On August 24, Gregg Beisly and I climbed a short new route up the northeast face of the northern summit of Pico Milluni (ca 5,450m), following a prominent corner system (4 pitches, New Zealand 21). However, the main goal of my visit to Bolivia was to climb Chaupi Orco (6,044m), on the border with Peru in the Cordillera Apolobamba, which I achieved with Gregg, Andy Baker (USA), and Ronaldo Choque Camargo (Bolivia), thus completing an almost 30-year project to summit the dozen 6,000m peaks in Bolivia. Climate change, resulting in collapsing glaciers, is nowhere more apparent than in the Andes, and this has turned the traditionally straightforward ascent of Chaupi Orco into a demanding climb. 

Before Chaupi Orco, I climbed Huayna Potosí (6,088m), six days after leaving New Zealand. Loss of glacier on the final section of the normal route from the east means this ascent now traverses snow and ice fields south across the east face, around 150m below the top, before cutting up to the final section of the summit (north) ridge. I opted to climb loose rock on the north buttress to an elegant, steep, 50m layback crack, leading more directly to the summit.

—Erik Monasterio, New Zealand