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Huge New Bolted Multi-Pitch 5.13 on Peru Big Wall

Charlotte Durif and Josh Larson spent nine days establishing the monster line

Charlotte Durif and Josh Larson recently established Vuelo del Condor, a new seven-pitch 5.13 up Kuntur Sayana in Peru. The climb starts well over 4,000 metres above sea level.

French crusher Durif and leading American climber Larson spotted the line last year and returned fully equipped with the gear needed to bolt the big wall. The first ascent took nine days and they freed it on Sept. 19.

The seven-pitch route breaks down to: 5.13+, 5.13-, 5.13-, 5.13-, 5.12+ and 5.10. “I made it to the anchor of the fifth pitch (5.13b) out of breath, cramped arms from climbing, belaying and hauling and maybe dehydrated,” said Larson. “It felt good knowing it was the last hard pitch – two more until the summit.”

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On our first attempt we came up short. The routes were a bit harder than we thought when we were bolting and cleaning last week. I don’t think we accounted for the elevation, sustained climbing and how that would all add up for the red-point run. ?‍♂️ @chadurif and I got our asses kicked and we left rappelling down in the dark – two pitches left undone. • 15’500 + multiple 5.13 climbing + the cold wrecked us real good (ahhh duh). We took a good rest and cleaned the route some more today and we’ll give it another good-one in a few days. • What a dope project. ? • Photo by the man @jan_novak_photography while I make some moves on pitch 5! Colors! • Thanks @mountainhardwear @petzl_official @frictionlabs @fiveten_official for the support and stoke! #pitumarca #pitumarcaclimbing #peru #aworldlesstraveled

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They topped out in a thunderstorm and climbed quickly to tag the top of the route. “As Charlotte started to follow – thunder roared in the distance,” said Larson. “Then lightning. Wind picked up. You could see that it was a dark snow storm.

“It was about to get epic if we didn’t move fast. It seemed like Charlotte and the storm moved in sync, closer and closer. She arrived, took one min to catch her breath and she took off on the last two pitches – linking them into a 60-metre pitch (5.12 into 5.10). We reached the summit completely out of breath and wrecked but so damn happy we did it and did it together.”

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Trading belays with @joshlrsn during our ascent of "Vuelo Del Condor" We decided to switch the leader (and thus the belayer) every two pitches so one wouldn't have to lead all the hardest pitches if we went the classic swinging leads way… but we found out that there were many more hard pitches that we expected, so it probably didn't matter at the end ? Only two more days on @petzl_official first #belaybetter photo contest! Post a picture of you belaying and put #BelayBetter in the caption… this way you may get a chance to win a sick pack if the jury select your photo as the best! Last day is Oct 10th! Also, @jan_novak_photography and @coldhousemedia (us) have been sorting the photos from our trip to Peru and we are so excited about them! Here are 2 ?s from @jan_novak_photography ?? . @petzl_official @mountainhardwear @eb_climbing @volxholds @luxov_connect

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