Lo Valdés group, Central Andes. A number of steep walls of very good rock of the Cathedral massif (13,073 feet) known as Placas, have been a favorite ground for technical climbs in Central Chile. On April 30, the last and most difficult of these walls, the Gran Placa, was climbed for the first time, at the fifth attempt, by Jorge Cila and Claudio Alvarado, of the Club Andino Mañke. It was considered one of the finest rock climbs accomplished in the area in the last years.

José AmbrÚs, Federación de Andinismo de Chile