Three Bodies Found in Crevasse in Peru

Two Chilean men and a third with a dual Russian-U.S. citizenship were found deceased on the morning of August 1st, after nine days missing.  They were attempting to climb Piramide de Garcilaso, a peak located in the Cordillera Blanca range in central Peru.

Rafael Figueroa, from the Mountain Guides Association of Peru (AGMP), believes that the three men caused an avalanche on the 19,308 foot peak, as the bodies were buried under snow and in a crevasse, one of which was decapitated from what’s thought to be a large block of ice… 

“These three people appear to have tried to climb the face of the snow-capped mountain of Piramide de Garcilaso without a trained guide for this type of expedition.” “We recommend all tourists…go with trained personnel.”  

The death of these three mountaineers is causing controversy in the South American climbing community, according to The Huaraz Telegraph.  Julio Maguiña, director of the High Mountain Institute in Huaraz and head of the Casa de Guías rescue team is now pushing the rangers of Huascaran National Park to start a register that forces an official guide to accompany any climbers to mitigate future accidents.

Swiss-born Jean-Paul Glassey, former president of the chamber of tourism in Ancash, is putting the blame on the national park for the climbers deaths.  Glassey states that there is already a regulation that mountaineers and climbers are required to go with certified guides, but is never followed.  In addition to this, the climbers’ entrance into the national park was not even recorded.