The east side of Cerro Alma Negra (6,110m, 32°5'47"S, 70°4'45"W) drops precipitously into a glacial cirque about 10km southeast of Cerro Mercedario (6,720m) and 5km west of Cerro de la Ramada (6,388m) in the Cordón de la Ramada. The peak was first ascended by a Polish team via its east-northeast ridge in 1934. [Editor’s Note: The second and third ascents were by Austrian teams, one in 1967 from the Río Colorado to the northeast, and the other in 1971 from the east. (Both likely climbed the upper part of the Polish route). In 1974, a Chilean team traversed La Mesa to Alma Negra from the west (see AAJs 1968, 1972, and 1975).]

I photographed the impressive, ca 1,000m east face of Alma Negra in 2019 during an ascent of the south-southeast ridge of Cerro de la Ramada (AAJ 2020). The meandering southeast ridge looked like an attractive possibility.

I approached the mountain in November, traveling west with horses. Due to soft snow, the horses could not cross the Col Espinacito (4,440m), which is where I made my base camp. From there, I shuttled my gear through the glacial basin to a camp at 4,400m below the lower southeast ridge. Thanks to detailed photos, I located a bottleneck between vertical cliffs and made a high camp at 5,200m on a flat part of the ridge.

On December 4, I headed straight up the southeast ridge in hopes of reaching the south summit (no recorded ascents) and then the main summit. Some 100m below the south top, I was surprised by a glassy rock band on its east side, which I was not able to climb. I had to descend slightly and then traverse around to the west to reach the south summit. I then climbed along the final ridge to the main top. I descended the same way.

— Christian Stangl, Austria