Although exhausted from a season in Patagonia, we still had something left in the tank and were hungry for big alpine faces. Nico Navarrete and I headed to Bolivia in mid-March. La Paz is already a couple of thousand meters higher than Chaltén or anywhere else we had hiked the previous months, so we took some time to acclimatize by sport climbing near the city and then headed for Challcupunku, a remote valley with some of the best bouldering in South America. The potential is enormous, and we kept our bodies entertained for a couple of days until we had no fingerprints left.

A week previously, while visiting the sport climbing area around Peñas, between La Paz and Lago Titicaca, we spotted a fine mixed face on nearby Jakoceri (ca 5,800m, ca 5,900m Google Earth). We soon discovered that a route had been climbed toward the left side a month earlier (Never Ending Story, Rauch-Ticona-Vitale).

Marcelo Gomez from Bolivia joined us for an attempt. On April 3, we took a couple of buses and a taxi to Alto Cruzpampa and from there began a 25km walk up a valley to the foot of Jakoceri’s southwest face. At 7 p.m. we finally reached the foot of the glacier and bivouacked. The night was very long and it snowed. We tried heading off at 3 a.m., but the weather was not very promising. By 5 a.m. we were freezing and decided to give it a try.

After three hours across a broken glacier, we made it to the base of the wall. The weather got better and better, and the temperature was low enough to keep the face in good condition. We essentially climbed unroped, except for some pitches where we needed to assist Marcelo. The line was mostly hard snow up to 80°, with some sections of mixed, and soft snow close to the ridge. We reached the south summit before noon, naming our route Milanesa Patentada (450–500m, D+), and started the long descent via the south ridge, downclimbing with one rappel at the end. It is likely our route was the second ascent of the face.

Roberto Morales, Ecuador

Editor's note: In late May 2016, a French pair made the first ascent of the south ridge of Jakoceri.