American climbing partners Josh Wharton and Vince Anderson have notched a first ascent on Jirishanca, an imposing 6,000’er in the Cordillera Huayhuash in Peru. The duo completed the project — called the Italian Route — on Saturday, July 23.
Anderson posted about the accomplishment on Instagram on July 27. He says that the ascent took three days, with an additional day to descend the 1,066m face. Previous climbers have ascended the Italian Route to the ridge but have never gained the summit.
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Hardest alpine climb
The long line gets as hard as 8a, M7, W16 and is considered the hardest alpine climb in the Cordillera Huayhuash.
“[The route has] lots of psychedelic snow climbing,” said Anderson.
Peru’s Instituto Geográfico Nacional lists Jirishanca’s summit as 6,094m, while Mountaineering in the Andes by Jill Neate claims 6,125m. Toni Egger and Siegfried Jungmair first summited the peak in 1957. Jirishanca is the third highest mountain in the Huayhuash range and the 10th highest peak in Peru.
