Nacimiento Massif and Other Peaks, 1986 and 1988. Our club has sent four expeditions into the region south of the Ojos del Salado in 1976, 1986, 1987 and 1988. In 1986 and 1988, we made first ascents. Our 1986 group had seven climbers. In January, 1986, I ascended alone P 6175 (20,258 feet), situated wholly in Argentina some ten kilometers south of Nevado del Muerto on the international border. I named it Cerro Medusa, since it rises above the lake of the same name. In 1988, Orlando Bravo, leader, Antonio Fons, Jorge Madozzo, Marcelino and Sergio Muntaner, Luis Salinas and I returned to the same area, approaching through Cazadero Grande and El Chorro. From the later, Salinas and I ascended P 4650 (15,256 feet), which we named Cerro Chango. We found wood scattered over the summit, perhaps left by pre-Columbian Indians. We continued the approach march along the Cazadero valley to Real del Rasguido. P 6660, which the Chileans call Nevado del Cazadero, was attempted but the snow was too deep. Salinas and I traversed to the Arenal valley and on January 12, 1988 ascended P 6050 (19,849 feet), ten kilometers south of Cerro Medusa. We named it Cerro Gendarme Argentino. A day later, Fons and Muntaner repeated the ascent. On January 14, O. Bravo and Madozzo climbed the impressive volcano (6200 meters, 20,342 feet) north of the Nacimiento massif. It seems to be the peak called Volcán del Viento by the Poles when Justyn Wojsznis climbed it on February 10, 1937. Salinas and I then climbed the northeast peak of the Nacimiento massif, or Cerro Nacimiento II (6460 meters, 21,195 feet), while Fons and Madozzo reached the summit of Nacimiento V (c. 6320 meters, 10,735 feet), north of Nacimiento I. The Poles climbed Nacimiento .II. Nacimiento V is a first ascent.

Claudio Bravo, Club Andino Tucumán, Argentina