During 2019, three different expeditions achieved new routes in the interesting climbing zone of Sosneado, located on the east flank of Cerro de los Pantanos, southeast of Cerro el Palomo (4,850m), along the Chile-Argentina border. Together, there are some 20 granitic needles, with up to 500m routes, all at an average elevation of 2,500m. Since the initial reports in AAJ 2015 and 2016, it has become a classic spot for climbing in Argentina. During March, Lucas Alzamora and Juan Girolamo opened a new route on a needle called Pilar Roja called Perro Chivato (150m, 6c).

Afterward, in April, Alzamora joined Matías Korten and Andrés Tula, ascending a new route on Aguja Preñada (145m, 6c+). Also during April, Alzamora teamed up with Carloncho Guerra and Diego Nakamura to finish a route on Aguja Ectelion (a.k.a. Torre Blanca de Ectelion), which they had attempted twice in the preceding years. They rated it (450m, 6c). [Editor’s Note: This is the same “unfinished” route indicated in AAJ 2015. See AAJ 2015 and 2016 for descriptions of the earlier routes on this spire, Jumanji and Chaparral, which both begin further to the right of the 2019 climb.]

–       Marcelo Scanu, Argentina