First Ascents in the Central Andes, 1993-1996. In the last three southern summers I did the following: Cerro de los Remolinos (3848 meters, first ascent, December 27, 1993, southwest side, easy) and two days later, Cerro Alto de Dolores (4110 meters, a third ascent). Both peaks are located in the neighborhood of the Carreñito Pass, Colina valley of Santiago. Back in the area I climbed on January 8, 1995, Cerro Andrade (4010 meters, first ascent, northeast side, very unstable rock). It is located west of the well-known San José volcano. In late December, 1995, I marched from the ski resort of Portillo north to the Portillo Gap, which I crossed and descended into the La Cañada valley, where there is a welter of unclimbed rock peaks rising to over 15,000 feet. On December 27, I made the first ascent of P 4521 (north side, broken rock, easy), located north of Contrabandistas International Pass. I named it Cerro Don Damasio, after a legendary Chilean hillman-climber. Weather was unstable. I retraced my way back to Portillo gap and from it I traversed horizontally in a southwest direction to reach a notch that gave me access to the upper Ojos de Agua valley. From there I made the first ascent of Cerro Norte de las Mesetas (4095 meters, southwest side, easy) on January 2, 1996. I returned to Santiago two days later.

Evelio Echevarría