Aguja Guillaumet, new route. Marcin Szczotka and Mariusz Nowak established a new route on the west face of Aguja Guillaumet, to the left of the Padrijo route, just right of Comesaña-Fon-rouge. The route was climbed onsight on February 13, 2004, at UIAA VII (5.1 Od); 11 pitches, plus 3 on the summit ridge, 550-600m in length. They had good conditions (in general, west faces were in better condition), but when they were on the summit ridge, a big rockfall occurred to the left of their route, taking out their gear left at the bottom of the face, including boots, crampons, camera, and rucksack. Determined to get boots at least, they descended the debris during the night searching for the equipment. After a couple of hours, in poor light, they found remnants of their rucksack… and two pairs of boots. They felt like millionaires, since they would have had only climbing shoes for the two icefields, not to mention the five-hour trek to their tent at Rio Blanco. The camera is still at the bottom of the face.

Jakub Radziejowski, Poland