Cerro Lomas Amarillas, South Face and Other Ascents. Because of its easy access by way of the Vallecito ski resort, the massif of Cerro de la Plata has had all of its peaks and most of its difficult faces climbed. In late 1987, M. Sanchez and C. Tejerina, from Mendoza, did two of the remaining rock routes. On November 10, they climbed the northwest face of Cerro Morro Chato (c. 4600 meters, 15,092 feet) and a month later, did the rockfall-threatened south face of Lomas Amarillas (4750 meters, 15,584 feet). In the last days of December, I led a group of three to prospect a new access route to the base of Cerro Santa María (5023 meters, 16,480 feet), southeast of Aconcagua and northeast of Puente del Inca. We wanted to verify the existence of the several 500-foot-high ice cascades hanging from the south face of Santa María, already noted in 1908 by Walther Schiller. The cascades are still there, but much thinner. One of our group, Evelio Echevarría, stayed behind and on December 31 made the first ascent of Cerro El Durazno (4597 meters, 15,083 feet), southwest of Santa María. Aconcagua was expecting a record number of expeditions. Already registered for the period from November 1, 1987 to January 31, 1988 were 136 expeditions, and more were expected later. Of this number 25 were American, 20 German, 19 Spanish, 16 Argentine and 10 Japanese. Seventeen other countries were also represented. A total of 421 men and 59 women were expected to participate.

Fernando Grajales, Club Andinista Mendoza