Alpamayo

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title: "Alpamayo" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mountains-of-the-department-of-ancash", "huascarán-national-park", "five-thousanders-of-the-andes", "pyramidal-peaks"] description: "Mountain in Peruvian Andes" topic_path: "general/mountains-of-the-department-of-ancash" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpamayo" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Mountain in Peruvian Andes ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox mountain"]

Field	Value
name	Alpamayo
photo	Alpamayo 12.jpg
map	Peru
map_caption	Peru
location	Ancash, Peru
label_position	top
coordinates
elevation_m	5947
prominence_ref
parent_peak	Quitaraju
language	Quechua
range	Cordillera Blanca
first_ascent	June 20, 1957, by Günter Hauser, Berhard Huhn and Horst Wiedmann.
easiest_route	Difficult snow/ice climb on SW face
map_size	220
native_name	qu
::

| name = Alpamayo | photo = Alpamayo 12.jpg | photo_caption = | map = Peru | map_caption = Peru | location = Ancash, Peru | label_position = top | coordinates = | elevation_m = 5947 | elevation_ref = | prominence_m = 524 | prominence_ref = | parent_peak = Quitaraju | translation = | language = Quechua | range = Cordillera Blanca | coordinates_ref = | first_ascent = June 20, 1957, by Günter Hauser, Berhard Huhn and Horst Wiedmann. | easiest_route = Difficult snow/ice climb on SW face | map_size = 220 | native_name = qu Alpamayo (possibly from Quechua allpa earth, mayu river, "earth river") or Shuyturaju (possibly from Ancash Quechua huytu, shuytu oblong, slim and long, Quechua rahu snow, ice, mountain covered in snow) is one of the most conspicuous peaks in the Cordillera Blanca of the Peruvian Andes. Alpamayo Creek originates northwest of it.

The Alpamayo lies next to the slightly higher Quitaraju.

In July 1966, the German magazine "Alpinismus", published a photo of Alpamayo taken by American photographer Leigh Ortenburger accompanied by an article on a survey among mountaineering experts, who chose Alpamayo as "The Most Beautiful Mountain in the World".

Climbing history and routes

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Alpamayo.jpg" caption="Climbers on Alpamayo in 2003"] ::

Most popular routes start from the village of Caraz, on the north of the Cordillera Blanca. A French-Belgian expedition including George and Claude Kogan claimed to have made the first ascent in 1951. After studying the photos in George Kogan's book The Ascent of Alpamayo, the German team of G. Hauser, F. Knauss, B. Huhn & H. Wiedmann came to the conclusion that the 1951 team did not reach the actual summit, thereby making their ascent via the north ridge in 1957 the first.

The most common climbing route, known as the Ferrari route, is situated on the southwest face of the mountain. It was opened in 1975 by a group of Italian alpinists led by Casimiro Ferrari. It is considered a difficult climb, demanding good crampon and ice climbing technique. There are incomparable views of steep ice faces, penitentes, gigantic white walls and ridges like those of Huandoy Norte, Artesonraju and Huascaran Norte, similar to the finest of the Himalayan scenery. There are also at least six other alternative climbing routes, the second most popular being the Vasque-French route.

References

References

1. [https://peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=8455 Peakbagger - Alpamayo]
2. "Peru 1:100 000, Corongo (18-h)". IGN (Instituto Geográfico Nacional - Perú).
3. "Nevado Alpamayo". MINCETUR.
4. Teofilo Laime Ajacopa, Diccionario Bilingüe Iskay simipi yuyayk'ancha, La Paz, 2007 (Quechua-Spanish dictionary)
5. [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robert_beer/Vocabulario%20comparativo%20Quechua%20ecuator%20Quechua%20ancash%20-%2020%20Oct%2006.PDF homepage.ntlworld.com/robert_beer] {{webarchive. link. (2016-03-04 Robert Beér, Armando Muyolema, Dr. Hernán S. Aguilar, Vocabulario comparativo, quechua ecuatoriano - quechua ancashino - castellano - English, Brighton 2006)
6. "babylon.com".
7. Hibbert, Ian. (2015). "Alpamayo to Everest: It's Not About the Summit". Lulu Press.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::