They Chose to Live in the Andes

They Chose to Live in the Andes

By Joan Massons

Written shortly after the Catalonian Expedition to the Andes

Operació Quitxua – 76 (1976 Quechua Expedition)

Tranlated from Catalan by Ramon Bramona Rams

It seems that the modern world makes concessions to romanticism with difficulty. The profit motive, of a social position or of simple security, directs our restlessness toward the work and the routine of cities. For that reason precisely, it becomes continually more difficult to find persons, who far from looking for this establishment, seek to dedicate themselves to occupations distant from home that give little reward, but an intense personal satisfaction.

Michael J. Rourke and Curry Slaymaker (28 and 33 years of age respectively) belonged to this class of men. The former left his homeland in Pennsylvania USA to live in Huaraz Peru at the foot of the Cordillera Blanca. He practiced as teacher for several years until he was hired, along with botanist Curry Slaymaker, by Peru’s Ministry of Agriculture for the task of preserving and promoting the new Huascarán National Park.

This activity left them time for mountaineering in the Andes. Well acclimatized, trained and constantly active, Curry and Mike made successful Andean ascents, published articles and reviews, and began to prepare a guide book for climbing in the Cordillera Blanca. To further highlight their accomplishments we have to mention their work in training the youth and mountain porters of Huaraz.

Mike and Curry made the porters of Huaraz aware of their professional mission and how to conduct themselves. Rules, places of meeting, and prices for their services were fixed in accordance with the equipment and experience of each man. In a similar manner they taught courses to the boys of Huaraz on the techniques and standards of mountaineering practice. For these reasons and for their role in Huascarán National Park, Peru owes these two men a debt of gratitude.

We, the foreigners, have to thank them for help of every kind that they offered to mountaineering expeditions. Before organizing the 1976 Quechua Expedition with Ramón Bramona and Guillem Arias, we started to establish contact with Michael Rourke. In June of that year we made connection with him in Huaraz. He as well as his Peuvian wife, daughter-in-law, and the newborn Katherine were a family that enjoyed the strong love of the people of Huaraz. Michael took care of purchasing food for our expedition. Before we left for the Nevado de Caraz we participated with them in an international meeting to dedicate the new premises of the "Club Andino de la Cordillera Blanca". The great humanity and prominence of Michael Rourke among the people that know him were revealed through these contacts.

We set out planning to re-unite at our Base Camp at of the Parón Cirque. He and his companions are the only people that we saw in this place during our expedition. Mike was attracted to this fabulous corner of the Andes, and saw the possibility of connecting with us at the Parón Cirque. The plan for this encounter was to install our Camp I along the virgin route on the way to the pass between Pisco and Huandoy Este. Mike and his companions installed their Camp in the opposite part of the Cirque, at the foot of the Nevados de Parón. We spent two days of forced inactivity due to the bad weather. On July 13 we managed to install our Camp II in the Pisco-Huandoy Este pass and on the 14th we made the summit of Pisco Oeste. That day we broke Camp II and on arrival at Camp I we found a note from the companions of Mike and Curry informing us of the accident and asking us for help. We proposed to continue toward the Base Camp and to go out the next day toward the place of the accident. While traversing the slope we remained in silence, conscious that the worst may have happened.

The rescue attempts, not finding them alive, a fruitless attempt was launched instead to find their bodies. Curry and Mike were on the slope of Huaripampa, opposite that of Parón. When a helicopter appeared that was dispatched to reconnoiter for a possible place of the fall, the Basque group in the Chinchey area came and the pilot of the helicopter directed them to this zone to pick up the injured people. The first helicopter having an accident itself at the same time, another helicopter was sent to finish the operation. A week after the accident of Mike and Curry, the helicopter made a reconnaisance with uncertain conclusions about signs of a fall along a wall of snow and rock of some three hundred meters to the glacier. From Parón the attempts were fruitless and other attempts from Huaripampa also gave no results.

These lines attempt to pay homage to the work of these friends and to their positive way of life; It is a pity that these two lives have been so short.

JOAN MASSONS RABASSA