Altar, South Face. South-face ascents in the Central Andes (the equivalent of the Alpine north faces) have been, so far, few and far apart. On March 16, G. Cassasa and the Austrian W. Bertsch climbed for the first time the south face of Altar (5220 meters, 17,126 feet), a remarkable rock peak very visible from the streets of Santiago, the Chilean capital. Rock was very poor. They rated the final 60 meters as UIAA VI.

Evelio Echevarría