Huascarán
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Huascarán (), ( Quechua: Waskaran), Nevado Huascarán or Mataraju is a
mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...
located in Yungay Province,
Department of Ancash Ancash (; ) is a department and region in western Peru. It is bordered by the departments of La Libertad on the north, Huánuco and Pasco on the east, Lima on the south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. Its capital is the city of Huaraz, a ...
,
Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
. It is situated in the
Cordillera Blanca The Cordillera Blanca (Spanish for "white range") is a mountain range in Peru that is part of the larger Andes range and extends for between 8°08' and 9°58'S and 77°00' and 77°52'W, in a northwesterly direction. It includes several peaks ove ...
range of the western
Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...
. The southern summit of Huascarán (Huascarán Sur), which reaches , is the highest point in
Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
, the northern Andes (north of
Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; ; ) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. Titicaca is the largest lake in South America, both in terms of the volume of ...
), and in all of the earth's
Tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...
. Huascarán is the 4th highest mountain in
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
after
Aconcagua Aconcagua () is a mountain in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes mountain range, in Mendoza Province, Argentina. It is the highest mountain in the Americas, the highest outside Asia, and the highest in both the Western Hemisphere and the ...
,
Ojos del Salado Nevado Ojos del Salado is a Dormant volcano, dormant complex volcano in the Andes on the Argentina–Chile border. It is the highest volcano on Earth and the highest peak in Chile. The upper reaches of Ojos del Salado consist of several overlapp ...
, and Monte Pissis. Huascarán is ranked 25th by
topographic isolation The topographic isolation of a summit is the minimum geographical distance, horizontal distance to a point of equal elevation, representing a radius of dominance in which the peak is the highest point. It can be calculated for small hills and is ...
.


Name

Until the 20th century, the mountain lacked a single commonly accepted name but it was rather known by different names within the surrounding towns and villages. The first recorded mention of the name Huascaran appeared in 1850 as Huascan, name given by the local people likely because the mountain rises above the village of Huashco, Huashco getting its name from the Quechua word for rope (waska). At the beginning of the 20th century, the name appeared as Huascarán, a form which has not since changed. It seems that the name Huascarán is merely a contraction of Huashco-Urán. When the mountain was mentioned, it was thought of in connection with the village and was called Huashco-Urán or “Beyond and down from the village of Huashco.” Other names given to the mountain were Matarao and Mataraju, Mataraju being the name by which the local indigenous inhabitants prefer to call the mountain, from Ancash Quechua mata (twin) and rahu (snow peak), meaning 'twin snow peaks'.


Myth

Huascarán was a noble man who lived in a certain place in
Áncash Ancash (; ) is a regions of Peru, department and Regional Government of Áncash, region in western Peru. It is bordered by the departments of Department of La Libertad, La Libertad on the north, Department of Huánuco, Huánuco and Department of ...
, while Huandoy was a woman who lived in a small town very close to where this mountain is now. Huascarán was enormously in love with the girl, so they always saw each other secretly. One day Huascarán's father found out that he was in love with the little woman, so he asked the Sun God for help. Seeing that he could not separate the two lovers, he decided to turn them into
mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...
s, but the divinity decided to bring them together so that despite their being mountains they continued with their love.


Geography

The mountain has two distinct summits, the higher being the south one (Huascarán Sur) with an elevation of . The north summit (Huascarán Norte) has an elevation of . The two summits are separated by a saddle (called 'Garganta'). The core of Huascarán, like much of the Cordillera Blanca, consists of
Cenozoic The Cenozoic Era ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, insects, birds and angiosperms (flowering plants). It is the latest of three g ...
granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
.Ricker, John F., ''Yuraq Janka: Cordilleras Blanca and Rosko'', Alpine Club of Canada, 1977, , after Wilson, Reyes, and Garayar, 1967. Huascarán gives its name to Huascarán National Park which surrounds it, and is a popular location for trekking and
mountaineering Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become mounta ...
. The Huascarán summit is one of the points on the Earth's surface farthest from the Earth's center, closely behind the farthest point,
Chimborazo Chimborazo () is a stratovolcano situated in Ecuador in the Cordillera Occidental (Ecuador), Cordillera Occidental range of the Andes. Its last known Types of volcanic eruptions, eruption is believed to have occurred around AD 550. Although not ...
in
Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
. The summit of Huascarán is the place on Earth with the smallest
gravitational force Newton's law of universal gravitation describes gravity as a force by stating that every particle attracts every other particle in the universe with a force that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the sq ...
, with an estimated acceleration of 9.76392 m/s2.


