Peaks in the Cordilleras de Potosí and Quimsa Cruz. Few ascents in the Cordillera de Potosí have been reported since 1903. This is a range of unglaciated rock peaks, located east of that famous colonial city. The first mountaineer to visit it was the Alpine poet Henry Hoek in November 1903, when he climbed two peaks in the southern half of the range, one of them being the highest, Anaroyo (today Cunurana) (5056 meters, 16,586 feet). In March 1956, surveyors of the Instituto Geográfico Militar of Bolivia climbed several peaks and made a good map, 1:100,000 of the entire range, lowering existing heights by some 200 meters. In 1974 (?), Manfred Wolf, a geologist of the German Democratic Republic, also climbed Cunurana and may have ascended other peaks in the neighborhood. In the first two weeks of May I, visited the range and made, alone, the first ascent of Yana Punta (4920 meters, 16,142 feet) and Cerro del Abra (4940 meters, 16,208 feet), the second of Puca Punta (5020 meters, 16,470 feet) and Yatúncasa (5024 meters, 16,482 feet) and the third of Cari Cari (5040 meters, 16,536 feet), highest in the northern half of the Cordillera de Potosí. I discovered that most of the names mentioned by Henry Hoek in 1903 are no longer in use today. Weather was very poor throughout my stay in Bolivia. Political unrest prevented my finding a companion and posed great problems regarding transportation. In the next two weeks I visited, again alone, the Cordillera de Quimsa Cruz, located northeast of Oruro. In deep snow I was able to make the second ascent of Cerro Laramcota Chico (5380 meters, 17,651 feet), so named on maps after a local mine, and the third of Cerro Don Luis (5360 meters, 17,586 feet). The first peak mentioned is situated southwest of the Atoroma mine and the second, east of the big Huallatani Lake.

Evelio Echevarria