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NPWC#496: "Extremes"
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NPWC#496: "Extremes"

by Mark Hespenheide

Gallery: Weekly ChallengePosted August 20, 2011431 views7 comments
Climbing the West Face Direct, Tocllaraju, Peruvian Andes.

Stitched from three hand-held shots, each at about 32mm-equivalent. f/5.6, 1/200. Processed with global and local adjustments in Adobe Camera Raw, and then with layers in Photoshop.

Tocllaraju is one of the better-known "moderate" peaks in the Peruvian Andes, north of the city of Huaraz in the Cordillera Blanca. The summit is just over 6000m, making it popular with metric-oriented climbers. I'd attempted to climb it with a Peruvian guide before conditions above my comfort level caused me to ask to turn back at around 17,500' (about 2,400' below the summit). Once we descended past the 70-degree snow slope and back onto the glacier, our 3:00am start time had us descending in some nice sunrise light. As we were almost back down to the high camp, I saw this two-man party attempting the direct route on the west face of the peak. The small size of the figures below the massive snow and rock face gave a scale and scope to the mountaineering in the area, and the clouds and light coming over the ridgeline combined for an inspiring view. Despite turning back, I hope to get back next summer.

Comments

7 comments
Comment posted by Varina Patel on August 22, 2011 at 4:14 PM
This is breathtaking! The light in the sky and the gorgeous location would be beautiful even without the climbers... but their presence provides a sense of scale that gives us a much stronger sense of the enormity of the mountain... and makes the image that much more effective. It's no longer just a pretty mountain - it's a challenging climb in extreme conditions. Well done! And I hope you make the summit next summer. :)
Registered on August 22, 2008, 45 Posts, 1578 Comments
Comment posted by Anand Narayanan on August 22, 2011 at 5:51 PM
Awesome ! would love to visit there sometime ! That looks like a scary bergschrund. Love the clouds hanging above the ridge.
Registered on October 25, 2009, 110 Posts, 835 Comments
Comment posted by Ray Whitt on August 23, 2011 at 6:55 PM
Beautiful image Mark, congratulations on the WP.

Ray
Registered on May 27, 2011, 92 Posts, 2619 Comments
Comment posted by Catherine Reilly on August 23, 2011 at 8:23 PM
Congratulations on your attempt, Mark. Wise of you to heed your comfort level! This is a marvelous shot of the mountain, its scope, terrain, etc., in pristine dawn light. Way to go!
Registered on August 16, 2006, 603 Posts, 9192 Comments
Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on August 23, 2011 at 11:36 PM
Great light and overall image.
Congrats on the WP!
Sandy
Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments
Comment posted by Doug Koepsel on August 24, 2011 at 11:01 AM
Mark, Congrats on your weekly pick. Good luck next summer.
Registered on April 1, 2010, 196 Posts, 1592 Comments
Comment posted by Mark Hespenheide on August 25, 2011 at 2:29 AM
Thanks, everyone! I feel honored to have been chosen. I definitely think that NPN is one of (if not the) best communities of landscape and nature photographers on the net, so I'm happy to be recognized.

I'm hoping to do some mountaineering in Utah next spring before some of the Cascades volcanoes early next summer, so we'll see about returning to Peru and the Cordillera Blanca.

Anand, it's actually a pretty easy flight from Los Angeles to Peru. We did a four-hour flight to Panama City, and then 2.5 hours down to Lima. Unfortunately, after that it's a ten-hour bus ride up to Huaraz...
Registered on August 14, 2010, 3 Posts, 61 Comments