Pumasillo, Cordillera Vilcabamba. Due to poor weather on our arrival in this range, our original objective, the unclimbed north ridge of Pumasillo, was changed to a climb of the standard, west route. We reached the summit on July 19. Three camps were placed on the ridge, the highest at 19,200 feet. We used 500 feet of fixed rope on the fluting halfway up the ridge. Here Dave Kilcullen had a sudden attack of pulmonary edema, requiring immediate evacuation to the relatively low altitude of Base Camp. This left Kevin Carroll and me to make the final ascent of Pumasillo. The whole climb took 15 days, after which we spent a week at Base. Worsening weather and a shortage of food concluded our climbing in the area.

Michael G. Andrews, New Zealand Alpine Club