With both Chilean and Argentine Patagonia reports, we rely heavily on climbers to contact us as soon as they return in order to include their accounts in appropriate volumes of the Journal. This means we sometimes miss first-hand accounts. When possible, we include them in the following volume. We include here some first-hand accounts from the 1996-97 season that we included as notes in last year’s Journal.

Cerro Timonel, First Ascent. Our expedition was composed of Nicolas Boetsch, Alberto Gana, Giancarlo Guglielmetti, Felipe Howard, Pablo Osses and me, the leader. On our second try, a Chilean patrol vessel disgorged us at the very southern end of Hielo Patagonico Sur, an ice tongue in the Fiordo de las Montanas flanked by the Cordillera Riesco and Cordillera Sarmiento. Wind and constant rain were great obstacles during our 20-day (December, 1995) expedition. We managed to make the first ascent of an ice peak, P.1330m, which we christened Cerro Timonel (“The Helmsman”). Stormy weather forced us to cancel all other projects and we retreated painfully to Istmo Resi, then marched along the seashore to arrive in Puerto Natales.

Cristian Buracchio, Santiago