Nevado Ulta, Toy’s Band. After our climb in the Huayhuash [see below], we returned to Huaraz to learn about conditions. The guide Alfredo, of the agency Mount- climb, helped us considerably.

We needed two or three days of rest to recover from a night spent in the El Tambo discotheque, but do not regret it. Benoît Montfort and I then took the bus to Chacas, in the Cordillera Blanca, crossing a 4,900m pass before coming down to Chacas. We got off around 4,200m and made our first bivouac at the foot of the glacier below the east face of Nevado Ulta (5,875m). The following day we crossed the glacier and bivied on the northeast shoulder. We suggest leaving early because of threatening séracs. Ice fell almost everywhere and didn’t have the politeness to avoid our tracks. We left early and ascended the first part by slopes of easy ice. A rocky projection above, where it’s helpful to have cams, contained the routes most technical part (V+ max [French rock grade]). There were beautiful icy passages before we arrived at the summit. We rappelled the route and found two old pitons in a block in a mound of ice (attempt or unknown success?).

Pierre Labbre, France