Climbing

Huascarán is normally climbed from the village of Musho to the west via a high camp in the col that separates the two summits, known as La Garganta. The ascent normally takes five to seven days, the main difficulties being the large crevasses that often block the route. The normal route is of moderate difficulty and rated between PD and AD (depending on the conditions of the mountain) according to the International French Adjectival System. On July 20, 2016, nine climbers were caught in an avalanche on Huascarán's normal route at approximately , four of whom died. On July 9th, 2024, it was reported that the body of William Stampfl, an American mountaineer, had been found 22 years after he disappeared in an avalanche in June 2002. The body of one of Stampfl's climbing companions had previously been recovered. A third member of the group is still unaccounted for.


History

The summit of Huascarán Sur was first reached on 20 July 1932 by a joint German
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
n expedition. The team followed what would become later the normal route (named today Garganta route). The north peak (Huascarán Norte) had previously been climbed on 2 September 1908 by a
U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...
expedition that included Annie Smith Peck, though this first ascent is somewhat disputed. In 1989, a group of eight
amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...
mountaineers, the "Social Climbers", held what was recognized by the ''
Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...
'' (1990 edition) to be "the world's highest dinner party" on top of the mountain, as documented by Chris Darwin and John Amy in their book ''The Social Climbers'', and raised £10,000 for charity.


Huascarán Norte

Apart from the normal route, climbed in 1908 and rated PD+/AD-, all the other routes are committing and serious. # Northwest ridge ('Italian' route), rated ED1/ED2 climbed on 25 July 1974 by E. Detomasi, C. Piazzo, D. Saettone and T. Vidone. # Northwest face ('Polish-Czech' variant), rated ED1/ED2, climbed on 14 July 1985 by B. Danihelkova, Z. Hofmannová, A. Kaploniak, E. Parnejko and E. Szczesniak. # North face ('Paragot' route), rated ED1, climbed on 10 July 1966 by R. Paragot, R. Jacob, C. Jacoux and D. Leprince-Ringuet. # North face ('Swiss' route), rated ED2+, climbed on 23 May 1986 by D. Anker and K. Saurer. This route requires at least four days on the face. # North face ('Spanish' route), rated ED2+, climbed on 20 July 1983 by J. Moreno, C. Valles and J. Tomas.


Huascarán Sur

As for the South summit, apart from the normal route all the others are difficult. # West ridge ('Shield' route), rated D+, climbed on 15 June 1969 by W. Broda, S. Merler and B. Segger. Approach as for the Garganta route but after the route develops over the knife-edge West ridge before getting to the summit icefield. # West ridge direct ('Lomo fino' route), rated TD-, was climbed on 7 July 2007 by M. Ybarra and S. Sparano. Approach as for the Garganta route but after the route develops straight over the West face. # Northeast ridge ('Spanish' route), rated TD+, was climbed on 18 July 1961 by F. Mautino, P. Acuna, A. Perez and S. Rivas. The route starts from Chopicalqui col, takes across the upper part of the Matara glacier and reaches the northeast ridge developing across cornices and snow mushrooms.


1970 earthquake

On 31 May 1970, the Ancash earthquake caused a substantial part of the north side of the mountain to collapse in an
avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a Grade (slope), slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, othe ...
with an estimated of ice, mud and rock, measured about . It advanced about at an average speed of , burying the towns of Yungay and Ranrahirca under ice and rock, killing more than 20,000 people. At least 20,000 people were also killed in Huaraz, site of a 1941 avalanche (see Palcacocha Lake). Estimates suggest that the earthquake killed over 66,000 people. The final toll was 67,000 dead and 800,000 homeless, making this the worst earthquake-induced disaster in the Western Hemisphere until the
2010 Haiti earthquake The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake that struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (departm ...
. Also buried by an avalanche was a Czechoslovak mountaineering team, none of whose 15 members were ever seen again. This and other earthquake-induced avalanche events are often described evocatively as "eruptions" of Huascarán, despite not being of volcanic origin. An earlier avalanche on January 10, 1962, caused by a rapid rise in temperature, killed an estimated 4,000 people.


See also

*
Cordillera Blanca The Cordillera Blanca (Spanish for "white range") is a mountain range in Peru that is part of the larger Andes range and extends for between 8°08' and 9°58'S and 77°00' and 77°52'W, in a northwesterly direction. It includes several peaks ove ...


Bibliography

* * *


References


External links

*
Huascarán in Yungay, Peru


(Spanish)


About "Huascarán" in Portuguese

Vilem Heckel, in Czech

Gravity extremes article at newscientist.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huascaran Mountains of the Department of Ancash Huascarán National Park Avalanches Landslides in Peru Highest points of countries Six-thousanders of the Andes