Ritacuba Negro, Northwest Face. Armando Rangel and I climbed on January 2 the imposing northwest face, wholly on ice, of Ritacuba Negro (5389 meters, 17,680 feet), a peak which has been likened to the finer Peruvian mountains for its beauty and imposing appearance. We arrived at the town of El Cocuy on December 24, 1982 and found persistent bad weather. A first attempt was defeated by storms but on New Year’s Eve there was a break in the clouds and we retraced our way up the glacier and camped at 5000 meters. On January 2 we reached the summit and descended hurriedly before a new storm coming to the area. This is the second ascent of this interesting route, which had been first climbed by a Colombian, a Swiss and two Ecuadorians on December 29, 1981. (See above.)

José Betancourt, Centro de Andinismo, Universidad de los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela