British Contrahierbas 2007

Although his intended climbing partner dropped out at the last minute, this leader was lucky to recruit two replacements when he arrived in Peru, so was still able to go ahead with his 'plan A' - an attempt at first ascents of peaks in the Cordillera Blanca. On acclimatisation trips, they were successful on Nevado Raria (5,576m) but were forced to abandon the first ascent of the S face of Nevado Bayoraju (5,460m) when they encountered thin hollow ice guarding a gully at 5,150m. They were more successful on Nevado Cajivilca III (5,419m) as they made the first ascent of its 500m SE face at AD+. On Nevado Contrahierbas (6,036m) they had reached 5,650m when Arbulo was hit by a falling rock: although not seriously hurt, the shock caused him to drop his rucksack, thus forcing a retreat. However the leader was able to trek into Quebrada Camchas, and thus complete his exploration of the Contrahierbas massif, a task he started in 2004. Barton reported that the proposed new regulations for climbing in Peru have been abandoned for the foreseeable future.