Agua Negra Region, New Peaks. Using as a base a small populated place called Guardia Vieja, situated at 3000 meters on the new international road to Chile, we climbed for 20 days among the peaks near Agua Negra Pass. We were Miguel Beorchia, Luciano di Giovanni and I. On January 11, we hiked up the Quebrada de las Trancas and placed camp at 3500 meters below the northwest ridge of P 4221 (13,848 feet). On the 12th, we climbed the ridge, shifting near the top to the southwest side. We christened the mountain Bífida de las Trancas. We then traversed to the south summit (c. 4210 meters) and descended to Guardia Vieja. On the 14th, we drove to the abandoned hut of Quebrada Sarmiento, near the Chilean border. That same day we climbed P 5058 (16,595 feet), which we named Cerro de la Quebrada Sarmiento. Descending southward to a col, we then ascended P 4700 (15,420 feet). All were first ascents. Beorchia had to return to San Juan, so 16-year-old di Giovanni and I climbed Cerro El Bronce, a second ascent from the frontier police checkpoint. Descending eastward, we also climbed El Bronce Central (4000 meters, 13,124 feet), a first ascent and continued on to the next peak El Bronce Oeste, a third ascent. I then pushed on alone and reached the top of yet another peak, Cerro de la Fortuna (4376 meters, 14,358 feet), by a new route from the southeast, a third ascent. I descended to rejoin di Giovanni and for a rest at Guardia Vieja. On January 18, we climbed a c. 5000-meter (16,404-foot) peak northeast of the Agua Negra Pass. On the summit we found a solid cairn but no documents of the previous visitors. [This may have been Cerro Andrés, (5025 meters, 16,486 feet), climbed by the boundary commission in 1904.] Near Guardia Vieja we examined petroglyphs.

Marcelo Scanu, Grupo de Montaña Huamán, Buenos Aires