Bahia Murta Region. Between December 30, 2001, and January 12, 2002, David Wood and I climbed several unclimbed summits in the Tres Arroyos region near the small Chilean town of Bahia Murta. This area offers extensive climbing on heavily glaciated peaks, and to the best of our knowledge had not received previous climbing attention.

We established a base camp in Estero Sur at the lake (elevation 1100m) marked at the head of the drainage on Chilean IGM maps. During our two-week stay we climbed three summits from this base, despite generally poor weather. On January 2 we climbed the obvious high point of the ridge-like summit located southeast of the lake. We climbed this peak by following the northwest ridge through moderate terrain, which we later rappelled in a blizzard. We estimated the altitude of this unmapped peak as 2042m. High pressure moved in on January 4, allowing us to climb the beautiful triangular peak at the head of the drainage. Our route followed the north ridge, climbing through generally solid fourth- and mid-fifth-class granite. Both the route and the summit provided spectacular views of the northern ice cap and Monte San Valentine. We estimated the elevation of this unmapped peak at 1950m. Following five days of low pressure and poor weather, we climbed Peak 1942m directly southwest of the lake. We followed the northwest ridge, which offered enjoyable climbing over easy snow and rock.

Scott Nuismer, AAC