 Salcantay was first climbed in 1952 by a French-American expedition comprising Fred D. Ayres, David Michael Jr., John C. Oberlin, W. V. Graham Matthews, Austen F. Riggs, George Irving Bell, Claude Kogan, M. Bernard Pierre, and Jean Guillemin.All except Oberlin, Riggs, and Guillemin reached the summit.Two years later Fritz Kasparek fell through a cornice near the summit on the NE ridge.