Flor "Hirkawarmi" Cuenca is a Peruvian mountaineer. She is the first Peruvian woman to have reached the summit of 11 eight-thousanders without supplemental oxygen.[1] She is the first Peruvian to have climbed Gasherbrum I (8068 m), K2 (8611 m) and Kanchenjunga (8586 m).[2]
Background
Flor Cuenca was born in Chuspín, Casca District. She is the third of 14 children, born into a farming family, where she had to climb 1,000m to tend her family's sheep.[3][4] Growing up in the Ancash region of the Andes, she made her first summit of 4,500m at "7 or 8" years old.[5]
She moved to Lima to train as a tourist guide at the Instituto Superior Tecnológico Eleazar Guzmán Barrón in Huaraz, as she felt it would be the right career to help her stay close to the mountains.[1] In 2006, she moved to Europe on a student visa to learn German.[6][5] She decided to stay in Germany as she could earn enough income to self-fund her expeditions, which was not possible in Peru.[5] Since 2008, she has been living in Karlsruhe, Germany, and is a member of the German Alpine Club.[7][8]
She is also known as "Hirkawarmi", which is Ancash Quechua for "mountain woman".[9]
Mountaineering
Flor is known for her lean expeditions, self-funded, without sherpas, sponsorship and without supplemental oxygen.[10][11]
She is critical of large expeditions that leave garbage, waste, old tents and used O2 canisters across the Himalayas and Karakoram, and has sought to bring attention to the issue.[4]
She started the project "Hijas de la Montaña" in an effort to lead the first Peruvian female expedition in the Himalayas.[23][24] The project, aims to send five women from the Peruvian Andes, including Flor, to climb Manaslu and advocate for environmental sustainability and gender equality.[25] The project plans to bring more than 100 kg of trash down from base camp during the expedition.[26]
In 2023, she was named to the Forbes 50 Most Powerful Women in Peru List.[27]