Ausangate, South Subsummit. After acclimatization, on August 13 we climbed the moraine of the glacier which comes off the south face of Ausangate and then traversed west through difficult ice slabs to the foot of a sérac barrier which crosses the face. There at 16,750 feet we placed Camp I, which we occupied on the 15th. On the 16th we climbed unstable snow slabs to the “plateau” of the south face. We climbed slowly because of the state of the snow, crossing a zone of avalanches which fall from the séracs that protect the north peak. We had to camp at 19,000 feet. On August 17 we continued up difficult and steep terrain to a col formed by the south subsummit and the ridge. From there we climbed the north face for 350 feet on hard, very steep ice, getting to the south subsummit (6200 meters or 20,342 feet; first climbed by Japanese in 1959) at noon. The expedition members were Angel Vedo, Antonio Pérez, Antonio Albalate, Lluis Soler and I.

Antonio Pamplona, Agrupació Excursionista Talaia, Spain