Page 24 - 2014 AMA Summer

Exercise Peruvian Cat
Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Occidental – 23 April – 23 May 14
Written by Damian Warren
In the Spring of 2014, twelve soldiers from 101 (City of London) Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), many of whom had recently returned from serving in Afghanistan, and
East Midlands Universities’ Officer Training Corps, completed a 30-day expedition to carry out high altitude mountaineer- ing in the Peruvian Andes, culminating in the successful ascent of Coropuna (6425m), Peru’s 3rd highest mountain. Other than the two instructors, the team consisted entirely of other ranks and junior non-commissioned officers. A key tenet of the expedition was to introduce novice and intermediate mountaineers to alpine mountaineering adventurous training with the hope of inspiring the soldiers to lead similar expeditions in the future. The participants were Maj John Tolan, Capt Damian Warren, Cpl Jim A’Hara, Cpl ‘Chuck’ Berry, LCpl Ant Bayliss, LCpl Tom Eaves, Spr ‘Benny’ Hill, Spr Dan Sheldon, Spr Chris Wagstaff, Spr Sam Roslyn, Spr Matt Dalley and Spr Jordan McDonagh.
This article has two primary aims. The first is to describe the expedition in terms of the challenges faced and the successes achieved. The second is to act as a reference for future expeditions, whether planning to conduct adventurous training in Peru or high altitude mountaineering elsewhere. The AMA readership is wide- ranging, from that of novices to knowledgeable mountaineers. It is hoped this article will be useful to all.
Expedition Synopsis
The team undertook thorough preparatory training where all members gained the winter mountain foundation qualification – basic winter mountaineering skills (using crampons and ice axes while moving over snow-covered terrain). Additionally, all of the team completed a Scottish training exercise (based at Inverness), on which three remote Munros, Scottish mountains over 3000ft, were climbed in typically adverse Scottish conditions. During the main expedition to Peru the team completed an acclimatisation phase with everyone reaching heights over 4600m, just 200m below the height of Mont Blanc. The acclimatisation treks were set
22 ARMY MOUNTAINEER
in rural Peruvian locations bringing home the hardship of the local people who live off the land on the most incredible gradients. The indigenous Peruvians could always be spotted in their colourful attire between the maze and corn fields, normally accompanied by a menagerie of animals, key to their livelihood.
The first mountain phase saw the team move to the steep-sided and jagged-walled Ishinca valley. Alpine skills were taught by Major Tolan, the senior instructor who has been to the valley many times before, Captain Warren who was both the expedition leader and alpine mountain instructor and 2 local guides. The lessons included crevasse rescue, abseiling, moving together while roped up and further practice in wearing technical equipment – ice axes and crampons. Towering above base camp was a snow covered glaciated mountain called Ishinca (5530m). The team set off to climb the mountain which, being early in the season, had deep snow and very few previous tracks to follow. After 9 hours of negotiating crevasses, ice cliffs and steep snow slopes the entire team reached the summit of Ishinca, a really impressive feat just nine days into the expedition.
After the initial success of climbing Ishinca the team’s morale was high and the plan for the next phase was to climb Copa, a huge 6000m mountain. Unfortunately, significantly high snowfall resulted in an immediate escape to the valley floor between two nearby avalanches. Notably, the team made it to the high camp at 5200m carrying full mountain packs crossing boulder fields and ascending a lose scree gulley – all credit to the team’s determination to climb a 6000m mountain. The unstable snowpack and prediction of continued dangerous conditions resulted in a quick adjustment of the plan, forcing the team to move to Southern Peru to attempt the volcanic giant, Coropuna, 6425m.
The unexpected move required the team to be flexible and change objective to an unplanned mountain. The move from Northern Peru to the town of Arequipa in Southern Peru required over 24 hours of bus travel covering nearly 2000km. The team then moved