Alpamayo - Climbing "La Montaña Mas Bella del Mundo" | Cordillera Blanca, Peru

While there are many higher mountains in Peru, few are as famous as Alpamayo, known for its near-perfect pyramidal form and steep fluted faces. In fact, Alpinismus touted it "The Most Beautiful Mountain in the World" in one of its editions in 1966. It is the raw beauty, and technical challenge of Alpamayo that draws mountaineers from all over the world. When I decide on an expedition, I generally prioritize the aesthetic mountains over the highest, which made Alpamayo an essential item on my bucket list.
However, climbing to the top of Alpamayo was not a goal that presented itself easily. I attempted it one other time in July of 2022, but was sidelined by poor health and even worse weather and snow conditions. A year later I felt motivated to try again. This video retraces my steps on my second, and successful, attempt in July of 2023. Both trips were organized by Andean Raju Adventures, a local company based in Huaraz, Peru, employing some of the best mountain guides, expedition cooks, and porters in South America.
An Alpamayo Expedition typically lasts six or seven days, and begins at the small town of Cashapampa, where you enter Huascaran National Park. From there you follow the route of the Santa Cruz trek and stay at Llama Corral on Night 1, Continue to Alpamayo Base Camp on Day 2, Ascend to Moraine Camp on Day 3, do a steep glacier climb up to High Camp on Day 4, and push for the summit on Day 5. The summit push is by far the most physically and mentally demanding portion of the expedition, involving 6-7 pitches of ice climbing up a narrow corridor that reaching 70-80 degrees near the top. Over the final two days, expedition groups will normally retrace their steps back to Cashapampa. In my case, I continued to another mountain, Artesonraju, which will be the subject for another vlog.
0:00 Introduction
1:26 Day 1- Cashapampa to Llama Corral
5:25 Day 3- Alpamayo Base Camp to Moraine Camp
8:24 Day 4- Moraine camp to High Camp
10:42 High Camp Drone Flight
11:30 Day 5- Summit Day
12:59 Summit sequence
15:35 Descent to High Camp and then Base Camp
17:29 Day 6- Rest Day
18:14 Ending
18:47 Bloopers
Music is an essential part of producing these vlogs, as it helps capture the feelings I wish to convey. I am thankful for the artists who provide royalty free music, and I am including the sources to the tracks contained in this video below:
100 Seconds by Punch Deck | / punch-deck
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Heroism by MaxKoMusic | maxkomusic.com/
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Meditative Space by MaxKoMusic | maxkomusic.com/
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Peru Andean Acoustic by Onoychenko. The track was legally obtained from Icons8's Fugue website: icons8.com/music
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Legendary Epic Heroic Cinematic Music | Heroic by Alex-Productions | onsound.eu/
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Calendar by Vlad Gluschenko | / vgl9
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A Kind Of Hope by Scott Buckley | / scottbuckley
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i dreamed of you last night by ikkun (ex. Barradeen) | / ikkunwastaken
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[@juanreynoso2760]

Amazing

[@yanettmac]

Bravoooo !!!!!

[@scott.e.wiseman]

Thank you!!

[@1976ondy]

The Alpamayo rice mountains are a classic 😂

[@thomasschulze8397]

Obrigado por compartilhar!

[@scott.e.wiseman]

You are very welcome!!

[@joseantonionorabuenacelest1087]

Hermoso, gracias por difundir

[@scott.e.wiseman]

De nada!! 😊

[@andeanrajuexpeditions]

Hi Scott. We're happy for your accomplishment in Alpamayo. Thank you for choosing us again. The video looks great. See you soon!

[@scott.e.wiseman]

Thank you. I plan to come to Peru many more times, and I will always plan a climb with Andean Raju Adventures. You’re the best at what you do! :) The adventures are endless!

[@gracezevallosl4740]

Awesome video Congrats!

[@scott.e.wiseman]

I appreciate it. 😊

[@user-sl7hm1jh7q]

😊

[@Konsul135]

Fantastic video Scott! Alpamayo is my absolute dream-mountain, it is just such a beautiful peak and looks like a great climb as well.

[@scott.e.wiseman]

It was an obsession of mine for several years before I finally got there!

