On June 29, 1965, three friends, Miguel Plaza, Joaquín Miro Quezada and Pancho Aramburu, all three from Lima, went south. They saw this huge mass of water breaking in the middle of the sea. After thinking about it for a while, they decided to go to the water.

That movement went down in history books. What would have happened if these three hadn't taken the risk of breaking books? They began a series of moments in a place where legends are born.

“It was a day that we were going to ride big waves in the south and on the way we saw this break in the middle of the ocean, and we decided to go ride it,” says Miguel Plaza in an audiovisual special that the organization of Pico Alto Internacional put together. “Riding Pico Alto is the graduation of surfing. It is the goal that all of us who like big waves seek, it is comparable to any big wave in the world and is highly respected by all international surfers,” he adds (see video).

A year later, the very experienced and well-travelled world champion Felipe Pomar surfed the wave and wrote in Surfer magazine: “Pico Alto is better than Sunset.” At that time, the quintessential Hawaiian wave was the one Pomar used for comparison, challenging the surfing world, as Peru always did, with its new big wave.

After a period of calm after the sixties, in the mid-eighties Titi de Col, Magoo de la Rosa, Max de la Rosa and Felipe Pomar himself, among others, returned to the waves. There was a memorable session in which they were joined by Hawaiians Mark Foo and James Jones and Californian Richardh Schmidt, according to the Encyclopedia of Surfing.

The first tournament was held there in 1993, won by the man recognized by many as the best wave surfer in history, Fernando “Wawa” Parraud, who passed away in 2012.

In the following paragraphs, the organizer of the Pico Alto International and one of the best surfers on the break, Gabriel Villaran, highlights some facts about the legendary Peruvian big wave.

 

The first legends to surf Pico Alto in 1965 ?This is the testimony of a master and great Peruvian charger; Miguel Plaza ??? #MiguelWouldGo ⚡ #PicoAltoInternacional2018 ⚡thanks @thruster_peru ?

A publication shared by CHOLOMODE (@gabriel.villaran) the 1 Jun 2018 has 7: 12 PDT

What's different about Pico Alto:
What makes Pico Alto different from other big waves is that the best waves are long, with two or even three sections and it is epic when you get a big one, going down the peak further in and seeing a wall 50 to 100 meters long!

Pico Alto Surfing Excellence:
Lower it behind the bowl, without paddling too much and cross the sections in the pocket.

The main challenge when surfing it:
It would be like getting into the tube and coming out, since they are difficult to read.

Main dangers:
Catch the first wave of the set.

Historical references of the wave:
Miguel Plaza, Wawa Paraud.

Masters of the wave today:
Alvaro Malpartida, Miguel Tudela, Jose Gomez, Alejo Loret De Mola, etc.

Best conditions:
Swell SSW 200-210 degrees, 6-7 mts (20-25 Hawaiian feet) 16-18 seconds, Glass  light off shore, mid tide.