Plateriyayoc Group, Cordillera Urubamba. The Plateriyayoc group

Plateriyayoc Group, Cordillera Urubamba. The Plateriyayoc group lies some 40 miles north of Verónica between the rivers Ocabamba and Yanatili. It is an extension of the Terijuay group, first visited by Fulvio Ratto’s Italian expedition in 1963. ( A.A.J., 1964, 14:1, pp. 217-8.) The mountains are of firm granite and glaciers are steep but not complex. Difficulties were mainly of a rock-climbing nature, except for P 5330 in the Terijuay group, which presented us with both difficult rock, and snow and ice. Our expedition, Dennis Kemp, Mike O’Gorman, Glyn Thomas, Owen Davies, Gwynfor Hughes, Mike Lewis, Martyn Williams, Dave Williams and I, left Calca in the Urubamba valley by lorry for Amparaes in the Yanatili valley. We hired mules for the four-day trek to Base Camp on the south side of the range. An approach from the north would have been better, for here there was less fresh snow. This would have meant, however, an ascent from 6000 feet through thick untracked jungle, and a brief attempt showed it impossible. We climbed the following peaks, all in mid-August, from a Base Camp in the Quebrada Nuestta at 13,000 feet: Escay Chiptana (15,950 feet) by D. Williams, Lewis, Davis and me; Nevado Plateriyayoc (16,530 feet) by D. Williams, Kemp and Thomas; Nevado Kqquinte (north and south peaks, 17,000 feet) by O’Gorman and Hughes; and Chiptana-Can-Paycunapac-Kquillya (16,150 feet) by Kemp, Lewis, Thomas, O’Gorman and me. Attempts on three other

peaks failed because of bad weather and excessive powder snow. We used bivouacs on the mountains instead of advanced camps to avoid load carrying, a system that worked well. A la n S. H u n t , Normal College (Bangor, North Wales) Mountaineering Club