On September 29, Gregg Beisly and I succeeded on one of the remaining unclimbed gullies on the south face of Pico Triangular (5,600m), topping out more or less at the summit. Our route was left of the 2011 Baker-Beisly line called Baked. We climbed unroped up the first 160m of steep, narrow gully at WI3. There were several short vertical sections, one of which on one of which had rotten ice; Gregg had climbed over this before me, and since I was carrying the rope, he belayed me with a few girth-hitched slings. As the gully narrowed, we broke out right and roped up for two mixed pitches (M4) before reaching the summit.

Although Gregg had climbed many routes on the mountain, he had never found a convenient line of descent. I suggested we descend along an easier route that I had climbed in 2014. We traversed along the south flank of Pico Italia and then connected the gully on that peak’s normal route with the lower part of the 1998 Monasterio Route on its south face. We rappelled only once (35m), leaving a piton and sling, and downclimbed the rest, following a straight line toward our parked car. We left El Alto at 5 a.m. and were back 12 hours later.

We named our new route Thanks for Coming (ca 500m, TD-), as this was the last route Gregg climbed in Bolivia, after six years of residence, before moving back to New Zealand. It also reflected our pleasant surprise in discovering that this line, one of the last to be climbed on the south face, was among the best.

Alexander von Ungern, Andean Ascents, Bolivia