On the lower south summit (ca 5,960m) of Huayna Potosi, the Peruvian guide Victor Hugo Rimac climbed a new line to the right of the classic Via de los Franceses (300m, AD+ 55°, Cardon-Mesili, 1974). On December 8 and 9, when the weather was unfavorable, he reconnoitered possible new routes, and on the 11th he started from Campamento Argentino in mist, with the temperature down to -7°C. He followed the French route to the bottom of the face, crossing the bergschrund at 3 a.m. in improving weather. He then moved to the right-hand side of the face, where there are mixed rock bands, and slanted up left over soft snow slopes and mixed ground to an exit on the right-hand ridge, where he joined the “Bordas-Muñoz route” (300m, AD+ 75°, Gonzalez-Hevia-Rey-Vazquez, 1990) for the last short section to the summit. The safest exit onto the right-hand ridge involved a 20m rock wall with moves of 5 and 6a. Rimac climbed his route in four hours and named it La Ventanita de la Paz (D+, 6a 50-70°). Local climbers consider it would only be feasible with good snow cover, as was the case during 2012.

Sergio Ramírez Carrascal, Peru