Tocclaraju fact sheet:

Elevation	6034m / 19790ft
First Ascent	1939, by Brecht and Schweizer
Best Climbing Months:	June, July, August
Description	An ice fluted pyramid most commonly accessed from Quebrada Ishinca. Standard route is NW ridge, recommended for descent.

     The climb of Tocclaraju was more complicated. Most important, the climb would be done in two days, with climbing to a high camp on day 1, and do the summit climb on day 2.
 

First clear view of Tocclaraju, on the day of the Ishinca climb.

Sunrise over Tocclaraju.

On the fourth day in Ishinca BC, we set off for Tocclaraju High Camp (5100m.) at 10:00am, and reached it at 14:40am. Here, Mich, Tom and support team member Julio wonder around a little bit.

Me in the High Camp, with Ishinca and Ranrapalca visible on the other side of the valley.

Sight of Tocclaraju from High Camp, with summit in clouds. The climbing route is roughly: reach the ridge on the left of the picture, then reach the summit circling around the mountain clockwise from the left ridge up.

By now everybody was eating paracetamol to get rid of the headaches. Altitude sure is a killer... We left High Camp at 02:00am on the fifth day and walked in moonlight for two hours. After the moon had disappeared behind clouds, I managed to step on a snowbridge that was very unstable and instantly collapsed. My head and arms remained above surface, and the rest of my mody was tangling in the crevasse. With a little help of Mich and Ivry, I managed to climb out again. No big deal in the end...
 

After surviving a small snowstorm at daybreak, we were ready for the final part. In the picture, Victor is leading the final pitch to the summit, while Anders has tied everybody to his harness so that he can no doubt safely take a picture.

It's getting cold: waiting for 20 minutes at close to 6000m...

...just standing there at a steep angle...!!

But the reward is there: we reached 6034m. on Tocclaraju, with nothing higher to go, at 09:40am on June 2, 2001.

Looking down from the summit on the height we covered, with High Camp visible (middle-right).

We went down after a short stay on the summit, with clouds drifting in, just to find our tracks completely disappeared. It had started to snow a little bit, and the wind was back. That must have erased the tracks. It looked nasty at the time, but we found the tracks again and didn't have to sit out the storm.

After descending through the clouds, visibility got much better. Ivry and Anders are looking good for the final part of the descend to High Camp. We reached High Camp at 13:50, and, after a short rest, we left again for Base Camp at 15:30, reaching BC at 17:45. A long day: 900 meters up, and 1700 down again in 14 hours.

The sixth day in Ishinca BC was a very nice rest day, with a marvelous well-deserved breakfast outside in the sun. From left, clockwise, to the right: Elias(cook), Mich, Anders, Daniel (BC manager), Jeroen, Roger, Ivry and Tom, with Victor taking the picture.

Sunrise over Tocclaraju on the day after the climb.

Descending again from Ishinca BC, with the oxygen rich valley in the distance below.

Poverty in the trail-end settlement Collon, after the BC descend...

Daniel and Julio are unpacking the mule-loads, transferring them to truck.