Ausangate, Northwest Face. Louis Deuber, Harald Navé and I climbed the hanging glacier on the northwest face of Ausangate alpine-style from July 27 to August 1 and descended the normal route on the south. It was an impressive ice climb with several pitches where the ice reached 90°. The middle part of the hanging glacier is very broken and dangerous because of falling ice. We had Base Camp below the face west of Azulcocha at 15,100 feet. We bivouacked first on a nunatak in the glacier at 16,400 feet. The second bivouac was in a bergschrund at the upper end of the hanging glacier at 19,025 feet and the third at 20,000 feet in the uppermost schrund on the face. Bad weather forced us to a fourth and fifth bivouac on the summit (6372 meters, 20,905 feet) since one can find the way through the southern icefall only in good weather.

Hans Zebrowski, Schweizer Alpen Club