At the start of June 2022, Maria Teresa Llampa Vasquez and I decided to try one of the mixed routes on the southwest face of Huallomen (5,463m). Looking at the face from Condoriri Base Camp, we immediately saw the potential for a new line.

We left the refugio at 3 a.m. and by 5 a.m. were slanting up the lower wall to access the first goulotte and the left-slanting ramp above. [This ramp lies below and left of the route Canaleta del Angel.] The first part of this ramp was in excellent condition, with perfect ice and short, easy mixed sections.
The ramp took us to the top of a large triangle of rock that forms the lower southwest face. Above, two hard rock pitches got us to the final icefall, after which we reached the ridge. At 2 p.m. we were on the summit, having belayed nine pitches. It’s one of the hardest routes I’ve climbed, mainly due to bad rock with little protection. We named the route Via del Triangolo (500m, ED+ AI4 M6 A2).

In June 2023, at the start of Bolivia’s dry season, Ronaldo Choque Camargo, Maria Teresa, and I decided to attempt another route on the southwest face. Ronaldo and I had seen a possible line during a guides’ course and had been waiting for the right conditions. We checked it out from the base of the wall on the 14th and it looked perfect, with the face very well iced. We left the next morning at 6 a.m.

Our route began down and left of the 2022 line, slanting left up an obvious snow and ice ramp. Two mixed pitches then led toward a snowfield in the middle of the face. The final passage of this section was one of the best pitches we had ever done—a very delicate ice/mixed traverse, full of exposure.

Above the snowfield we climbed two pitches in a fine couloir, with a 30m icefall to finish. We were then able to sit in the sun and eat. It wasn’t easy to see how best to finish the route, but we opted to follow a ramp on the left with a final hard pitch. The summit ridge was difficult due to very bad rock, but at 5 p.m. we were standing on top. We named our new line Ruta Imantata (500m, ED AI4 M5). In Aymara, imantata means “hidden.”

—Daniele Assolari, Italy/Bolivia