CORDILLERA BLANCA, Peru: Swedish skier Elias Ejderhamn and Italian Marco Malcangi completed an Artesonraju ski descent that appears to be the Southwest Face’s first known repeat in 45 years.
ExplorersWeb disclosed the feat on July 30 after speaking with Ejderhamn following the expedition. The outlet did not publish the exact descent date.
The skiers navigated seracs across slopes ranging mainly from 55 to 70 degrees. The gradient eased to about 45 degrees near the bottom.
They encountered metre-thick crust over loose snow, accumulated spindrift and exposed ice. Ejderhamn said they experienced “heavenly turns” and “hellish ones” before reaching the bottom after dark.
Ejderhamn and Malcangi had initially targeted an unclimbed line elsewhere in the Cordillera Blanca. The ice covering its lower wall forced them to abandon that objective.
They later considered Artesonraju’s Southeast Face before selecting the lesser-known Southwest Face during their approach through the Parón Valley.
The skiers initially believed they had completed the face’s first descent. Research at the ENSA library in Chamonix later uncovered a 1981 account by French skier Gérard Chantriaux.
The American Alpine Journal records Chantriaux’s first descent on July 13, 1981. He reported slopes reaching 60 degrees and a steep, narrow passage through the seracs.
Ejderhamn and Malcangi found no evidence of another Southwest Face descent during the intervening 45 years. They also reported that the glacier, seracs and passages had changed substantially since Chantriaux’s expedition.
