. Here they made the first free ascent of Qui Io Vado Ancora, the 585 meter line up Chaupi Huanca (5179 m) opened in 2006 by the Italians Simone Pedeferri, Fabio Palma and Andrea Pavan. Climbing on-sight, the Pou estimate difficulties at around 7c+/8a.

After a brief rest, during the next six days the climbers made the first ascent nearby of Zerain, a huge big wall dedicated to Alberto Zerain, their climbing partner who perished last summer while attempting to climb Nanga Parbat's Mazeno Ridge. The new route was established with three nights on the face and is described as "one of the first significant climbs in our career, because of the height of the mountain (5200 m), the size of the wall (860 m), the quality of the route, and its difficulty around 8a." Three pitches were not climbed free.