Located in the Yauyos Province

Yauyos Province

The Yauyos Province is a province located in the Lima Region of Peru. It is one of the eleven that make up that region.-Boundaries:*North: Huarochirí Province*East: Junín Region, Huancavelica Region*South: Ica Region...

 of central Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, Qaqa Mach'ay (Quechua

Quechua languages

Quechua is a Native South American language family and dialect cluster spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably...

 meaning "Cliff Cave") is a limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 cave

Cave

A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...

 high in the Andes

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

 Mountains that was explored and surveyed in 2004 by an international expedition. At 4930m above sealevel, it is the highest surveyed

Cave survey

A cave survey is a map of all or part of a cave system, which may be produced to meet differing standards of accuracy depending on the cave conditions and equipment available underground. Cave surveying and cartography, i.e. the creation of an accurate, detailed map, is one of the most common...

 cave in the world.

Cave Description

"It is thought that Qaqa Mach’ay (‘Cliff Cave’) is an abandoned glacial sink formed on a geologically-favourable bedding plane. Its enormous entrance, approximately fifty metres long, thirty metres wide and fifty metres deep, leads to a square-shaped descending passage twenty metres high and twenty metres wide. Although this large passage is almost completely blocked by boulders, two possible continuations were noted. Blue Lips Passage essentially follows the left (as you face into the cave) wall down past boulders and ice masses. Four pitches of 20m, 10m, 10m and 5m lead to a disappointing boulder ruckle 104m below the entrance. Red Face Passage descends down pitches of 18m, 9m, 4m and 38m to a breakdown floor at –125m. Both passages draught slightly. These passages were named for the effects of high altitude, cold and sun on the cavers’ complexions. About a third of the rigging in these passages was off ice screw

Ice screw

An ice screw is a threaded tubular screw used as a running belay or anchor by climbers on steep ice surface such as steep waterfall ice or alpine ice during ice climbing or crevasse rescue, to hold the climber in the event of a fall, and at belays as anchor points. Ice screws are made by...

s. No open leads remain in the cave."

- excerpt from Pumacocha 2004 Expedition Report (unpublished)