[@maxwiddershoven9323]

Really enjoyed watching this, great shots!! 🤩

[@scott.e.wiseman]

Thank you! Some shots were tough to get, especially walking the knife ridge with only one free hand, but it was worth it.

[@pulposabio]

awesome Scott! 😎

[@scott.e.wiseman]

Thank you!😊

[@rsevillatorres]

I have never seen a blog about Artesonraju. So that will be interesting. Congrats on your Alpamayo summit, amazing video, really enjoyed.

[@scott.e.wiseman]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. There will be an eventual vlog on Artesonraju, even though we turned around shy of the summit due to unsafe snow conditions, but it was still an amazing experience.

[@thesnapwalk]

I just got astonished when you filmed in left hand with the cam and then took care of those last steps with another hand on to ice. the last sentences got tears. Thanks for sharing this awesome memory. Wish you more climbing.

[@scott.e.wiseman]

Thank you! You were right! My steps became very slow while holding the 360 cam. I’m not sure I’d be able to self arrest if I slipped!

[@AdventureBasecamphq]

Great job and an awesome video, thanks!

[@malte.schulz93]

Thank you for this amazing video and congratulations for summiting! Alpamayo is also on my wish list 🙂

[@scott.e.wiseman]

Thank you. It took me two tries, but it was worth it.

[@thezuli123]

Congrats!! Really nice video!

[@scott.e.wiseman]

Thank you very much for your response!

[@ScalingSummits]

Solid film Scott and great footage! I've had Alpamayo on the list since my first climbing trip in Peru back in 2019 and told myself I'd return once I satisfied myself I had enough experience to attempt the beast. 5 years on am I ready. Cheers for the motivation, look forward to the next climb!

[@scott.e.wiseman]

Thank you so much for your comment and for watching the video. I wish you a successful journey to Alpamayo!

[@terryzhang4695]

NIce vid! I climbed Pisco and Yannapacha last summer and hope to come back for the "bigger" stuff next time - this was great inspiration :)

[@scott.e.wiseman]

Thanks! I hope this inspires you to go back for some loftier objectives!

[@IdRatherBeHiking]

Great video, that drone shot at 14:26 shows some were walking on top of the cornice.. yikes!

[@scott.e.wiseman]

😅😂. Yeah, it’s good that we don’t watch the drone footage until after the climb down. That’s the same serac that blocks us from doing the French Direct Route, because we are concerned with it falling on down from above. Yet… we go stand on top of it! 🤷‍♂️😅 But what’s alpine climbing without a little spice?

[@ledged_up]

Congrats and well done! A special mountain indeed, and you don't see too many parties make the full traverse to the true summit. Looks like you had good conditions on the ridge for that though.

[@scott.e.wiseman]

We left early enough to make the traverse. I also realized not many documented the traverse with a hero cam, so I took it on to challenge myself to do it. It was a little freaky to be on such a narrow traverse with only one hand on the ice ax, but the footage was worth it!

[@Apolo62]

[@GiuliaontheSummit]

🤍🤍

[@scott.e.wiseman]

Thanks!

[@jjones68]

Shortly after this video was filmed, I had Edgar as my guide on Huarapasca before going to Alpamayo. Edgar made a mistake in the abseil on the descent that caused us to fall and left me with life changing injuries, while I understand that thankfully he was able to fully recover from his. He has since been fired as a guide. This is not a knock on andeam raju expeditions as they could not have reacted better to the accident. To be crystal clear i would use them again, but please please be sure to never use Edgar again. We were both lucky to not have lost our lives.

[@ledged_up]

Holy hell, glad you both survived and it never hurts to check your guide's rigging, but as someone who does a lot of guided climbs I know there are so many times when we put our lives in their hands.

[@scott.e.wiseman]

Sorry I never responded. I just wasn’t sure what to say. I didn’t perceive Edgar putting me at any risk beyond what I normally accept when climbing a technical mountain like Alpamayo. That being said, no human being is exempt from making mistakes, and it is extremely unfortunate what happened on Huarapasca. I hope you are able to manage your injuries in the best way possible.

[@89shiella]

What's the difficulty level?

[@barhaiman8196]

D+