3:30am: we are on our way after a drink and some food. I got ready first at the base of the ice, and fired off the first pitch onto the glacier - it is quite steep for the first 10 meters, and then eased off. I pounded in a picket at about 40 meters, and belayed John up. The others followed and we formed a rope team of 4 for the glacier. Quite quickly we arrived at the face, and switched back to two teams of two. At one point John was leading and trying to find a place to cross the bergschrund on the right side, when he dropped his headlamp. He was almost directly above me and I heard something sliding on the snow - with two sideways steps, I reached with my ice tool and snagged it with a swing of my pick. It was one of those sweet moments. Our route didn't go, so we downclimbed to join the others at the spot they had found on the far left. Crossing the bergschrund was one of the scariest thing I've done - it was huge, and the bridge wasn't particularly well-travelled, but it supported us. To get onto the face, you had to plunge both tools' shafts and pull up, meanwhile trying to find a foothold that supported bodyweight - then you could move up. We pitched out the terrain, even though we originally intended on simulclimbing. Now we were in the clouds, and it was cold and very windy as well. Soon we were at the ridge. From there, one pitch (with a scary 70 degree step of snow onto the ridge) and we were onto the summit!

To descend, we did a combination of solo downclimbing and rappelling (nobody wanted to downclimb the bergschrund). I did a quick Abalakov to get off the steep lip of the glacier, too. We quickly made it back to camp, and me and John packed up our things, heading back to Cebollapampa. I was tired, but the thought of a Shower meal kept me going - and it was well justified, as it turned out! The two Toms stayed in camp for the night and joined us the next morning.

	Shower helping us carry a load to Yanapaccha moraine camp		Tom hiking up the steep slopes to moraine camp

			the broken up glacier as seen as we approach moraine camp

	John nearing moraine camp	the lake where we camped	the lake where we camped

	a pitch of steep ice to get onto the glacier (scoping it out the day before)		a pitch of steep ice to get onto the glacier (scoping it out the day before)

	a pitch of steep ice to get onto the glacier (scoping it out the day before)	a pitch of steep ice to get onto the glacier (scoping it out the day before)	Chopicalqui and the two Huascarans from the way up Yanapaccha at sunrise

	Huandoys at sunrise as seen from partway up Yanapaccha	Chopicalqui and the two Huascarans from the way up Yanapaccha at sunrise	John leading up steep snow

	John leading up steep snow	John belaying me as I find a way across the sketchy bergshrund	John climbing steep snow after having crossed the bergshrund

	John climbing steep snow after having crossed the bergshrund	John climbing steep snow after having crossed the bergshrund	John climbing steep snow to join me near the summit of Yanapaccha

	John climbing steep snow to join me near the summit of Yanapaccha	John climbing steep snow to join me near the summit of Yanapaccha	John climbing steep snow to join me near the summit of Yanapaccha

	the summit	John climbing	John climbing

	me at the summit	me at the summit	downclimbing

	downclimbing	downclimbing	me posing

	soloing down the face	after we rappelled the bergshrund	rappelling the bergshrund

	descending the glacier	descending the glacier	I quickly fired in an Abalakov and we rappelled off the steep lip of the glacier

	John rappelling	A Peruvian cairn	Huascarans at sunset

	my 30kg backpack	an amazing meal prepared by Shower as I rolled back into camp...	waking up happy after a 12-hour sleep the next morning