Cayesh....NOT!

We hiked into Cayesh valley expecting to climb a beautiful spire of Cayesh. Who has not seen Steve House's video about climbing this peak should watch it - it is awesome! I brought Bimbo, Fanny and Cheburashka to make sure we are unstoppable. Turned out it was not enough. Hamik had an inflammation on his foot, and didn't want to attempt such a difficult climb with an injury. Since I had too much energy to waste I headed up to solo Andavite (5,446 M). Starting after 11 am from camp below Maparaju, I made pretty good time. I met several parties from Argentina coming down. They all started before sunrise and for various reasons did not make the summit. The weather been unstable all day, but to my surprise there was no precipitation. At one point I had to cross a slope with deadly exposure, threatened from above by 30 foot icicles - very exciting to get across in a hurry. After that the summit was within grasp, but I found myself waist deep under-ground. Turned out there was a hidden crevasse. I managed to climb out and find a way to cross it. Five more minutes of slogging put me on the true summit. Even for a cloudy day the views were fine. Unclimbed South Face of Tullparaju looked more complicated than on photos from previous years. I took a few photos and headed down. Jumping over that crevasse on the way down was fairly epic. Got back to camp just before sunrise. I guess Cayesh will have to wait till another year..."everything that happens, happens for the better." Hope so.

Photos:

We camped below next to this waterfall (our water source) on our first night

Cayesh seen from our camp

Cayesh is the high point on the left

Andavite - was a fun day out

Crossing below these daggers was especially fun. At least it wasn't sunny.

San Juan

Summit Ridge

Peak in the distance clearing for a minute

Maybe I didn't climb it, but at least I took a photo with it (Cayesh) :)

Unclimbed S. Face of Tullparaju

Managed to crawl out from here

Cayesh

Tried this fruit. Turned out to be tasty..