Pomarata*, Cordillera Occidental. In June we traveled to the Sajama region over the new La Paz-Arica road completed in 1979. On June 15 Gerhard Pösch, Sieglinde Rost and I moved east up a beautiful valley to the north ridge of Pomarata (or Pomarape) at 16,000 feet. At 19,350 feet we got to the first, very crevassed snowfield, which took us to the summit of Pomarata (6222 meters, 20,413 feet). There was no névé on the ice. The ice appears to be retreating rapidly and the lakes are drying up. Some villages are now empty as people depend on water.

Herbert Ziegenhardt, Deutscher Alpenverein

* This mountain appears on the Bolivian maps as “Pomarape” However, its proper name is Pomarata. When Mario Fantin and I traveled there in 1953, we were surprised to hear the people correcting me when I used Pomarape. Pomarata seems correct since in Aimara poma means “puma” and rata means “promentory.” Evelio Echevarría