In May, Camilo Lopez and I visited the northern Taruca Umana Valley, and on the 21st completed a route on the southeast face of Cerro Taruca Umana, climbing new ground in the upper section.

Before leaving La Paz we met resident Denys Sanjines, a climbing and trekking guidebook writer for the Quimsa Cruz. She showed us photos and provided some information on what we understood to be an unnamed and unexplored valley on the western side of the range. She arranged transportation to a farm, Cabana de Don Hans, about seven hours’ drive southeast of La Paz. Hans then drove us to the end of a dirt road, and we hiked a few hours to the lake Barros Khota. Here we made base camp.

The weather was poor at first, allowing us to scope peaks, but when it improved we set off for our chosen goal. I led the first pitch, a narrow offwidth, then Camilo climbed a thin dihedral full of vegetation that he had to clean with an ice tool. We bailed at the top of the second pitch due to bad weather, but then returned the next day and continued to the summit, finding excellent granite, though sometimes covered with slippery moss. The crux pitch was 60m of run-out face at 6b R. Four hundred meters of climbing led to a sub-summit, from which we fourth-classed to the final wall. We simul-climbed the final 100m via 5+ crack systems. We were able to scramble down from the summit, so no rappel anchors or fixed gear were left on the mountain.

We named the route Esta es Para Ti, but on returning home found that this wall had been climbed extensively in the past (see below). Our route first climbs Gales Crack (British HVS 4c) to the first terrace, then a similar line to Valley Boys (British E2 5b) to the sub-summit. Above, we climbed new ground on the wall right of Continuation Cracks (British Hard Severe).

Anna Pfaff, USA

Editor's Note: The northern and eastern Taruca Umana valleys, the first containing Laguna Barras Khota, and the second Laguna Chillhua Khota, were probably first visited by climbers in 1987, when a large German-Bolivian team made many first ascents in the area. During the expedition, Cerro Taruca Umana was climbed via the northeast ridge by Juan Carlos Andia (Bolivia), Karl-Heinz Hetz, and Hermann Wolf.

Subsequent attention appears to have fallen on the more impressive and more accessible rock walls in the eastern valley, but in 1991 a Swiss team made possibly the first climb on the southeast face of Cerro Taruca Umana, when they climbed the Red Pyramid, on the right side of the face, by a four-pitch, bolt- and peg-protected line: Seeking the Sun (5.10 A1).

In August 1999 the northern Taruca Umana valley was visited again by a six-member British team. They climbed 10 routes on the southeast face, which they dubbed the Pyramids. All were between three and six pitches in length. The hardest, Day In Day Out on the northeast face of the Red Pyramid, was graded British E2 5c. They also freed Seeking the Sun at E1 5c. Overall, they found the granite excellent, if sometimes compact.

This prompted another visit the following year by a different six-member British team, which established base camp at 4,400m, around one hour's walk from the Pyramids. They added another 10 routes, including the 50m Gales Crack and Valley Boys, the latter described as 112m of excellent slab and crack climbing with occasional run-out sections. Continuation Cracks (Barton-Bramridge) was put up in 1999.