With José Callisaya, a mountain guide from La Paz, I made a new route on the very broad southwest face of Charquini (5,392m). Don’t Let the Walls Cave in on You is 400m (eight pitches), with maximum difficulties of AI3 WI3 M5. We began the ascent from the Elviria Hut at Zongo Pass, and after exiting the route we traversed the summit from south to north, which is itself a long day’s undertaking. If approaching Charquini by car, traversing the mountain would not be logical, as it would leave you far from your vehicle. However, we had no car and were able to take “the long way home.”

Robert Rauch, Bolivian Tours, rauchrobert@hotmail.com

Editor's note: In early November 2014, Gregg Beisly and Artem Bylinski climbed the six-pitch line Recuperated Abandonment (D-, WI3 M5) in this same area on Charquini’s southwest face. Don’t Let the Walls Cave in on You follows this route until about half-height. From this point, Recuperated moves right and climbs a prominent rock/mixed buttress to a high point on the summit ridge. From the half-height point, Callisaya and Rauch (who were aware of the Beisly-Bylinski ascent but thought their line was farther right) climbed directly to the summit ridge, with a section of M5 on the penultimate pitch.