Coronado, San Calixto, Chicani, Pico Milluni of Huayna Potosí, Condoriri, Italian Expedition. In late June I met an Italian expedition, Giuseppe Agnolotti, leader, Vittorio Lazzarino, Eugenio Ferrero and Giuseppe Castelli. They were searching for new routes and I volunteered to guide them. On June 29 the Italians and I left La Paz to place Base Camp on Hampaturi Alto lake, Juan Bustillos and Giuseppe Ferrari also joining our group. The Hampaturi valley offers an easy access to Coronado, San Calixto and Chicani peaks. On the afternoon of June 30 Ferrari and Bustillos climbed Coronado (18,127* feet). On the morning of July 1 Castelli was not feeling well and stayed in Base Camp while the rest of us climbed San Calixto (18,229* feet), 2 miles southeast of Chicani. Snow conditions had changed considerably since I last climbed the peak in 1964. Most of the high-angle snow ridges were now bare, with loose, rotten rock. On the summit we found the summit book I had placed there three years before. Ours was the fifth ascent. The next day, July 2, we decided to climb Chicani (19,735* feet). I had studied the south ridge on previous ascents; it rises steeply from the Chicani-San Calixto col. Lazzarino and Ferrero attacked this new route, while Agnolotti, Ferrari, Castelli, Bustillos and I ascended the west ridge. The next day we all returned to La Paz. I next suggested the unclimbed west wall of Milluni peak in the Huayna Potosí group. We placed Base Camp well below the north wall of Huayna Potosí, one of the most impressive walls in the Andes. Castelli was sick and a few days later flew back to Italy, still in poor condition. On July 11 Agnolotti, Ferrero, Lazzarino and I climbed all day and made a bivouac at the bottom of the steep west wall. On the 12th we ascended 60° ice to the southwest ridge. Our second bivouac was spent on the exposed col. The next morning the weather had deteriorated badly. Strong gales swept the summit. We decided that in the present conditions only two men should go for the summit. Agnolotti and Ferrero reached the top of Milluni or the south peak of Huayna Potosí (19,078 feet) after two hours of climbing. On the way down to Base Camp we were caught in a very severe storm. We reached camp at two A.M. the next morning. After this first ascent of the west wall of Milluni, I had to leave the Italians, who still did an ascent of Condoriri (18,837* feet) by a new route, the east face, before going back to Italy.

Jorge L. Urioste, S.J., Dios y Montaña

*The question of altitudes in Bolivia is always a difficult one, since many altitudes are only approximate or the result of unreliable measurements. The Italian expedition has generally given heights that are much higher than those usually accepted. Padre Urioste has given us these altitudes. The Italian mountain historian, Mario Fantin, who was not a part of the expedition, in his Alpinismo Italiano Extraeuropeo gives us lower altitudes for the peaks climbed by this expedition. The greatest variation is in the height of Chicani, given by the expedition as 6015 meters (19,735 feet), by Fantin as 5815 (19,078 feet), but as only 5435 meters (17,831 feet) by Dauelsberg, who made the first ascent and surveyed the mountain. When questioned about the altitude, Dauelsberg said that he believes his maximum possible error is ±20 meters. Coronado and San Calixto are reported by the expedition to be considerably lower than Chicani. Coronado is reported by the expedition as being 5525 meters (18,127 feet) but by both Fantin and Dauelsberg as 5305 meters (17,505 feet). The expedition gives Condoriri as 5742 meters (18,838 feet), but Fantin agrees with the Troll-Hein survey, which gives 5656 meters ( 18,557 feet).