On August 7, Fiona Tummon (Dutch/Irish) and I left Peñas in a taxi with a completely worn-out hand brake—probably due to not replacing the real brakes for far too long. Fortunately, our destination was uphill, close to the Paso Mullu col at 4,730m, just short of Lago Jankho Kkota. From there we hiked up the valley to the west, crossing a pass a little over 5,300m below Wila Lloje (5,596m), and after a total of four hours of walking we camped in the middle of the glacier plain beyond.

The following day we left the tent at first light and approached the long north-northwest ridge of Wila Lloje, which starts from col southeast of Peak 5,604m. Motivated for our first climb from this glacier, we didn’t skip a single gendarme on the ridge, although most could easily have been circumvented on solid névé. Up to the first significant summit—unnamed Peak 5,580m—we climbed generally sound rock.

Continuing over peaks 5,560m and 5,575m, mainly on hard snow, we reached a steep rocky section below Wila Lloje. Progressively deteriorating rock on this 100m passage made for delicate climbing. From the top we descended the southwest ridge (55° in the upper section) to the col we’d crossed the previous day and regained our tents less than six hours after leaving.

The next day we decided to climb a gully on the east face of Warawarani I (5,542m) that had attracted our attention while setting up camp. We began climbing at sunrise on an initial pitch of mainly dry-tooling to reach the bottom of a large cave and a comfortable belay below what proved to be the crux. We opted to climb around the left side of the hollowed rock formation. The crux 10m were vertical and very delicate, with compulsory tool placements in thin, shallow cracks, often hidden by moss, and thin edges for the crampons. Protection was poor. Once I was able to reach snow, I continued the full rope length and built a solid anchor with my two ice axes. I don’t feel able to grade this pitch, but to give an idea, Fiona, who usually follows me up to 6c and WI5, had to try more than once before making the moves.

We blasted up the snow gully, which was 45–50° with a few steeper steps, finding no evidence of previous passage. From the top, we descended the north ridge a short way, then downclimbed a snow-filled gully to the east. We were back at the tent before noon. [This is the same descent as used by the multi-national party that made the first ascent of the southwest face; see AAJ 2015.]

The first ascent of Warawarani I was made in August 1975, by four Italians, via a gully on the east face, but it is unclear which one. Glacier heights and snow cover have changed dramatically, and we believe they either climbed a different gully or that back then our gully was completely snow-covered down to the glacier.

On the 10th we left at dawn for one final climb. We had learned from Davide Vitale that the mountain at the head of our glacier, marked 5,604m on the IGM map (16°3’43.29”S, 68°21’13.01”W), has the name Jankho Peque (“White Head” in local Ayamara). Davide had made a west-to-east traverse in 2020. We climbed the south face at an overall angle of around 50°. We’d hoped for a quick and easy climb, but the snow was soft and deep, sometimes up to the waist. However, it gave excellent cardiovascular exercise!

From the summit, we had the impression we were a little lower than both Warawarani and Wila Lloje, making us feel the map altitude for Jankho Peque is too high. We descended the west ridge, packed up camp, and walked down to the road, which we reached at 1 p.m

— Alexander von Ungern, Andean Ascents, Bolivia

Editor’s Note: Although there is no recorded traverse of Wila Lloje in a north-south direction, in July 1983 Germans Fred Bässler, George Frey, and Alexander Schlee made the second ascent of Wila Lloje via the east flank and southeast ridge, then continued north-northwest, over peaks 5,575m, 5,560m, and 5,580m (all first ascents). At the end of the ridge, they descended east to regain their camp. The first recorded ascent of Jankho Peque was in 1998 by a four-man French party, which climbed the southeast ridge at F.