Taulliraju - Southwest Face

Peru's Cordillera Blanca is one of the most stunning mountain ranges of the world, featuring crazy snow formations, runnels and mushrooms that seem to defy gravity. Of all the summits, Taulliraju may not be the highest (Huascaran), the most beautiful (Alpamayo) or the most popular (Pisco), but it might well be the most important in the history of andinism, with cutting edge ascents since its first in 1956 by the legendary Lionel Terray. Among many notable climbs, the 1982 one by a young British climber on his first ever expedition, Mick Fowler, who with Chris Watts drew a superb and rarely repeated line on the Second Buttress. Four years earlier, Nicolas Jaeger had boldly soloed a traversing ice line on the nearby south-southwest face, one of the most stunning achievements of his too brief climbing career. 

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Route List

1: West Ridge, ED- 5.8 WI5 M5, Fortune, McDowell, Measures, Pearson, 2016
2: El Tajo, ED+ 5.10d WI5 A3, Donozo, Pizzaro, Pizzaro, 1993
3: Italian Route, ED 5.9 WI6 M6 A2, Calcagno, DeBenedetti, Piazzo, Perona, Vialardi, Vidoni, 1980
4: Fowler Solo, TD WI4, C. Fowler, 1988
5: Quebec Variant, TD+ WI5, Bourbonnais, Laforest, 1983
6: Corominas-Baro Attempt,Baro, Corominas, 2011
7: Clay-Sykes, ED- 5.10 WI5 A1, Clay, Sykes, 1989
8: Fowler-Watts, ED+ 5.7 WI6 A3, Fowler, Watts, 1982
9: Japanese Route, ED- 5.7 WI4, Mizobuchi, Nagashino, Yoda, 1976
10: Jaeger Route, ED+, Jaeger, 1978
11: ANZAC Variation, ED- M6, Joll, Fortune, Scholes, 2016
12: GMHM Route, TD+ WI4 M4, Gleizes, Griska, Prom, 1987
13: Voie des Guides, TD+, Balmat, Fabre, Monaci, Thivierge, 1978
14: South Ridge, TD M5, Fortune, McDowell, Pearson, 2016

Sources

• “Mountain Profile: Taulliraju,” Mick Fowler, Alpinist, Issue 7, Summer 2004

• “Climbs of the Cordillera Blanca of Peru,” David Sharman, Whizzo Climbs, 1995

• “Classic Climbs of the Cordillera Blanca of Peru,” Brad Johnson, 2003

• “Cordillera Blanca, escalada, Parte norte,” Antonio Gómez Bohórquez, Andes Info, 2004

• “Yuraq Janka, Cordillera Blanc and Rosko,” John F. Ricker, AAC/ACC, 1977

• “Escalada en los Andes, Guía de la Cordillera Blanca,” Juanjo Tomé, Desnivel Editions, 1999

• “New routes on Taulliraju and other ascents,” Ben Dare, AAJ, 2016

• “Cordillera Blanca,” AAJ, 1994

• “Taulliraju’s Southwest Face,” Mick Fowler, AAJ, 1983

• “Cordillera Blanca [...] Taulliraju, South-Southeast Ridge,” Jean-Luc Fabre, AAJ, 1979

• “Cordillera Blanca [...] Taulliraju,” Nicolas Jaeger, AAJ, 1979

• Andes Info

• Ari’s Basecamp

• Summitpost

• Sevi Bohorquez

• Mick Fowler

Updates

Sep 13, 2023: First version published.

Aug 13, 2025: minor graphic update